KEY Name:______

Period:______

English 7

Literary Elements Terms

Literary Term / Notes
Plot / The sequence of events in a story, in chronological
order
Setting / Where and when a story takes place
Theme / The central idea or message of a work of literature
Foreshadowing / Hints or clues the author gives that something is
going to happen
Conflict / The struggle between opposing forces in a story
Internal: Conflict happens within someone
External: Conflict that takes place outside of someone
Types of Conflict / Person vs person Person vs self
Person vs society Person vs fate
Person vs nature
Exposition / Characters, setting and conflict are introduced
Rising Action / Conflict and suspense builds up to the main problem
Climax
Turning Point / The conflict of the story reaches the peak or turning
point
Falling Action / The suspense of the story lessens, the conflict is or
begins to be settled
Resolution / The outcome of the story is decided
Inference
Prediction / A reasonable guess
Types of
Characterization: / Protagonist: The main character of the story (hero)
Antagonist: Person/thing working against the
protagonist
Static: Characters that stay the same throughout the
story
Dynamic: Characters that changed from the beginning
to the end of the story
Major: The most important characters in a story
Minor: The less important characters in a story
Point of View / First Person: Story is told by one of the characters in the
story
Third Person: Story is told by a narrator who stands
outside the story and observes events as they unfold
Omniscient: The narrator knows all of the actions,
feelings and motivations of all characters
Limited: The narrator knows of only one or a few
characters
Objective: The narrator reports neutrally on
characters with no interpretation of their actions
Genre / The name used to identify the category or type of
literature
Fiction / Made-up or imaginary happenings as opposed to
statements of fact or nonfiction
Non-fiction / A narrative work that reports true events
Drama / A composition that is meant to be performed
Biography / The story of a person’s life, written by another person
Symbolism / The use of something concrete (person, place, object)
that signifies something more than just itself;
something abstract to bring meaning or emphasis
Personification / Figurative language that gives animals, objects or ideas
human qualities
Flashback / A jump back in time in a story; in the middle of one
scene, you’re taken back to an earlier time
Mood / The feeling about a scene or a subject created by an
author’s selection of words and details (suspenseful,
romantic, etc.)
Tone / A writer’s attitude or manner of expression (serious,
angry, detached, etc.)
Imagery / Language that appeals to the 5 senses to present objects,
express ideas and describe feelings
Author’s Style/Purpose / The reason for creating a body of work – to explain,
inform, entertain, persuade, enlighten, etc.
Bias / A leaning toward one side in an argument. To be
unbiased is to be neutral
Irony / A figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the
opposite of the stated meaning (saying one thing and
meaning another)
Metaphor / A figure of speech that makes a comparison without the
word “like” or “as”
Simile / A figure of speech that compares two unlike things
using “like” or “as”
Hyperbole / Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis or humor
Idioms / A common phrase made up of words that can’t be
understood by their literal meaning (ie. “Raining cats
and dogs”)
Style / The way the author used words, phrases and sentences
to express their ideas (word choice, sentence structure,
etc.)
Oxymoron / Opposites used jointly to describe something
(ie. “jumbo shrimp”)
Autobiography / A form of nonfiction in which a person tells his or her
own life story
Alliteration / Words in a series beginning with the same sounds
Slang / Made up word or words that have changed in meaning
Round Character / A character with many traits – a well-rounded character
that exhibits many sides of their character/personality
Flat Character / A character with few traits – a one-sided or stereotypical
character
Parody / Something that makes fun of or mocks a real situation,
person or thing
Context Clues / Clues within a sentence or paragraph that help define an
unknown word
Mystery / A type of genre that includes: mood, suspense,
premise, motivation, conflict, red herring, mistaken
identity, murder, denouement, clues