Literary Terms

Name_______________________

Plot

• PLOT:Plot is the action of a story. It is the series of

related events that the author describes from the beginning of the story to the end. Most plots follow a chronological order. In other words, they proceed in the order in which the events happen.

Plot

Plot is the literary element that describes the structure of a story. It shows arrangement of events and actions within a story.

Theme

• A writer’s message, or main point, is the theme of his or her literary work. Looking for a theme helps you look more deeply into the literature and makes for more enjoyable reading.

• You will need to infer what the theme is from the work’s title, key scenes, characters, symbols, and plot events.

The time and place of the story is the setting

The point of view is the perspective of the story

“That rotten wolf tried to eat us!!!!”

“I was framed! I just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar!”

Great stories have a conflict

Man vs. Man

Man vs. Nature Man vs. Society Man vs. HimselfMan vs. Machine

CHARACTER:

A character is a person, an animal, or an imaginary creature that takes part in the action of a story. Sometimes the author will directly describe a character’s appearance, personality, or feelings. Other times the author will leave clues and expect you to draw conclusions about what the person or animal is like.

MetaphorA Metaphor is a type of speech that compares or

equates two or more things that have something in common. A metaphor does NOT use like or as.

Example: Life is a bowl of cherries.

The girl was a fish in the water.

The clown was a feather floating away.

SimileA Simile is another figure of speech that

compares seemingly unlike things. Simile’s DO use the words like or as.

Example: Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

I am hungry as a horse.

                                                       

You run like a rabbit.

                                                                                                                                           

He is sneaky as a snake.

She is happy as a clam.

Idiom: A phrase that can be traced to a specific area.

• Examples:• “I have a bone to pick with her!”• “High five!”• “He woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”• “The early bird gets the worm.”

PersonificationPersonification is a figure

of speech in which an animal, object, force of nature, or idea is given human qualities or characteristics.

Example: Tears began to fall from the dark

clouds.

                                                            

The flowers danced in the wind.

The Earth coughed and choked in all of the pollution.

The friendly gates welcomed us.

AlliterationAlliteration is the repetition of sounds, most

often consonant sounds, at the beginning of words. Alliteration gives emphasis to words.

Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

Hyperbole:A huge exaggeration. For

example, “Dan’s the funniest guy on the planet!” or “That baseball

card is worth a zillion dollars!”

Onomatopoeia:The use of words that sound like what they mean such as “buzz.”

Context• When authors write, they often include

context clues to the meaning of words they use but think that some of their readers may not know. The context clue is usually presented in the sentence or paragraph in which the word occurs. Sometimes a visual such as a picture is provided.

• http://www.how-to-study.com/study-skills/en/language-arts/3/building-vocabulary-using-context-clues-to-learn-word-meaning/

Context Example

• The author includes a definition to help the reader understand the meaning of a word. In the following example, "tainted" is defined as having a disease.

• The people of the town were warned not to eat the tainted fish. The local newspaper published a bulletin in which readers were clearly told that eating fish that had a disease could be very dangerous. This was especially true for fish caught in Lake Jean.

Resolution

• The solution of the conflict• The end of the story