Annotation Key
SAT Vocabulary
(Mark any SAT Vocabulary words you find)
Figurative Language
(Metaphors, Similes, Personification, Hyperbole, Irony, Allusion, Allegory, Paradox, Cliche, Idiom, Euphemism, Oxymoron, etc.)
Poetic Devices
(Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Onomatopoeia)
Imagery
(Sensory Details: touch, taste, smell, sight, sound)
Symbols
(Symbols are objects, characters, figures, animals, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts as we have attached meaning and significance…such as a flag to represent a country, a lion to represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation )
Motif:
(A recurring important idea or image. A motif differs from a theme in that it can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence.)
Theme: _____________________
(A theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence and conveys a universal message, moral, lesson, value.)
Other
(Anything else you think is important, but doesn’t fit the criteria listed above).
*REMEMBER: If you mark something, you must comment about it in the margins. You must explain the significance of the marking. DO NOT simply write Imagery, Symbol, etc. You must explain why that is imagery, what it is symbolizing, etc.
Definitions:
Simile: comparison using like or as
Example: She’s as pretty as a flower!
Metaphor: comparison not using like or as
Example: Juliet is the sun.
Personification: inanimate objects have human traits
Example: The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.
Hyperbole: an extreme exaggeration
Example: He weighs a ton.
Irony: the opposite of what you expect
Example: taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich
Allusion: a hint or reference to something Biblical,
historical, or literary
Example: David and Goliath reference in “The Ransom of Red Chief.”
Example: “Great Pirates of Penzance” reference in “The Ransom of Red Chief”
Example: “…a promise to play the Russian in a Japanese war…” reference in “The Ransom of Red Chief.”
Allegory: a representation of something abstract
through something concrete
Example: “Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust”
Paradox: a self-contradictory or absurd statement
that in reality expresses a possible truth
Example: The faster I go, the more behind I get.
Cliché: a tired or overused phrase/saying
Example: busy as a bee
Idiom: a figurative expression only known through common use
Example: get your goat, walked on eggs
Euphemism: an understatement; substitution for something offensive or hurtful
Example: she is at rest to mean she’s dead
Oxymoron: Two words together that contradict each other
Example: jumbo shrimp, bittersweet
Alliteration: repetition of beginning consonant sounds
Example: fast and furious, Peter patted the pretty pony
Assonance: repetition of middle vowel sounds
Example: cruising for a bruising, how now brown cow
Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds at the ends of words
Example: cool soul
Onomatopoeia: sound words
Example: tick, tock, boom, buzz, crackle, pop, sizzle