Nonfiction Vocabulary Terms

Name______Date______Core______

Poetry Terms

TERM / DEFINITION / EXAMPLE
Alliteration / Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. It gives emphasis to words.
Form / A poem’s appearance- as it looks on the page.
Imagery / Description that allows a reader to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste the scene described in the work.
Metaphor
Simile / Comparing two unlike things without
Using “like” or “as”
Comparing two unlike things with
“like” or “as”
Onomatopoeia / Use of a word or phrase that actually imitates or suggests the sound of what is being described.
Personification / An animal, object or idea is given human form or characteristics.
Repetition / The recurrence of sounds, words, phrases,
lines, or stanzas
Rhyme Scheme / The pattern of a poem that uses end rhyme.
Rhythm / The pattern created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Stanza / A group of lines forming a unit in a poem. Stanzas are the paragraphs of a poem.
Symbol / When a person, a place, anobject or an action stands for something else.
Theme / A poem’s central or mainidea that gives insight about life or human nature.
Narrative Poetry / Poem that tells a story.
Free Verse / Poetry that has fixed pattern, meter, rhyme, line length or stanzaarrangement.
Mood / The atmosphere created by the poem. It also relates to how the reader emotionallyresponds like sadness to a tragedy

Story Terms

TermDefinitionExample

Plot / The series of events in a short story
Exposition / Introduces the characters, setting, and conflict in a short story.
Rising Action / The conflict is introduced in the rising action of a short story. Rising actions lead to the climax.
Climax / The turning point of a story, the point of highest excitement in the story.
Falling Actions / Leads to the resolution of a short story.
Resolution / Where the conflict of the short story is resolved.
Conflict / The problem in the short story.
Inciting Incident / The first event in the plot to begin the rising action; when the conflict is introduced.
Setting / The time and place a story takes place.
Mood / The emotional quality or atmosphere in a story. The intended emotion the reader is supposed to get from a text.
Tone / The attitude of the speaker as communicated through word choice and style.
Theme / A story’s main or central idea that gives insight about human life or nature
Genre / A type of literature or writing
Dialect / The way people talk in a specific area.
Flashback / A scene within a story that interrupts the sequence of events to relate events that occurred in the past.
Foreshadowing / The use of clues to prepare readers for events that will happen later in the story.
Symbolism / When a person, place, object, or action stands for something else, usually an idea
Internal conflict / Struggle that occurs within the mind of a character such as making a tough decision
External conflict / Struggle that occurs between the character and an outside force
Character motivation / The reasons why a character acts or makes decisions
Irony / When the opposite occurs from what is expected
Protagonist / the main character of the story
Antagonist / the character or force that opposes the main character
Flat character / A character who has only one personality trait
Round character / A character who has many personality traits
Static character / A character who stays the same throughout a novel
Dynamic character / A character who grows and changes throughout a novel
Direct characterization / When the author uses direct words to describe another character. The author come right out and tells you that the character is mean.
Indirect characterization / When the reader must infer from a character’s actions his personality. The author has the character beat up a little kid to show you that he is mean
Figurative Language / Language that is not intended to be understood in the actual or realistic sense. Language that often compares things in imaginative ways.
Literal Language / Language intended to be understood as it is.
Point of View / The relationship of the narrator to the story.
First Person POV / The narrator is one of the characters; the narrator will use the pronouns I, me, we, and we.
Third Person POV / The narrator is an unnamed person who may/may not be one of the characters in the story; narrator uses the pronouns he, she, and they.
Third Person Omniscient POV / The narrator is outside of the story (not a character) and knows/reveals what all the characters in the story are thinking and feeling.
Third Person Limited POV / The narrator reveals the thoughts of only one character, but refers to the character as he or she.

Nonfiction Vocabulary Terms

Definition of Nonfiction: factual prose writing that deals with real people and experiences

Type or Form / Traits / Author’s Purpose
Autobiography/Biography / -Written about a person’s life or one main event.
-Has a plot and can be read in one sitting or have many chapters / To entertain
To inform
Essay / -Can be based on research or personal experience
-Read in one sitting
-Written in paragraph form/usually about 5 or more paragraphs / To inform
To persuade
To entertain
Editorial / -Focuses on one topic/main idea
-Gives opinion
-Written in paragraphs / To inform
To persuade
Speech / -Focuses on one topic/main idea
-Oral presentation
-Researched or personal experience
-Written in paragraphs / To inform
To persuade
To entertain
Newspaper Article / -Short
-Read in one sitting
-Focuses on one topic/main idea
-Shouldn’t be biased but often is / To inform
To persuade
TERM / DEFINITION
Author’s Purpose / The intention of the writer; the purpose may be to entertain, inform,describe, persuade, or a combination of these purposes
Fact / Something that is known to be true and can most likely be proven
Opinion / Personal _feelings or thoughts; difficult to prove.
Author’s Background / Personal information about the author that helps the reader understand the author’s point of view
Historical Context / References to past events in a nonfiction work; historical background (when, where)
Bias / When an author shows personal opinions. These are oftenpreformed opinions based on someone’s background that affect the way the author thinks and speaks.
Emotional Language / Loaded words that impact the reader’s thoughts_/feelings
Semantic Slanting / A verbal technique often relying on emotional language that the author uses to influence the reader’s opinion.
Inference / To read between the lines to make an educated guess
Drawing conclusions / Making judgments about what has happened or what you have learned about what you are reading based on the text
Primary Source / A source that provides original or firsthand account of an event (example: diary, letters, photographs, artifacts)
Secondary Source / A source that provides an analysis, explanation, or description of an event without its author having been present. (example: news articles, biography, encyclopedia)
Claim / Apresentation of an idea as fact; a thesis; an opinion supported by evidence
Argument / An attempt to persuade someone of something by giving reasons or evidence for accepting a particular conclusion.
Propaganda / A form of communication aimed at swaying or influencing your attitude toward or away from some cause or position
Denotation / the explicit ordirectmeaning of a word.
Connotation / the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning.