READING VOCABULARY

  1. Conflict- the struggle or problem faced by the characters in the story
  2. Setting- where and when a story takes place
  3. Character- a person, animal or inanimate object featured in a story
  4. Antonyms-words that mean the opposite
  5. Text Evidence- words from the passage that prove your answer to a question
  6. Author’s Purpose- the reason the author wrote the passage- to entertain, inform, or persuade
  7. Inference- what the author wants you to derive from the clues in the

storyand from your own knowledge and experience

(It will NOT be written in black and white)

b

  1. Climax- in fiction, the point at which the conflict is addressed by the main character(s), the most exciting part of the story
  2. Theme – the central idea or meaning of a story or article
  3. Synonyms- words that have the same, or almost the same meaning
  4. Metaphor- an implied comparison of two different things without using the words “like”

or “as”

  1. Compare and Contrast- writing what is the same and different between- characters, stories, passages, and /or

objects, animals and places.

  1. Transition Words-words or phrases that show relationships between ideas. Transitions are sometimes called signal words. These words give the reader a clue about what comes next in the passage and helps writing flow.
  2. Summarization- to retell all the important parts in a story in a much shorter space and in your own words
  1. Context Clues- a word, words or phrase in a sentence or paragraph that helps the reader to reason out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
  2. Personification- figurative language that gives human qualities to animals and objects
  3. Plot- the main series of events in a story
  4. Connotation- the feeling that is associated with the word
  5. Genre- a category used to classify literary and musical work. What type is it??
  6. Couplet- two successive rhyming lines that appear together in poetry
  7. Drama- a type of writing meant to be performed; such as a

play

  1. Dialogue-the conversation between or among characters in a

literary work

  1. Point of View-the narrator’s perspective from which the story

story is told. (e.g., first-person, third-person, etc.)

  1. Sequence- the following of one after the other
  2. Cause & Effect- method of writing organization in which the

writer analyzes both the reasons and the results of

an action, event, or trend.

  1. Stereotype-taking the quality of one individual and applying it

to all individuals in that group.

Example- All tall people are good at basketball.

  1. Onomatopoeia- a word that represents a sound
  2. Text Feature- items added to a text to improve understanding

(e.g., bold print, italics, pictures, maps, labels,

charts, headings, related articles, etc.)

  1. Biography- a written account of another person’s life
  2. Audience- the intended readers of a piece of writing
  3. Glossary-the dictionary in the back of the book
  4. Persuade- writing to convince or sway another person’s belief

or opinion

  1. Prefix/Suffix- a group of letters added to the beginning(prefix)

or ending(suffix) of a root word that changes the

meaning of the word.

  1. Homophones-words that sound alike but are spelled

differently and mean different things. Examples;

to,two,too; pare,pair,pear

  1. Alliteration-the repetition of beginning sounds in a line of

poetry

  1. Simile-a direct comparison of two unlike things, using either

“like” or “as” as a connecting word

  1. Homographs- a word that has multiple meanings and

occasionally is pronounced differently depending on

the use of the word.

  1. Narrator-a person, animal, or thing telling the story or giving

an account of something.

  1. Exposition-usually starts the story and describes the situation before any action starts. The purpose of expositions is to give the reader important background information. This is where the characters, the setting, and the main conflict are usually described.
  2. Hyperbole- an exaggeration or overstatement (e.g., I had to

wait forever).