Week One:

Literature: Compositions that tell stories (fiction), dramatize situations (performance literature), express emotions (poetry) and analyze ideas (nonfiction).

Grammar: The study of the structure of a language.

Genre: A distinctive type of literature: ex: fiction, drama, poetry

Sentence: A group of words that expresses a complete thought.

Fiction:  Literature works that describe imaginary people and events.

Fragment: A group of words that expresses an incomplete thought.  Missing either subject, verb, or both.

Nonfiction:  Writings that convey factual information – real people, real events.

Subject:  Names the person, place, thing, or idea that the sentence is about.

Predicate:  Also known as the verb; tells something about the subject.  Either action or linking.

Week Two:

Poetry:  Literary works written in verse.

Pronoun:  Takes the place of a noun in a sentence.

Drama: Works written for performance on stage, television, movies, or radio.

Short Story: Work of prose fiction that is shorter than a novel or a novella.

Adverb: Describes a verb, adjective, or adverb.  Answers questions: “how?” “where?” “when?” and “to what extent?”

Prose:  Ordinary style of writing.  Example: newspapers, magazines, novels, essays.

Preposition:  Shows the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word in the sentence.

Week Three:

Science Fiction:  Futuristic fiction using an aspect of science as a plot essential.

Conjunction:  Words that connect words or groups of words.  Example: and, or, but

Mystery: Fiction dealing with a mysterious crime.

Interjection:   Words that show high emotion – No!  Watch Out!

Biography:  Someone’s life story written by another.

Autobiography: A self-written life story.

Essay:  Short piece of nonfiction that examines a single subject from a limited point of view.

Diagramming: A plan, a drawing, or outline designed to demonstrate or explain how something works or relates as a whole.

Week Four:

Character:  One of the people portrayed in a piece of fiction or performance literature (drama).

Complement:  Word that completes the meaning of an action verb.

Theme:  Message of a literary work.

Direct Object:  A noun or pronoun that receives the verb’s action.

Setting: Time and place of a story or play.

Indirect Object:  Answers the question “to whom” or “for whom” to the direct object.

Point of View:  Who is telling the story?

Object Complement:  modifies or describes the direct object and comes after the direct object in the sentence.

Week Five:

Plot:  What happens in the story.

Irony:  The difference between what appears to be and what really is.

Protagonist:  The main character

Antagonist:  The character who plays opposite the main character.

Simile:  Comparison of unlike objects using like, as, or resembles.

Metaphor:  Comparison of two unlike objects by saying one IS the other.

Personification:  Giving human characteristics to an animal, object, or idea.

Tone:  The author’s attitude:  objective, playful, sad, serious, formal, comical

Week Six:

Mood: Overall feeling or atmosphere created for the reader.

Foreshadowing:  Hints about what may happen in the future.

Resolution:  The outcome; how it all ends up.

Dialogue:  Written conversation between two or more characters.  Single character performs a soliloquy.

Flashback:  Interrupts the story to relate an event that happened in the past.

Dialect:  A way of speaking that is unique to a group of people.

Comic Relief:  Comedy (or character) in a story that is there to ease the tension.  Ex: the nurse in Romeo and Juliet

Symbolism:  A symbol stands for an idea: EX A road could symbolize life’s journey.

Week Seven:

Imagery:  Language that appeals to the senses.

Inverted:  Reversal of the normal word order of a sentence.

Rhyme:  Repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them.  EX: choice and voice

Antecedent:  The word that a pronoun refers to in a sentence.

Rhythm:  Musical quality in language produced by repetition.

Tense: Indicates the time of the action or the state of being expressed by the verb.

Hyperbole:  Figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion or to create a comic effect.

Passive Voice:  A verb expressing action received by the subject.