Glossary STAAR Terms
Act
a collection of scenes that forms a major segment of a play
Affix
a set of letters attached to the beginning or the end of a root word that changes the word’s meaning
Alliteration
the repetition of the beginning sound of a word
Allusion
a reference to a famous person, event or work of literature
Analogy
a word relationship that compares two dissimilar things
Antonyms
words that have opposite or nearly opposite meanings
Aphorism
a succinct statement of a philosophy or principle; often quoted
Argument
an attempt to persuade someone on a topic open to debate
Author’s purpose
the reason the author wrote the passage
Author’s viewpoint
in persuasive text, the author’s attitude toward or opinion about the subject
Caricature
a fallacy that involves an exaggerated, overly simplified version of an opposing point of view
Cause
the reason something happens, such as an event or action
Character
a person, animal, or other creature in a work of fiction
Claim
a statement of the author’s point of view
Climax
the turning point in the story, usually the most exciting part
Commonplace assertion
a statement that many people assume to be true, though it may or may not actually be true
Compare
to study the similarities between two things
Conflict
a struggle or problem that a character in a story must resolve
Context clue
a word, phrase, or sentence in the text around an unfamiliar word that helps you identify the word’s meaning
Contrast
to evaluate the differences between two things
Diagram
an illustration with labels that describes something or shows how it works
Dialogue
what a character is saying
Dictionary
a book or online reference that contains an alphabetical listing of words, including their parts of speech, syllabifications, pronunciations, meanings, and origins
Directions
a set of instructions with multiple steps
Drama
a play written to be performed. The story is divided into acts and scenes, and told with stage directions and dialogue.
Draw conclusions
to use details, facts, and evidence from a text come to a new understanding about a topic or idea
Effect
what happens as a result of an event or action
Epic poetry
lengthy narrative poetry that may tell a story of a great hero or mythical adventure.
Epigraph
a quote set apart from the a body of text at the beginning of a chapter or speech
Exposition
the beginning of the story; introduces the setting, characters, and problem
Extended metaphor
a detailed, complex metaphor that continues through a long section of text
Extraneous information
extra information that is not necessary
Factual claim
a statement that can be verified, independently and objectively with facts, personal observations, reliable sources, or an expert’s findings.
Fallacy
a persuasive technique that does not rely on sound reasoning
Falling action
point in a story where the conflict begins to be resolved
False assumption
the fallacy of an idea or a principle that is untrue
Flowchart
a graphic that shows the sequence of steps in a process, typically with boxes, circles, and arrows
Figurative language
words that express more than their literal meaning
First person
a point of view in which the narrator is a character in the story who reveals personal thoughts and feelings, and cannot reveal the thoughts and feelings of other characters
Graph
a diagram that shows relationships between sets of data; examples: bar graph, line graph
Graphic
a visual representation of information or ideas
Glossary
an alphabetical list of important words or technical terms and their definitions, often found at the back of a nonfiction publication
Illustration
a photograph or drawing related to a text
Incorrect premise
the fallacy of an erroneous basis for a logical statement
Infer
to use details in the passage and what you already know about the topic to make an educated guess about an unstated idea
Leading question
a fallacy in the form of a question that suggests the desired answer or tries to make the audience think in a particular way
Legend
explanatory list of symbols or colors on a graphic
Literary devices
the effective narrative techniques used in literature to produce a specific effect
Loaded term
in persuasive text, a word or phrase that reveals the author’s feelings and rouses the reader’s emotions
Lyric poem
a poem, often short, in which the poet conveys an emotion or paints a word picture of his or her experience in a particular situation
Main idea
the main point a writer wants to communicate with a text
Make inferences
to think about the clues in the text along with your own prior knowledge in order to make an educated guess about an unstated idea
Map
a representation of regions on Earth and their geographical or political features
Media
any platform used to reach a vast audience, such as radio, television, Internet, and newspapers
Metaphor
a type of figurative language that compares two unlike things or ideas by stating that one thing is something else
Motivation
a reason why a character acts the way he or she does
Multiple-meaning word
a word that has more than one meaning
Myth
a story about unreal or immortal characters, often explaining some aspect of the natural world
Narrator
someone who tells the story in a work of fiction
Opinion
a personal belief; a statement that cannot be proven true
Organizational pattern
the logical structure in which text is arranged, such as a sequence, comparison and contrast, problem and solution, or cause and effect
Parallelism
the repetition of phrases that contain similar words or have the same grammatical structure
Paraphrase
to summarize part of or all of a text you read in your own words
Persuasive text
a text in which the author is trying to convince the reader of something
Plot
the sequence of events in fiction or drama
Poetry
structured, imaginative writing. Poetry may have variations in the arrangement of words on the page, the length of the lines of text, or patterns of rhyme and meter
Point of view
in a work of fiction, the narrator’s outlook in relation to the story
Prefix
an affix added to the beginning of a root word
Primary source
something written by a witness at the time an event occurred
Prior knowledge
the information, experiences, ideas, and beliefs that you already have
Problem
a conflict or difficulty
Procedural text
step-by-step instructions for completing a task or project
Prose
ordinary language in the style of everyday speech, with sentences grouped into paragraphs and a continuous flow of text
Resolution
the ending of a story, when the conflict is resolved
Rising action
the bulk of the story, during which the character works to resolve the problem
Root
the main part of a word
Scene
a portion of a play that takes place in one location
Secondary source
something written after an even occurred by someone who didn’t witness the event
Sensory language
language that appeals to one or more of the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch
Sequence
a presentation of information or events in the order in which they happen
Setting
the time and location in which a story takes place
Simile
a type of figurative language that compares two unlike things or ideas by using the word like or as
Solution
a resolution to a conflict or a way of overcoming a difficulty
Stage directions
italicized words in a drama that describe the unspoken parts of a play; where the characters are, how they are acting, and what is happening around them
Subplot
a smaller plot within the main plot or a story
Suffix
an affix added to the end of a root word
Summary
a short restatement of a longer text in the reader’s own words
Supporting detail
an example, reason, fact, or description that backs up the main idea of a text
Synonyms
words that have similar meanings
Table
an arrangement of information in columns and rows
Theme
the central message or lesson of a literary work
Thesaurus
a book or online reference that contains an alphabetical listing of words, including their synonyms and antonyms
Third-person limited
a point of view in which the narrator is not a character in the story but can see into the mind of one of the characters, often the main character
Third-person objective
a point of view in which the narrator cannot see into the minds of any of the characters and tells only what can be directly observed, without passing judgment on what is happening
Third-person omniscient
a point of view in which the narrator is an all-knowing outsider who can see into the minds of all the characters in the story
Timeline
a representation of events in chronological order
Tone
aspects of writing that reveal the emotions that an author brings to a subject. Tone can be positive, negative, or neutral.
Topic sentence
a sentence that states a paragraph’s main idea
Trait
a quality that defines a character