Literary Terms Vocabulary

Author’s Purpose

• Reason for writing the story. (to inform, to entertain, to persuade, etc.)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECE0I0AeXXE

Character

• Character can be defined as any person, animal, or figure represented in a literary work.

Protagonist

• The main character in a story.

Antagonist

• The character or force in conflict with the protagonist.

Static Character

• A character who stays the same throughout the story.

• A static character does not change.

Dynamic Character

• A character who undergoes an important inner change such as a change in beliefs, personality, or attitude.

Character Traits

• Character traits describe a character on the inside.

Positive Negative

Honest Deceitful

Generous Defiant

Forgiving Frustrated

Thoughtful Harsh

Trusting Obnoxious

Respectful Opinionated

Playful Impulsive

Compare and Contrast

• How things are the

alike or different.

Conflict

• The problem in the story

• A struggle between opposing forces or characters.• Without a conflict a story would be boring

• A story can have several conflicts.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg_10OfdEss

Tangled- Conflict

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4JxmGe1iGI

Internal Conflict

• Takes place inside a character’s mind or heart.

• Sometimes involves a decision.

Man vs. Self

• A struggle between a character and his feelings, conscience, or fear.

External Conflict

• This conflict takes place between a character and something outside the character.

Man vs. Man

• A struggle mental or physical between two characters.

Man vs. Nature

• A struggle between a character and mother nature (weather, insects, animals, insects)

Man vs. Society

• A struggle between a character and the laws or beliefs of a group.

• Could include poverty, politics, social norms, expectations, or values.

Context Clues

• Helps the reader decode

Unfamiliar words.

Dialogue

• Conversation between characters.

Cause and Effect

• When one event causes another

To happen.

• The cause is why it happens.

• The effect is what happens.

Fiction

• Not real, not true, fake

Non-Fiction

• Real / True

Point of View

• The standpoint from which a story is told.

First Person Point of View

• Narrator “I” and “me”

Third Person Limited

• “They”, “he”, and “she”

• The narrator is an outside

observer that focuses on

the thoughts and feelings of

only ONE character in a story.

Third Person Omniscient

• The narrator is an outside observer

who can tell us the thoughts and

feelings of ALL of the

characters in a story.

Flashback

• Interrupting the plot of the story to recreate an incident of earlier time.

Foreshadowing

• Hints or clues suggesting what may happen later in a story.

Genre

• A category of literature

Idiom

• Figurative language; words that mean something other than the words imply

Imagery

• Figurative language; mental pictures that appeal to your senses

Main Idea

• What the story or passage is “mostly” about; the author’s message

Fact

• Can be proven; True

Opinion

• Something that someone thinks about someone or something.

• Can not be proven.

Plot

• The chain of events that makes up a story.

Exposition

• First part of the plot.

• Characters, setting and basic situation are revealed.

Inciting Incident

• The event that sets the story in motion.

• Makes the rest of the story possible.

Rising action

• The main part of the story.

• Moves the plot along.

• Where complications arise.

Climax

• The most exciting or intense part of the story for the protagonist.

• The OMG!

• Usually a turning point.

Falling Action

• Events that follow the climax and lead to the resolution.

• Conflicts begin moving towards resolution.

Resolution

• The end of the story.

• Loose ends of the plot are tied up.

• Remaining questions are answered

• Conflicts are resolved.

Prediction

• Guess as to what will happen in the next story

Setting

• The time and place of a story.

Summarizing

• To tell in your own words what has happened in the story.

Suspense

• The anxiety a reader feels about what may happen next in a story.

Theme

• Author’s message / moral / lesson of the story

Symbol

• Object that represents (stands for) an idea

Visualizing

• Words that paint pictures in one’s mind

Complications / Conflict

• Problems that arise as characters struggle to reach their goals.

Story Vocabulary

• Song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6I24S72Jps&list=RDc6I24S72Jps#t=28

• Goldilocks- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaw-d3r_gIc

Plot

• The events in the story and it includes conflict, rising action, climax, turning point

Flat Character

• A character that you do not know well.

Round Character

• A character that you

know a lot about.

Sympathetic Character

• A character whose situation you understand, sympathize with, or can relate to.

Minor Character

• A character mentioned only briefly (less than a flat character).

Cliffhanger

• An ending to a section, chapter, or book that leaves the reader in suspense.

Opinion

• Can not be proven; what someone thinks about something

Character

• Animals or people in the story (main or minor)

Fantasy

• Make believe; tall tale

Inference

• Guess; Draw conclusions from knowledge in your head and what the information the author gives us

Mood

• Feeling created (sad, joyful, scary, etc.)

Novel

• Long work of fiction that

follows story structure

Setting

• When and where the story takes place

Drama

• Literary work performed as a play.

Short Story

• Piece of fictional writing shorter in length than a novel

Narrator

• Person who tells the story

Biography

• The story of someone’s life written by someone else

Autobiography

• Story of your life written by you.

Chronological order

• The events in the order they occur in time