Reading OAA Vocabulary Words
Abbreviation: commonly known, shortened words
Analyze: to separate into parts, to identify it or study its structure
Antonym: a word that has an opposite meaning to another word
Atlas: a book of maps
Almanac: a book of facts that is published every year
Author's purpose: the reason the author wrote a selection (to explain, to inform, to entertain, to
persuade)
Beginning, middle, end: a sequence of how a story happened
Benefit: an advantage or good thing
Cause: Is something that makes something else happen
Central Idea: same as the main idea; it is sometimes stated this way
Character Trait: word or words decsribing a character. (kind, silly, smart, mean)
Climax: the most exciting part of a story or novel
Compare: to find the similarities of two or more things
Complete: finish
Conflict: problem in a story the characters need to solve
Context Clues: wordfs found in the text that the reader can use to help him or her figure out the
meaning of an unknown word.
Contrast: to find the differences of two or more things
Copy Right Date: the date that the book was written. Can help the reader know if the source is reliable
with current information.
Data: information; usually in number form
Define: explain what a word means
Definition: what a word means, some words have more than one definition
Describe: tell about the given subject using details, (for example; what happened, what does it look like)
Describe two ways: to tell two different ways something happened
Detail: particular piece of information that supports the main idea
Dictionary: a book with words and their meanings. arranged in alphabetical order.
Draw Conclusions: using what you have read to come to a conclusion or decision
Effect: Is the result of the cause
Encyclopedia: a set of books of general facts and information about a variety of topics. arranged in
alphabetical order.
Entertain: to amuse; for fun
Evaluate: form an opinion about something's value (good/bad, etc)
Explain your answer: Use details to tell why you chose that answer
Examine: inspect or look at closely
Fact: A statement that can be proven true or false
Figurative Language: a way of saying something other than the literal meaning of the words
(examples, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, personification, idiom)
Formulate: develop, come up with, put into words
Genre: the type and style of the selection; could be fiction or nonfiction (needs to be as specific as
possible, historical fiction, realistic fiction, fantasy, folk tale, biography, informational, etc.)
Autobiography: genre of nonfiction that tells about a person’s life, the book was written by the
actual person
Biography: genre of nonfiction that tells about a person’s life, the book was written by someone
else.
Fantasy: a genre of books that contain parts about magical creatures, faraway lands, monsters,
etc.
Fable: a genre of books that usually involves animals and teaches the reader a moral or lesson.
Fiction: a story or tale that is made up from the author’s mind
Historical Fiction: a story that has made up characters and events, but the setting, famous
characters or major story events are real and from the past (example; The Boy in the Striped
Pajamas, Liberty’s Kids [TV show])
Mystery: A book with characters that are involved in a puzzle. There are clues and something
that must be figured out.
Nonfiction: A selection that is entirely based on real people and/or events, none of it is from
someone’s imagination. Usually meant to inform the reader.
Poem/Poetry: A short piece of writing that usually contains rhyme, rymthm, stanzas, lines,
figurative language, and a beat (but sometimes it doesn’t have any of those), it is meant to paint a
picture with words and express a feeling.
Realisitic fiction: a story that could really happen, but is still made up from the writer’s
imagination, no elements of fantasy or magic.
Science Fiction: A story with unusual happenings that seem impossible but are based on
scientific fact. It often takes place in the future.
Glossary: A list of words and definitions used in the book. It is located at the back of a book.
Graphic organizers: a way to organize data (examples; maps, charts, graphs, tables), students may
need to use them to determine an answer or use them to organize their own answer
Homograph: words that have the same spelling but different meanings and sound (example; live-to
exsist & live-watching something as it is happening)
Homonym: Words that have the same sound and spelling but different meanings (example; nickel-a
chemical element & nickel-5 cent coin)
Homophone: words that sound the same, but have different spelling (example; would & wood, bear &
bare, to & too & two)
Hyperbole: an over-exaggerated statement (example; I have said it a thousand times; he was running,
like, a million miles an hour)
Idiom: a sentence or phrase whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the actual words
(example; out of the blue; spill the beans, cat have your tongue)
Index: gives you the exact location of specific topics and information in a book. It is located at the back
of the book.
Infer: come to a conclusion or form an opinion by using clues from the text (these conclusions go
beyond the obvious given facts)
Inference: to infer from a pasage or text
Inform: to explain something using facts
Irrelevant information: a statement or sentence that has little or nothing to do with the rest of the
text. Having irrelevant information might confuse a reader.
Relevant information: a statement or sentence that is on topic and relates to the rest of the text. This
statement might give important information.
Main Idea: what the selection is about; tells more than just a topic
For example; the topic might be jelly fish, but the main idea of a selection would be something like
jellyfish that can stand the cold waters of Antarctica.
Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action that it does
mean literally
Mood: how the story or poem makes the reader feel (usually done through specific words and
descriptions of the setting)
Number these events in the order that they happened: Put these events in sequential order
Opinion: A statement that is based on feelings or emotions; cannot be proven
Personification: Giving human characteristics to non-human things (example; my stomach is telling me
its hungry)
Persuade: to try and influence someone to do or think a certain way
Plot: the main events in a story, including the climax and reolution.
Point of View: how the narrator presents the information
1st person – A character in the story is telling the story
3rd person – A narrator not in the story is telling the story
Predict: Make an educated guess of what is going to take place
Prefix: an addition to a word that goes at the beginning of a base word to change the meaning of the
word
Resolution: how the character(s) solve the problem or conflict
Root or Base Word: Does not have any prefix or suffix added to it
Select: Pick from different choices
Selection: the story or passage that is to be read
Sequence: Placing things in an order; could be the way they happened in a story; set of directions,
chronological (time), numerical (number)
Setting: Where and when the story took place
Simile: a type of figurative language that comparies two things using like or as
Speaker: the person telling a story, also called the narrator. This could also be the person saying a
quote.
Stanza: A set of lines in a poem. A stanza to a poem is like a paragraph to an essay.
State: Clearly give an opinion or information
Subheading: A title or heading that tells what the selection will be about
Suffix: the part of a word at the end that changes the meaning of the root word
Summarize: to make a summary; restate in a shorter way; give only main points
Support (or Supporting Details): back up your answer with examples and details; Give a quote from
the text; find evidence
Synonym: a word that has a similar meaning to another word
Table of Contents: tells the chapter titles in a book. It is located at the front of the book.
Theme: what we learn from a story that we can apply to our own lives; theme could be as simple as
“bravery” or a complex as “sometimes bad things can make good things happen”
Thesaurus: a book that lists words in groups of synonyms and related concepts.
Timeline: sequencing events by the time or date that they happened