Determining Author's Point of View in Fiction and Nonfiction Text

Suspense

A feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story; key element in fiction and drama; "hook" writer uses to keep audience interested

Connotation

All the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests

Humor

Anything that causes laughter or amusement; funny

Theme

Central idea of a work of literature; what the author wants you to learn from reading the story

Point of View in Nonfiction

Describes the author's opinion on a certain topic or issue; the author uses word choice, tone, and descriptive adjectives to express his point of view.

Mood

Mood is found in fictional text or literature; the author creates a feeling or atmosphere; the author uses adjectives, connotation and word choice to set the mood

Narrator/Speaker

Narrator that is found in fictional text or literature is the person telling the story. Narrator can be in 1st or 3rd person point of view.

Point of View in Fiction

Narrator who is telling the story in a work of fiction is a usually character in the story; first person (I, me, my), third person (he, she, it) or omniscient narrator are the most common types of narrators found in a work of fiction

Summary

Retelling of the most important parts of what was read.

Author's purpose

The reason the author has for writing. ( Inform, persuade, express, & entertain)

Setting

The time and place of a story

Nonfiction

Writing that tells about real people, places, and events.

Analogy

a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way

Fiction

a literary work based on the imagination; a fairy tale; a story that is made up and not real

Inference

an educated guess made by using background knowledge and evidence found in the text

Analyze

examine something carefully and break into parts

Distinguish

make clear the differences between two or more concepts or items; to differentiate one point of view from another

Tone

the attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

Author's Purpose

the author's reason for writing; the author's purpose to inform/teach, to entertain, or to persuade/convince the audience

Conflicting evidence (or viewpoint)

the other side of the story; an author can present two points of view as a strategy

Plot

the sequence of events in a literary work

Dramatic irony

when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't