Language Arts Lexicon
*Pink represents 1st quarter, blue represents 2nd quarter, orange represents 3rd quarter, yellow
represents 4th quarter
Kinds of Sentences
1. Declarative sentence: makes a statement.
It is cloudy outside.
2. Imperative sentence: makes a request or gives a command.
Please, close the door.
Don’t slam the back door!
3. Interrogative sentence: asks a question.
What time is it?
4. Exclamatory sentence: shows emotion or excitement.
We won the game!
Call 911, the house is on fire!
Parts of a Sentence
5. Simple subject: tells what the sentence is mainly about.
The white house is next door to our house.
6. Simple predicate: tells what the subject mainly does or is.
Harvey ran faster than anyone else during the race.
7. Complete subject: all the words in a sentence that tell what the sentence is
about. The old, run down mansion was once a beautiful home.
8. Complete predicate: all the words in a sentence that tell what the
subject does or is. Snow covered the ground with a blanket of white.
Parts of Speech
9. common noun: a person, place, thing or idea dog, cat, bird, rat
10. proper noun: a specific person, place, thing, or idea Einstein, Tulsa, Eiffel
Tower
11. singular noun: one person, place, thing, or idea girl, restroom, aardvark
12. plural noun: more than one person, place, thing, or idea boys, aardvarks,
restrooms
13. possessive noun: shows ownership Einstein’s ball
14. pronoun: takes the place of a noun he, she, it, we
15. verb: shows action or tells what something is or is like run, jump, play
16. direct object: receives the action of a verb and answers the question what or
whom. Will’s soccer team won yesterday’s game.
17. auxiliary verbs/helping verbs: helps the main verb express an action am, is ,
are, was, were, be
18. adverb: tells how, when, or where – often ends in “ly” quickly, slowly
19. adjective: tells which, what kind, how many outrageous, silly, five
20. preposition: shows relationship in the air, on the shelf, by the wall
Writing Process
21. synonym: words that have the same or similar meaning chilly – cool
22. antonym: words that have the opposite meaning hot – cold
23. analogy: relationship between 2 words that is the basis for another
pair of related words car : road :: plane : air
24. root: part of the word that tells its meaning autograph, reject
25. suffix: a word part added to the end of a root word -ed, -ing, -ist
26. prefix: a word part added to the beginning of a word pre-, non-, dis27. simple sentence: a group of words that express a complete thought The dog
ran down the street.
28. compound sentence: two or more simple sentences joined by a comma and
conjunction, or a semicolon The dog ran down the street, and the frantic boy
chased after him.
29. fragment: an incomplete thought The big, fat dog.
30. run-on: two or more sentences incorrectly written as one sentence Aunt Sally
often talks so quickly that she speaks in run-on sentences we never can really
tell what she is trying to tell us it is quite confusing.
31. paragraph: a group of sentences about the same topic
32. stanza: a “paragraph” in poetry
33. sequence: the beginning, middle, and end of a story or paragraph
34. topic sentence: states the main idea of a paragraph
35. supporting details: details that support the topic sentence of a paragraph
36. concluding sentence/resolution: the last sentence or two of a paragraph or story
that tie the pieces together
37. ideas: the content of a piece of writing
38. organization: the structure of a piece of writing
39. voice: your personal touch in writing
40. word choice: choosing the best words possible while writing
41. sentence fluency: the rhythm or flow of words
42. conventions: making paragraphs readable and enjoyable
43. presentation: visual organization of a piece of writing
44. pre-write: brainstorming of ideas
45. draft: organizing thoughts and ideas into sentences
46. revise: to make corrections to a draft
47. edit: checking a draft for capitalization, punctuation, and other errors
48. publish: creating a final copy of a piece of writing
49. interjection: a word or group of words that express feeling Hooray! Ouch!
50. conjunction: a word that joins single words or groups of words and, but, or
51. quote or quotation: exact words spoken or written by someone, set off
by quotation marks “Language Arts is the best!” a student exclaimed.
52. dictionary: book that gives pronunciation, origins, and meaning of words
53. thesaurus: book that lists synonyms and antonyms
54. rubric: tool used to revise or grade writing
55. punctuation: end marks of a sentence . , !
56. spelling: making sure words are spelled correctly and are used in the correct
form
57. grammar: the study of the rules of sentence and word structure
Literary Elements
58. plot: the action of the story in logical order
59. setting: when and where the story takes place
60. theme: the lesson of the story
61. genre: the type of story
62. fiction: made-up story
63. realistic fiction: events that could really happen
64. mystery/suspense: mysterious events that are usually not resolved until the end
of the story.
65. fantasy: stories that are NOT realistic involving magic, talking animals, etc…
66. science fiction: a blend of scientific fact and fictional elements
67. historical fiction: stories that take place in a particular time period in the past,
settings are often real, while characters are fictional
68. folk tales/tall tales/fairy tales: written or told stories often meant to teach lessons
69. mythology: stories that involve gods and other supernatural beings
70. poetry: verse written to create thought and feeling from the reader
71. adventure: action stories set in exotic or forbidding locations
72. non-fiction: books based on true facts
73. biography: a story about a real person’s life written by another person
74. autobiography: a story about a real person’s life written by that person
75. mood: feelings during the story
76. conflict: the struggle between man & self, nature, man, or society
77. characterization: what the characters say and do
78. point of view (POV): the narrator’s perspective in a story 1st person/3rd person
79. 1st person: story is told by a character in the story
80. 3rd person: story is told by the narrator
Figurative Language
81. simile: a comparison using like or as Her smile was like the sun.
82. metaphor: a comparison of two unrelated objects All the world’s a stage.
83. personification: giving objects human qualities The trees danced in the wind.
84. onomatopoeia: a sound effect in writing buzz boom boing
85. hyperbole: exaggerated statements that are not to be taken literally I could
sleep for a year.
86. idiom: a figure of speech Zip your lips. Two heads are better than one.