English 10 Pre-AP Vocabulary & Literary Terms

An article or thing of very little value

Repetition of same or similar vowel sounds that end with different consonant sounds

One-dimensional character, showing a single personality trait

Motherly

Complex character, showing many different qualities or personalities

Do something in a haughty way, look down

Loose ends are tied up, story ends

Story deals with civilization, social structure which humans organize themselves

Action begins "in the middle"

A tooth-cleaning compound

Central character who lacks qualities associated with hero

Similar, comparable

Lacking merit or value, unworthiness

ridicule, mocker

No longer produced or used

Calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person or thing

Incapable of being understood

Become friendly with someone after an estrangement

Speaker or character who tells the story

Author's distinctive use of language to convey their personality

Break or interruption

Play in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end

Rising curiosity or anxiety in readers that makes you want to keep reading

Short quotation or saying at beginning of book used to suggest the theme

An account of one's personal life or experiences

The feeling the reader gets from a piece of literature

Difference or contradiction between appearance and reality

Expressing deep hatred

Long narrative poem abou the deeds of gods and heroes

Clues to future events

Lean and muscular

Repetition of consonant sounds before and after different words

Foolish, stupid, silly

Weakness in the tragic hero that leads to their downfall/death

Criticize or reprimand

Detect with the senses

Superior ability or skill

String of flowers

To instruct or enlighten

Make indirect reference

Tight, with no slack

A person who burns property for malicious reasons

Repetition of same or similar consonant sounds

Visual defect

Invented without preparation

Play on words - based on mulitple meanings of a single word

Puppet worked by strings

Clear and brief

Usually the main character who suffers a downfall

Non-living object is given human characteristic

All knowing narrator tells the story about many of the characters

Freed from impurities

Writing or speech that attempts to convince the reader to adopt a particular opinion

Unknown character tells the story, but focuses on thoughts of one character

Powerless

Disbelief

Associations and emotional overtones connected to a word

Description of something in a way that does not include all of the facts or details

14 line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter

Well-fortified position, fortress

Hidden, incomprehensible, undiscoverable

Directness in manner or speech

Character develops, changles, and learns something

Incapable of being affected

Blocked from view

to gather, to store up

Dictionary definition of a word

Placing close together for comparison or contrast

Writing that ridicules the shortcoming of people in order to bring about a change

Formal statement testifying to someone/something's character

Reference to a well-known person, place, or event

Story deals with issues of salvation and damnation

Pack or push something down

Highest point

Descriptive language using the five senses

Caustic language meant to hurt or ridicul

Happen or occur afterward or as a result

Category of literary work characterized by a particular style or form

Mild word substituted for one considered to be too harsh

Introduces characters, setting, conflict

To ease, mitigate

Deviation, moving away from somthing normal

Highest point

Recurring word, phrase, or action which becomes important

Smaller than ordinary

Turning point, main event the entire story is leading up to

An ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept

Use of a comic scene to interrupt a series of intense dramatic moments

Character, place, thing, or event that represents a larger idea

Attitude which is scornful or mocking

Story told in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama

Understood without being spoken

Clues to future events

Suspense decreases, learn impact of climax

To break away

Not straighforward, shifty or crooked

Act of kindness

Sacredness, godliness

A dishonest trick

Method of narration in which present is interrupsted so reader can witness past

Something that happens that directly contradicts what you expected to happen

Fictional tale that describes the actions of gods/heroes to explain nature

Non-living object is given human characteristics

Tendency to behave in a certain way

Noisy and lacking in restraint

Turned to one side, slanting

The reason for a character's behavior

Showing a desire to cause harm

Comparison without using like or as

Reflect deeply on a subject

Attraction or liking for something

Set of facts or circumstances surrounding an event or a situation in a piece of literature

Serving as a sign or indication of something

Statement that expresses a clever obervation or advice

Make or use gestures wildly

Extremely painful

Outcome of the situation is opposite than what was expected

Rhythmical patter determined by the number and types of stresses or beats in a line

Intended to entrap or entice

Use of words that imitate sounds

Reference to a well-known person, place, event or literary work

Moving quickly and lightly

Story or tale with two or more levels of meaning where the characters, setting, are symbolic

statement mostly based on limited knowledge about a large group

Using a minimum of words

Harsh verbal reprimand

An unpleasant noise

Speech by a single character without another character's response while others are on stage

Close in time, about to occur

Suspense increases, learn more about characters and conflict

Free of deceit, innocent

Shadow that covers with darkness and gloom

Sentence structure

Verbal charm or spell

Obedient or attentive to a servile degree

To spread over or through something

Mythological bird fabeled to burn itself on a funeral pyre

Not susceptible or responsive

Also called unrhymed iambic pentameter

Not noticeable or not attracting attention

Character remains the same and does not change

Time and place of a story

Disgusting, highly offensive

A furnace for destroying things by burning them

Long speech made by a character while no other characters are on stage

Ordinary form of spoken or written language

Phrase that stands for something other than its literal meaning

The author tells the story to teach a lesson, usually one about good and evil

Short musical narrative  - song or poem

To compel somebody to do something

Strong disapproval

Contradictory terms or words

Casual disrespect, rude

Central message or insight about human life

Situations, characters, images are so common that they have universal importance

Speaker or writer's choice of words

Readily or plainly seen

Character struggles with his or her opposing desires, beliefs

Attitude the writer takes toward the subject of a work, characters, or the audience

Not transparent

Informal speech or everyday language

Choices an author makes when writing - such as diction, syntax, and other devices

Providing no shelter or sustenance

Influence by slyness

Brief story told to entertain or make a point

Home or residence

Character struggles against an outside force

Opponent who struggles against the hero or protagonist

Persuasive speaking or writing

The provision of light to make something visible or bright

Short story to tell a moral lesson often with animals

Give as a gift

Belonging to a particular region

An author's main reason for writing

Go somewhere or do something unusual

Expression whose meaning is not understood from literal translation

An authoritative statement, order, decree

Public show of respect or honor

Incredible exaggeration

Feeling regret for one's sins

Rise and fall in pitch of the voice

A speaker of several languages

Poetry not written in regular pattern or meter or rhyme

To make clear, to explain

Calmly, quietly

When the audience knows something that the characters do not

Turbuenly like a storm

To cause something to scatter in different directions

Questioning, prying

Something not human given human characteristics

Impudent

Repetition using the same sentence structure or verb tense

Warm and friendly

When someone says one thing but really means something else

Promising, favorable

Story or tale with two or more levels of meaning

Absorbing, changing to conform

Liveliness and eagerness

Central character who drives the action

When you say one thing, but mean the opposite

Comparison between two or more things that are similar in some way and unalike in others

Deserving to be treated with disdain

Author gives clues about a character by descring what the character looks like, does, and says

The author directly tells the reader what the character is like

Narrator speaks with I and is a character in the story

A preference, preferred way

Comparison using like or as

Error in reasoning that makes argument false

Audience knows or understands something that the characters in the play do not

Statment that is contradictory but is actually true

Make the situation less important or serious

To bring under control and fovernance as a subject

Almost always silent

Reference to a well-known person, place, event, etc

A representation or image, a likeness

The tragic flaw of overwhelming pride

Words spoken by an actro directly to the audience

Character who provides a contrast to another character

Growth or productiveness