200 terms and definitions for language arts. a group of scenes in a play an act
TRANSCRIPT
200 terms and definitions for language arts
A group of scenes in a play
an act
A small part added to the beginning or end of a word to change its meaning.
an affix
Repetition of initial consonant sounds: “Peter Piper Picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
alliteration
A book containing lists of facts, published every year.
an almanac
A comparison between two pairs of things:apple : red :: banana : yellow
an analogy
Clearly stated; easy to see
apparent
Transfer an idea from your reading to a new situation in real life.
apply
Take something for granted.
assume
A book of maps
an atlas
How the author feels about his or her topic.
attitude
The person who wrote the selection
an author
The story of a person’s life; written by that person.an autobiography
A summary of events that happened before the story begins.
background information
The start of a selection
the beginning
A strong opinion about a topic that influences the way a writer writes.
bias
The story of a person’s life written by another author
a biography
Words written in dark, heavy type that looks like this.
bold print
A list of all the characters in a play, found at the beginning of the script.
cast of characters
Something that makes something else happen
a cause
A person or animal who takes part in a story
a character
Details that describe what kind of person a character is.
characteristics
Make the writing clearer and easier to understand.
clarify
The most important event in the story; the moment the conflict is resolved.
the climax
A play with a happy ending; usually funny but it doesn’t have to be!
a comedy
Tell how two things are alike.
compare
A statement that tells how two things are alike or different
a comparison
A decision a reader makes about what is happening in the story, based on evidence.
a conclusion
The problem characters in a story are trying to solve.
a conflict
Explain how ideas in a selection are similar to other texts and the real world.
connect
Words around an unknown word that help you figure out its meaning.
context clues
Tell how two things are different.
contrast
A moveable piece of cloth separating the audience from the stage in a drama
a curtain
Writing that gives details about a person, place, thing, or action.
descriptive writing
A variety of English spoken by a certain group of people: “You ain’t gone?”
a dialect
Words characters say to one another in piece of writing.
dialogue
A book of words and their definitions
a dictionary
Twist the facts out of their true meaning.
distort
A piece of writing intended to be performed by actors.
drama
Changed a story into a drama
dramatized
The result of a cause
an effect
Point something out as being important.
emphasize
Feelings that make you act in a certain way.emotional factors
A book or set of books containing facts and explanations of a wide variety of subjects
encyclopedia
Judge the quality of something good; decide how good or bad something is.
evaluate
A piece of writing that tells how good or bad something is.
an evaluation
Something that happens in a story
an event
Stretching the truth; making something greater than it really is.
exaggeration
Things that have happened in a person’s life
experiences
A description of an event by a person who was there
eyewitness account
A statement that can be proved to be true
a fact
Reasoning that has mistakes: the facts do not support the conclusion.
faulty logic
A story made up by an author.
fiction
Words that don’t mean exactly what they say, such as similes and metaphors.
figurative language
The story is told by a character inside the story.
first person
A scene in a story that brings the reader back to an event that happened before.
flashback
Hints the author gives about what will happen next.
foreshadowing
A broad statement that could apply to more than one situationa generalization
A category of writing
genre
A section in a book that gives the meaning of words used in that book
a glossary
A combination of words and pictures that show how a selection is organized
graphic organizers
The title of one section of a selection
a heading
Exaggeration: “Your dog is so ugly it could…”
hyperbole
A picture, diagram, drawing, figure, graph, or table that adds information to the selection.
an illustration
A picture that a selection makes in your mind
an image
Make an educated guess about what is happening in the story.
infer
An educated guess you make about what is happening in the story.
an inference
Understand and explain the meaning of something.
interpret
Writing at the beginning of a selection that tells you what will come.
introduction
When a character says one thing and means another.
verbal irony
When events do not work out as planned
situational irony
When the reader knows something the characters do not.
dramatic irony
Writing that slants to the side like this
italic
A group of words next to one another in a poem
a line
A publication printed regularly that focuses on one particular topic.
a magazine
What the author says about the topic; the most important message of the selection.
main idea
The conflict of the story
main problem
Blank space around the edges of the page
margin
The story of a person’s life, written by that person (Also called autobiography)
memoir
A comparison between two things that does not use “like” or “as”
metaphor
A long speech by one character in a drama
monologue
The feeling of the selection; the way the author wants the reader to feel.
mood
A word that can have more than one meaning, such as orange
multiple-meaning word
A story told in prose.
a narrative
The person telling the story
narrator
Bad (used to describe feelings)
negative
Not having any emotions about a topic, not negative or positive.
neutral
A publication usually printed every day that contains current news updates.
newspaper
Writing that is true, telling about real-life people, places, things, or ideas.
nonfiction
A statement about the way a person feels about something; it cannot be proven to be true for everybody.
an opinion
Re-stating an idea in your own words
paraphrase
A comparison between a non-human and a human, giving a non-human human qualities.
personification
A group of words, not a complete sentence
phrase
A piece written that is intended to be performed by actors, also called a drama.
play
The author of a drama
a playwright
What happens in the story.
plot
The author of a poem
a poet
A piece of writing that uses sounds and figurative language to express an imaginative thought.
poetry
Who’s telling the story (in fiction) OR The author’s perspective on his/her topic (in nonfiction)
point of view
Good (used to describe feelings)
positive
Guess what will happen next.
predict
A guess about what will happen next.
a prediction
A group of letters added to the beginning of a word that change the word’s meaning.
a prefix
A piece of writing written by someone who was involved in the event he/she describes.
primary source
Something that causes difficulty for one or more characters
a problem
An object an actor uses or carries on stage.
a prop
Writing that tries to persuade the reader to act based on emotions and not on facts
propaganda
Writing in sentences and paragraphs (not drama or poetry)
prose
The reason why a person does something
purpose
Punctuation marks that surround dialogue; they look like this: “ “quotation marks
Emphasizing a sound, word, or idea by using it over and over again
repetition
The way the conflict in the story is solved.
resolution
Something or someone that can give you needed information.
a resource
Repetition of the ending sounds of words: hat/cat/mat or take/break/shake.
rhyme
The “beat” in a poem, a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
rhythm
A small part of a word that gives it a basic meaning
root
A section of a play taking place in a single setting
scene
A drama written for TV or movies
a screenplay
The written copy of a drama, containing dialogue and stage directions
a script
A piece of writing written by someone who was not involved in the event he/she describes.secondary source
Language that appeals to any of the five senses: touch, taste, sound, smell, or sight.
sensory words
Anything that is constructed or painted to make the stage look like the setting of the play
a set
When and where a story takes place
setting
A shorter story next to the main selection that gives more detail about a topic related to the main selection
a sidebar
Important
significant
A comparison between two things that uses the words “like” or “as”
simile
A short, informal drama
a skit
The way a problem could be solved.
solution
The narrator of a poem
speaker
The area where a play is performed
stage
Instructions to the actors about how to move and say their linesstage directions
The author’s position on a topic: how he/she feels about it.
stance
A group of lines in a poem
a stanza
Said or written
stated
A graphic organizer that shows the parts of a story (character, plot, setting, sequence, resolution, etc.)
story map
A plan for how to complete a task
a strategy
A smaller heading that gives the title of one section of a selection
subheading
Words underneath the title of a selection that give more information
subtitle
A group of letters added to the end of a word that change the word’s meaning.
a suffix
Re-tell the story by listing the most important events: to “make a long story short.”
summarize
A brief re-telling of the most important events in a story
a summary
A fact or idea that helps to prove that the main idea is correctsupporting detail
Something that stands for something else
a symbol
The building in which a play is performed.
a theater
The moral or lesson about life that a story teaches
theme
A book of words and their synonyms
a thesaurus
A narrator, who is not a character in the story, tells the story.
third person
The name of a selection
a title
The way the author feels about his or her topic.
tone
What the selection is about.
topic
A drama with a sad ending
a tragedy
The appearance of words, lines, or stanzas in the poem that add to the poem’s meaningvisual elements
The decisions a writer makes about what words to use.
word choice
Overused or commonplace
trite
Vague or unclear
ambiguous
Unnecessary repetition of a word
or idea
redundant
Worried, anxious
distraught
Present reasons for or against something
argue
Gloomy, sad, serious
somber
Wild excitement
pandemonium
Overused expression
cliché
Extreme confusion
bedlam
Showing remarkable originality
ingenious
Suffering severely from hunger;
starving.
famished
Words imitating sounds
onomatopoeia
To condemn openly, criticize.
denounce
To plunge into a liquid,
submerge.
douse
To give up,desert,disown
forsake
Back up with details or evidence.
support
To illustrate and explain
demonstrate
To give more details
elaborate
To cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action
persuade
Not clearly seen, heard, or
understood.
indistinct
Extremely sorrowful or emotionally painful
grievous
Feeling of guilt
remorse
The reason a character behaves a certain way.
motivation
The art of evaluating or analyzing the play
critique
Uncertainly
tentatively
The items needed to make the food.
ingredients
One follows this to make a cake, cookies, or any other food.
recipe
A cup, teaspoon, tablespoon, pinch, dash, or an ounce
measurements
Turn on the oven early to get it to a specific temperature before putting the food in to cook or bake.
preheat
The character who opposes the main character
antagonist
The main or central character in a literary work
protagonist
A story from the past, often about a famous person or event, based at least somewhat on historical fact
a legend
A story that attempts to explain something about the world
a myth
A brief tale, usually about an animal, that teaches a moral or lesson.
a fable
A story passed down from one generation to the next.
a folktale
The person or persons for whom you are writing
audience
To look quickly through a reading for specific information
scan
To look quickly at a reading for a general idea of what it is about.
skim
A main idea that is not directly stated; but discovered by inference.
implied
A reading strategy to help with comprehension by going back and reading the selection again
re-reading
An alphabetical list in a printed work that gives each item listed the page number where it may be found.
index
To foresee and deal with or provide for beforehand
anticipate
A wrong or mistaken idea
misconception
To think seriously and carefully about what occurred.
reflect
A device used in a household, especially in the kitchen.
utensil
So clear in statement that there is no doubt about the meaning
explicit
A newspaper or magazine article that gives the opinions of its editors
editorial
A changing from one state, stage, place, or subject to another
a transition