STAAR Vocab English 9th grade: Set 1

ad hominem

"against the man", a type of fallacy that involves commenting on or against an opponent to undermine him instead of his arguments

antagonist

a character or a group of characters which stand in opposition tot eh protagonist or the main character. A character or force against which another character struggles.

foil

a character who contrasts and parallels the main character in a play or story

analogy

a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification

inference

a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning

irony

a contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in Life and Literature. In verbal, irony, characters say the opposite of what they mean. In irony of circumstance or situation, the opposite of what is expected occurs. In dramatic irony, a character speaks in ignorance of a situation or event known to the other characters.

rhetorical fallacy

a fallacy that doesn't allow for the open, two-way exchange of ideas upon which meaningful conversations depend. instead, they distract the reader with various appeals instead of using sound reasoning. Ex: Ethos, Pathos, logos

figurative language

a form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. ex: hyperbole or exaggeration, simile & metaphor, etc.

epigraph

a literary device in the form of a poem, quotation or sentence usually placed at the beginning of a document or a simple piece having a few sentences but which belongs to another writer

parallelism

a literary device in which parts of the sentence are grammatically the same, or are similar in construction. It may repeat phrases/words or have a rhythmic flow. Ex: like father, like son. flying is fast, comfortable, and safe,

analogy

a literary device that creates a relationship based on parallels or connections between two ideas. By establishing this relationship, the new idea is introduced through a familiar comparison, thus making the new concept easier to grasp

monologue

a literary device, which is the speech or verbal presentation that a single character presents in order to express his/her collection of thoughts and ideas aloud. Often this character addresses directly to audience or another character

epic poetry

a long, serious, poetic narrative about a significant event, often featuring a hero

soliloquy

a longer speech which a character delivers directly tot he audience or to himself, which other actors on the stage cannot listen. Usually reveals motives, inner thoughts or internal struggles going in the mind of the character

poetic form

a poem that follows a certain pattern - rhyme scheme or meter - or has a certain topic/focus or all of the above. Haiku, limericks, sonnets, and sestinas are all forms of poetry

aside

a short comment or speech that a character delivers directly to the audience or to himself, while other actors on the stage cannot listen

aphorism

a statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner. The term is often applied to philosophical, moral, and literary principles. To qualify as an aphorism, it is necessary for a statement to contain a truth revealed in a terse manner. Aphorisms often come with a pinch of humor, which makes them more appealing to the masses. Proverbs maxims, adages and clichés are different forms of aphoristic statements

paradox

a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.

1st person

a story told from the first person point of view involves the narrator as part of the story, and usually features the following pronouns: I, me, mine, our, we, us, etc.

lyric poetry

a type of emotional songlike poetry, distinguished from dramatic and narrative poetry

memoir

a written factual account of somebody's life; memory or reminiscence of someone's life experiences. An autobiography focuses on the chronology of the writer's entire life while a memoir covers one specific aspect of the writer's life

omniscient

all-knowing. If a person is all-knowing, he or she knows the thoughts and feelings of everybody. Third person omniscient occurs when a story is told by a narrator who is not part of the story but knows the thoughts and feeling of all the characters in the story. in other words, a third person omniscient narrator is inside the hearts and heads of the characters, exposing their thoughts and/or feelings.

controlling idea

an idea that makes a reader ask a question. Any time a topic sentence has a good "controlling" idea, the reader will have his or her curiosity raised. In effect, the reader will say (in the mind) questions such as How? or In what way? or What does that mean?

biography

basic facts such as childhood, education, career, relationships, family and death. Biography is a literary genre that portrays the experience of all these events occurred in the life of a person mostly in chronological order.

sensory images

details include sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Writers employ the five senses to engage a reader's interest

literary elements

have an inherent existence in literary piece and are extensively employed by writers to develop a literary piece e.g. plot, setting, narrative structure, characters, mood, theme, moral, etc.

juxtaposition

in a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.

mood

literary element that evokes certain feelings or vides in readers through words and descriptions. Usually, mood is referred to as the atmosphere of a literary piece, as it creates an emotional situation that surrounds the readers.

narrator

person who tells the story

logical fallacy

refers to the concept of making an error in terms of reasoning. It is crucial to understand logical fallacies so that they can be identified and avoided when attempting to persuade. ex: "you oppose a senator's proposal to extend government-funded health care to poor minority children because that senator is a liberal Democrat. This a common logical fallacy known as ad hominem, which is Latin for "against the man." Instead of dealing with the argument you preempt an discussion by basically saying. 'I cannot listen to anyone who does not share my social and a political values. 'You indeed may decide that you don't like the argument the senator is making, but it is your job to poke holes in the argument, not to engage in a personal attack." (Derek Soles, The Essentials of Academic Writing, 2nd ed. Wadsworth, 2010) There are MANY types of fallacies.

literary devices

refers to the typical structures used by writers in their words to convey his or her message(s) in a simple manner to his or her readers. There are TWO kinds of Literary Devices

fiction

short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people

literary techniques

structures usually a word or phrase in literary text that writers employ to achieve not merely artistic ends but also readers a greater understanding and appreciation of their literary works. ex: metaphor, simile, alliteration, hyperbole, allegory, etc.

overstatement

the action of expressing or stating something too strongly; exaggeration

tone

the implied attitude of a writer toward the subject and characters of a work

protagonist

the main character of a literary work

limited

the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character.

understatement

the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is

credibility

the quality of being trusted and believed in

diction

the selection of words in a literary work. A works diction forms on e of its centrally important literary elements, as a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory

autobiography

the story of a persons life as told by that person

setting

the time and place of a literary work that establish its context

plot

the unified structure of incidents in a literary work ex: conflict, climax, donouement, and flashback

3rd person

third person pint of view is told by a narrator who is not part of the story and generally uses pronouns such as: he, she, it, they, them, him, her, its, etc. There are three types of third person narration: omniscient and limited

expository

to explain or describe something

authors purpose

to inform, persuade, entertain, or explain his ideas to the reader

2nd person

very rare in literature this point of treats the reader as the main character in the story. Other characters refer to the reader as "you." Descriptions are based onw hat you would see if you were in that situation. This narrative voice is generally reserved for explanatory articles and how-to books, but adventurous writers will occasionally pen a short story or novel in the second person

imagery

visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work

dramatic irony

when the audience knows something the characters do not. Because of this understanding, the words of the characters take on a different meaning