English 2:Common Assessment #1

Literal Language Def. Language meant to be taken

seriously and literally EX. • Life is unpredictable. • The children will not stop moving in

their desks.• My alarm clock needs to be set on

high in order to wake me up.• My backpack is really heavy.

Figurative Language Def. Language that communicates

meanings beyond the literal meanings of words

Ex. Simile, Metaphor, Personification, Hyperbole “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know

what you are going to get.” “The children are squirming worms in their

desks.” “My alarm clock has to scream at the top of its

lungs to wake me up.” “My backpack weighs a million pounds today.”

Simile

Def. A comparison using like or as Ex. Float like a butterfly, sting like a

bee.

Metaphor

Def. A comparison of two unlike things

Ex. The teachers are angry gorillas.

Personification

Def. Giving human qualities to non-human things, such as animals and objects

Ex. The dog laughed when the mailman ran for safety.

Hyperbole

Def. An extreme exaggeration EX. Teachers always say they have

tons of papers to grade.

Sensory Detail/Imagery

Def. Details that appeal to the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. The details create an image in the reader’s mind.

Ex. The plump, hairless, old man baked a most delicious chocolate fudge seven-layer cake.

Point of View

Def. The perspective in which something is written

Ex. First person, Second person, Third person, Third person limited, third person omniscient

First Person

Def. - The writer uses personal pronouns “I, me, mine, my, we, our”; the narrator is also a character in the plot who is telling the story

EX. Autobiographies are written in the first person p.o.v.

Second Person

Def. The writer is aware of the audience. He uses pronouns “you, your, yours” to speak to the audience

Ex. Persuasive pieces usually are written in the second person to convince the reader to do something

Third Person

Def. The writer tells his position while excluding himself from the arguments using third person pronouns: “he, she, they, them, him, her, one, society, people, a person, …”

EX. In formal writing, authors often write in the third person p.o.v.

Third Person Limited Def. The narrator or author takes an

outside look on the story or writing piece. He uses pronouns “he, they, she , them, their, and so on” to tell the story or offer information; he is telling the story from only one of the character’s perspective

Ex. The reader can only see what the narrator sees.

Third Person Omniscient

Def. This is the narrator that knows everything about everyone—even all of their feelings and thoughts

Ex. Known as the Santa Claus or God-like narrator

Tone

Def. The attitude the writer gives his writing

Ex. The tone can be serious, hilarious, sarcastic, angry, sad…

Mood

Def. The atmosphere or feelings created for the reader

Ex. The author can create a romantic, scary, or humorous mood.

Theme

Def.- The message or moral of the story. What does the author want his readers to learn or pay attention to?

Ex. Johnny Got His Gun, 1984, and Anthem, all have the common theme of individual versus society.

Setting

Def. – The time and place a story takes place

Ex. A story can be set in the past, present, or future, and take place anywhere imaginable.

Plot Def. – A series of events. Plot consists of 5

parts. Ex. Climax Falling Action Rising Action Resolution

Exposition

Exposition

Def. The first part of plot; introduces setting, characters, and conflict.

Ex. Christmas Eve, 14 years old, the boy I like is coming over and my mom is serving Chinese food

Rising Action

Def. – the second part of the plot where a series of events build suspense.

Ex. My relatives are embarrassing me with their lack of manners, and the boy I like is making ugly faces at the food my mother is serving

Climax

Def. The highest point of action in the plot; the turning point

Ex. My dad offers me a piece of the fish’s cheek and I want to die because he calls it my “favorite”

Falling Action

Def. The conflict is resolved in the plot

Ex. My mom gives me a mini skirt I wanted and says I shouldn’t try to be anyone but who I am

Resolution

Def. All loose ends in the plot are resolved; usually, the author will express what should be learned from the experience

Ex. I realize that I shouldn’t be ashamed of my culture

Methods of Characterization

Direct comments by narrator Physical descriptions Thoughts, speech, actions How characters interact

Conflict

Def. The problem or struggle a character or characters face in the plot—they work to resolve the conflict throughout the plot

Ex. A character can be faced with internal and external conflicts

Internal Conflict

Def. A struggle in the character’s mind

Ex. Suicide, depression, guilt, a difficult choice/decision the character must make…

External Conflict

Def. A problem a character has with an outside force: another character, natural disaster, or society

Ex. A character is being bullied, suffers a hurricane, or is on trial for a crime he did not commit

Flashback

Def. The plot goes back in time EX. The movie, The Notebook, is set

in the present time, but often goes back to the past when the two main characters met and fell in love as adolescents.

Flash Forward

Def. The plot jumps into the future EX. In the movie, The Sandlot, the

storyline jumps to future at the end of the plot to find adult Smalls is a sports announcer and adult Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez plays for the Dodgers.

Infer/Inference

Def. a logical guess based on clues Ex. You can infer that the narrator

does not think blondes are intelligent if she says, “All blondes have an IQ of a peanut.”

Purpose (PIE) Def. Why did the author write what

he wrote? Ex.

Persuade Inform/Explain Entertain

There are other purposes for writing, but these are the most popular

Audience Def. Who the author intends to read

their writing EX. If a little kid is writing a Dear

Santa letter, that child intends for Santa to be the audience.

EX. If a politician writes a speech about changing a law, the intended audience are citizens that are old enough to vote

Autobiographical Narrative

Def. An essay written about oneself by oneself; it follows the five parts of plot and other literary elements

Ex. An essay about an embarrassing

moment An essay about your scariest experience

Biographical Narrative

Def. An essay written about someone else; it contains the five parts of plot and other literary elements

Ex. You write about your hero You write about a person who has had a

negative effect on your life

Persuasive Essay

Def. An essay in which the author tries to persuade his audience

Ex. A student tries to convince school

officials to ban uniforms A local government tries to convince

citizens to recycle

Response to Literatureor Literary Analysis Essay

Def. An essay that analyzes literature: a poem, song, play, story, novel, article, and so on

Ex. An essay analyzing 1984’s main theme An essay comparing the symbols

between two poems

Expository Essay

Def. An open ended essay; the prompt usually allows the writer a choice; 5 paragraph essay structure

EX. For instance, you can have your choice of historical events, historical people, rules, characteristics, qualities, and so on, to write about

Business Letter

Def. A formal letter that follows strict formatting guidelines such as 12 font, single space, left alignment, a skipped line between major parts of letter

EX. You could be asked to write a letter to your principal, the president, your local newspaper, and so on…

Thesis

Def. A statement that has the writer’s opinion. It is located in the introduction (usually the last sentence of this paragraph) and the entire essay supports it.

Ex. High school students should wear uniforms to school as it promotes education, offers a safe environment to learn, and builds a sense of community.

Topic Sentence

Def. Is the first sentence in a body paragraph. It contains an opinion that supports the thesis statement

Ex. Uniforms benefit schools as they create a sense of community.

Commas and FANBOYS

Combine sentences with a comma and a conjunction (FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)

EX. I like to play all sports, but I don’t like watching them all on T.V.

Semi-colon

Def. Combines two sentences that are related to each other

Ex. I love The Beatles; their music is amazingly great.

Homework sucks; however, I know it helps me learn new concepts.

He is mean; he yells at everyone.

Colon

Def. There are several uses for a colon, the post popular use is when introducing a list of items

EX. This year I am taking five AP classes: AP Spanish Literature, AP English Language, AP US History, AP Psychology, and AP Chemistry.

Dash

Def. is used to create a pause that interrupts a thought

EX. I woke up late and got ready as fast as I could—I can’t believe I didn’t realize it was Saturday!

Hyphenated Modifier

Combines words to create an adjective

Ex. He gave me the I’m-going-to-kill-you look.

She walked around with the I’m-so-beautiful-and-I-know-it look on her face.

Dialogue Punctuation Def. A line of dialogue needs a speaker

tag, a comma separating the speaker tag and dialogue, quotations marks before and after dialogue, the first letter in dialogue needs to be capitalized, and end marks go inside the end quotation marks

EX. Danica screamed across the crowded room, “I love you!”

“I love you too!” her boyfriend yelled back.

MLA Rules 12 Font Times New Roman 1” Margins (Top, Bottom, Right, Left) Double Space Header: Last Name and Page #: Upper

Right Hand Corner of Page Smith 1

Heading: Upper Left Hand Corner of Page John Smith Ms. Jones English 2 12 October 2009