English 10 Provincial Exam
Examinable Terms
Instructions
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Each slide is labeled with a literary term.
First, try to come up with a definition of the term.
Then, click to reveal the definition.
Next, try to develop an example of the term.
Click to reveal an example.
Definitions gathered from multiple on-line and print sources.
Need further clarification? Please ask your English teacher.
Alliteration
• Repetition of sounds at the beginning of
words
•“My love is like a red, red rose.”
- Burns
Protagonist
• The hero of the story or main character
Scout is the protagonist of To Kill A
Mockingbird
Metaphor
• Compares two things by saying one thing
IS another thing. It does not use “like” or
“as”
Eyes are windows to the soul.
Flashback
• The author describes something that
happened before the main narrative
In The Lord of the Rings, the narrative
is broken to reveal how Gollum
originally found the ring.
Sonnet
• A 14 line poem popularized by
Shakespeare. Generally, sonnets have a
rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg
My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun
- Shakespeare
Tone / Mood
• Tone: The speaker’s attitude toward the subject.
Don’t confuse the speaker with the author or the poet.
• Mood: The feeling the reader has from reading the
literature. Tone and mood do not necessarily match. For
example, the android in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is
depressed about everything in life. The reader, however,
will most likely feel as though this is funny and will not
share his feelings of depression and sadness.
Ballad
• A short narrative poem with stanzas of two
or four lines and usually a refrain. It
frequently deals with folk-lore or popular
legends. The plot is the dominant element,
dealing with a single crucial episode,
narrated impersonally, with frequent use of
repetition
External Conflict / Internal Conflict
• External: The conflict of the story happens
between people or forces.
Person vs. Person or Person vs. Environment
• Internal: The conflict of the story happens
within a character
Person vs. Him/herself
Genre
• A category of artistic, musical or literary
composition characterized by a particular
form, style, or content.
Poetry is a type of literary genre.
Lyric verse is a type of poetic genre.
Free Verse
• Poem which conforms to no set rules. The
free in free verse refers to the freedom
from fixed patterns of meter and rhyme,
but writers of free verse employ familiar
poetic devices.
Paradox
• A statement which contains seemingly
contradictory elements or appears
contrary to common sense, yet can be
seen as perhaps, or indeed, true when
viewed from another angle.
They have ears but hear not.
Onomatopoeia
• Words that sound like the noise they are
describing
Snap, crackle, pop. – Rice Krispies
Personification
• Animals, ideas or inorganic objects are given
human characteristics.
“The wind stood up and gave a shout.”
Hyperbole
• A gross exaggeration
I slept for 4 days.
Allusion
• A reference in a literary work to a person,
place, or thing in history or another work of
literature. Allusions are often indirect or
brief references to well-known characters
or events.
“So Eden sank to grief” - Frost
Symbol
• A symbol is a word or object that stands for
another word or object. The object or word
can be seen with the eye or not visible.
Dove = Peace
Round Character / Dynamic
Character
• Round character: has many traits and the reader
knows a great deal about him/her.
• Dynamic character: changes throughout the
course of events in the story.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout is a round and
dynamic character whereas Atticus is just a round
character.
Connotation / Denotation
• Connotation: An association that comes along
with a particular word. Connotations relate not to
a word's actual meaning, but rather to the ideas
or qualities that are implied by that word.
• Denotation: the literal or dictionary definition of a
word
"gold" The denotation is a malleable, ductile, yellow
element. The connotations are greed, luxury, or avarice.
Satire
• Literary work that blends a critical attitude
with humor and wit
• The intention is to poke fun social
conventions or institutions
The school system is satirized in To Kill a Mockingbird
when the teacher fails to recognize the intelligence of
the children simply because it is a different type of
learning.
Extended Metaphor
• This occurs when the metaphor is used
throughout the literary work.
“Crossing the Bar” by Alfred Lord
Tennyson
Simile
• A comparison between two otherwise
unalike objects or ideas by connecting
them with the words "like" or "as."
I wandered lonely as a cloud. - Wordsworth
Antagonist
• A character or force that deceives,
frustrates, or works again the main
character in some way. The antagonist
could be death, the devil, an illness, or any
challenge that prevents the main character
from living “happily ever after."
The Bob Ewell and racism are antagonists in
To Kill a Mockingbird.
Aside
• An actor’s speech, directed to the
audience, that is not supposed to be heard
by other actors on stage. An aside is
usually used to let the audience know
what a character is about to do or what he
or she is thinking.
Denouement
• A denouement is the final outcome of the
main complication in a play or story
• This is closely related to resolution,
conclusion, and falling action.
Figurative Language
• Figurative language does not mean
exactly what it says, but instead forces the
reader to make an imaginative leap in
order to comprehend an author's point.
Similes and metaphors are forms of
figurative language.
Lyric
• A lyric is a song-like poem written mainly
to express the feelings of emotions or
thought from a particular person. These
poems are generally short, averaging
roughly twelve to thirty lines, and rarely go
beyond sixty lines. These poems express
vivid imagination as well as emotion and
all flow fairly concisely.
Narrator / Narration
• One who tells a story, the speaker or the
“voice” of an oral or written work.
Scout is the narrator of To Kill A
Mockingbird.
Setting
• The time, place, physical details, and
circumstances in which a situation occurs.
To Kill a Mockingbird took place in the
deep South (Alabama) during the 1930s.
Theme
• A common thread or repeated idea that is
incorporated throughout a literary work. A
theme is a thought or idea the author
presents to the reader that may be deep,
difficult to understand, or even moralistic.
Atmosphere
• The mood which is established by the
totality of the literary work.
Blank Verse
• Poem that uses iambic pentameter. It has
rhythm but no rhyme.
Character Foil
• A character whose behaviours and
qualities contrast those of another
character in order to highlight the
differences between them.
Kate and Bianca from Taming of the Shrew
are character foils.
Audience
• The intended readers of a piece of
literature
Jargon
• Confused, meaningless speech.
• Certain groups of people or professions
might have their own jargon
Oxymoron
• A phrase bringing together two
contradictory terms
The sound of silence. – Simon and Garfunkel
Jumbo shrimp
First Person Narrative –
point of view
• Story is told by a character who refers to
him/herself as “I”
Objective Point of View
• Narrator is a type of roving sound camera.
It can go anywhere but can only record
what it sees and hears.
Omniscient Point of View
• Narrator has no limits. S/he can go into the
minds of characters and determine what
they are thinking and feeling
Limited Omniscient Point of View
• Narrator only knows about one character
and the things that character thinks, feels,
and dreams
Third Person Narrative
• The narrator is not a character in the novel
or short story thus most information given
by the narrator is done in third person.
“He,” “She,” and “They”.
Colloquialism, Informal language,
& Slang
• Expressions used in conversations but not
considered proper in formal speech or
writing
Pun
• A play on words based on similar sounds
He was the sole survivor of the Korean
War.
Foreshadowing
• An event or incident is indicated
beforehand through hints or clues in the
story
As Scout and Jem prepare to leave for the
school pageant, Aunt Alexandra feels a
sudden sense of foreboding, but she
ignores the “pinprick of apprehension.”
This foreshadows the attack by Bob Ewell
after the pageant.
Imagery
• descriptive language which helps us see, hear,
smell, taste, or feel
“Orion glimmers through the trees”
(“Stars” Marjorie Pickthall)
Stereotype / Stock Character
• A character who is easily recognized and
the narrator has to do very little for the
readers to understand this character. It
relies on the understanding of stereotypes.
The popular, blond cheerleader, or the dumb but
handsome football player who is unaccepting of
others, and the geeky but brilliant science or
computer student.
Tragedy
• A serious play or narrative where the
protagonist is challenged, experiences
great conflict, and eventually dies or is
defeated.
Hamlet
Understatement
• A form of irony where something is
intentionally stated as less than it really is.
A nuclear bomb could really ruin your day.
Soliloquy / Monologue
• When one character speaks directly to the
audience without acknowledging its
presence. It is used to reveal the thoughts
and feelings of a character.
Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech
is a soliloquy.
Passive / Active Voice
• Active: She hit the ball.
• Passive: The ball was hit by her.
** Use the active tense whenever possible.
Cliché
• An expression used so often its freshness
and clarity are outworn.
Killing two birds with one stone
Raining cats and dogs
Needless to say…
Flat Character
• Flat characters usually only have one or
two character traits and have little chance
for development in the story.
•
Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Her purpose is only to help develop
Jem’s character.
Indirect / Direct Presentation
• Both are methods of character
development
• Direct Presentation -- The character is
described by the author or narrator directly
• Indirect Presentation – Character’s traits
are revealed by the character’s actions
and speech, and by the reactions of other
characters
Conflict
• The struggle between the two or more
opposing forces. The main conflict will be
between the protagonist and the
antagonist
Atticus is in conflict with the many of the
citizens of Maycomb because he agrees to
defend a black man.
Climax
• The decisive moment in a drama, the
climax is the turning point of the play to
which the rising action leads. This is the
crucial part of the drama, the part which
determines the outcome of the conflict
The attack on the children after the
Halloween pageant is the climax of To Kill a
Mockingbird.
Dramatic Irony
• situation where a character is unaware of
something the audience knows
• The audience knows that Juliet is not
dead, but Romeo believes she is
poisoned and then kills himself.
Verbal Irony
• The difference between what the speaker
says and what he/she actually means
A person says “nice outfit,” but is really
being sarcastic and is trying to suggest
that the outfit is ugly.
•
Situational Irony
• The difference between the expected
outcome and what actually occurs
Boo Radley, the person whom the
children have feared throughout To Kill a
Mockingbird, actually turns out to be a
gentle spirit who saves the their lives.
Bias
• A preference or an inclination, especially
one that inhibits impartial judgment
During a political campaign, a member
of one party would tend to say positive
things about his own party and negative
things about the opposition party and
their policies.
Sarcasm
• A form of verbal irony, expressing
sneering, personal disapproval in the guise
of praise
Mother discovers her 11-year-old watching South
Park instead of doing his homework. She says,
"Don't let me tempt you from your duties, kiddo,
but when you're finished with your serious studies
there, maybe we could take some time out for
recreation and do a little math.
Persuasive Writing
• Persuasive writing, also known as the
argument essay, utilizes logic and reason
to show that one idea is more legitimate
than another idea. It attempts to persuade
a reader to adopt a certain point of view or
to take a particular action
Descriptive Writing
• Descriptive writing uses descriptive
language to create a picture in the
reader’s mind. The reader should be able
to clearly experience the scene or situation
being described.
• Writers may use literary devices such as
similes or metaphors, or may create strong
imagery simply through the use of
descriptive words.
Narrative Writing
• When you write a narrative essay, you are
telling a story. Narrative essays are told
from a defined point of view, often the
author's.
• Narratives include all the conventions of
storytelling: plot, character, setting, climax,
and ending. All details in the story must
prove your main thesis.
Expository Writing
• The purpose of an expository essay is to
present, completely and fairly, other
people's views or to report about an event
or a situation. Expository writing, or
exposition, presents a subject in detail,
apart from criticism, or argument.
The End
• Try this again in a few days after studying
the terms you missed.
• Good luck on your provincial exam!!!!