EOCT VOCABULARY:The Path To EXCEEDS

DICTIONDefinition:• author’s purposeful choice of words

Example:• choosing ma'am miss lady chick or broad for a woman, depending on the author’s audience/purpose

ANTECEDENTDefinition:• a word, phrase, or clause that is replaced by a pronoun in the same or in another sentence

Example:• Jane lost a glove and she can't find it. (Jane is the antecedent of she and glove is the antecedent of it.)

COLLOQUIALDefinition:•the use of informal words, phrases or even slang in a piece of writing; informal; dialect

Examples:•“y’all” “gonna” “ain’t”•from The Great Gatsby--“You’re selling bonds, aren’t you, old sport?”

DENOTATIONDefinition:• the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression

Examples:• “Wind” is the denotation for air in natural motion. • “Labrador” is the denotation for a certain breed of dog.

CONNOTATIONDefinition:• ideas, feelings or meanings associated with a word or suggested by it; the secondary meaning of a word or expression beyond its literal meaning (denotation)

Example:• A possible connotation of “home” is a place of warmth, comfort, and affection.

APHORISMDefinition:• an abbreviated saying that expresses a

general truth, or clever observation

Examples:• Life’s tragedy is that we get old too

soon and wise too late. [Benjamin Franklin]• Well done is better than well said.

[Benjamin Franklin]• No gains without pains. [Benjamin Franklin]

PARADOXDefinition:•a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Examples:•“I must be cruel to be kind.” [William Shakespeare] Hamlet•“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” [George Orwell] Animal Farm

UNDERSTATEMENTDefinition: • A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.

Example:• "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.” [J. D. Salinger] Holden Caulfield in

The Catcher In The Rye

•

UNDERTONEDefinition:• an attitude or feeling that may lie under,

or be more subtle than, the more obvious tone of the piece.

Examples:• Apart from the political undertone, I

really enjoyed the comedic play.• Despite the humor used in the lecture

on cheating that we received today, no one can doubt its serious undertone.

APOSTROPHEDefinition:• calling out to an imaginary, dead, or

absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea

Examples:• “Take thy beak from out my heart, and

take thy form from off my door!“ [Edgar Allen Poe] The Raven• "Bright star, would I were steadfast as

thou art--" [John Keats] "Bright Star"

ALLEGORYDefinition:• a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and

principles are described in terms of characters, figures and events, the objective of its use is to preach some kind of a moral lesson

Examples:• The Crucible by Arthur Miller is fictional story

about individuals affected by the Salem Witch Trials, and an allegory of the Red Scare and McCarthyism of the 1950s.

• Animal Farm by George Orwell is a fictional tale about animals taking over a farm, and an allegory of the Russian Revolution.

ETHOSDefinition:• refers to the trustworthiness or

credibility of the writer or speaker; it can also be affected by the writer's reputation--his or her expertise in the field, his or her previous record or integrity

Examples:• In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick

Douglass, Frederick Douglass has credibility as a source of information about slavery, because he was born into slavery himself and is telling his own life story about what it was like.

PATHOSDefinition:• emotional appeal; appeal to the audience's

sympathies and imagination; causes an audience to feel what the writer feels

Examples:• ASPCA commercials evoke emotion from the

viewer, usually sadness and anger, by showing animals that have been abandoned.

• Mastercard. Taking your son to a baseball game=$200. Front row seats at the game=$500. Watching your son catch the game winning home run=priceless. Evokes emotion with family values that "cannot be bought without Mastercard."

LOGOSDefinition:• refers to the clarity of the claim, the logic of

its reasons, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence.

Examples:• "More than one hundred peer-reviewed

studies have been conducted over the past decade, and none of them suggests that this is an effective treatment for hair loss.“

• "You don’t need to jump off a bridge to know that it’s a bad idea. Why then would you need to try drugs to know if they’re damaging? That’s plain nonsense."

EUPHEMISMDefinition:• refers to polite, indirect expressions which replace

words and phrases considered harsh and impolite or which suggest something unpleasant

Examples:• “For the time being,” he explains, “it had been found

necessary to make a readjustment of rations.” [George Orwell] Animal Farm

• “wardrobe malfunction" (Justin Timberlake's description of his tearing of Janet Jackson's costume during a half-time performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII)

JUXTAPOSITIONDefinition:• literary device wherein the author places a

person, concept, place, idea or theme parallel to another with the purpose of highlighting the contrast between the two and comparing them

Example:• In Paradise Lost, Milton has used juxtaposition

to draw a parallel between the two protagonists, Satan and God, who he discusses by placing their traits in comparison with one another to highlight their differences.

• Comparing MLK Jr.’s and Malcom X’s beliefs about the civil rights movement side-by-side.

ALLUSIONDefinition:• a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea

of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.

Examples:•“I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s.” This refers to the story of Pinocchio, where his nose grew whenever he told a lie. [The Adventures of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi.]•“When she lost her job, she acted like a Scrooge, and refused to buy anything that wasn’t necessary.” Scrooge was an extremely stingy character from Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol. •“I thought the software would be useful, but it was a Trojan Horse.” This refers to the horse that the Greeks built that contained all the soldiers. It was given as a gift to the enemy during the Trojan War and, once inside the enemy's walls, the soldiers broke out. By using trickery, the Greeks won the war.

PARALLELISMDefinition:• refers to using elements in sentences that are

grammatically similar or identical in structure, sound, meaning, or meter; adds symmetry, effectiveness and balance to the written piece.

Examples:• This is not only just what I wanted, but also just what I

needed.• “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for

you, ask what you can do for your country.” [John F. Kennedy]

• "Today's students can put dope in their veins or hope in their brains. If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it is not their aptitude but their attitude that will determine their altitude." [Jesse Jackson]

AMBIGUITYDefinition:• a statement which has two or more

possible meanings• a statement whose meaning is unclear

Examples:• "Brave men run in my family.“ • "I can't tell you how much I enjoyed

meeting your husband.“• Prostitutes Appeal to Pope (newspaper

headline)

HYPERBOLEDefinition:• the use of over-exaggeration for the purpose of

creating emphasis or being humorous, but it is not intended to be taken literally.

Examples:• "People moved slowly then. There was no hurry, for

there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.“ [Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird]

• "And the skin on her face was thin and drawn tight like the skin on an onion and her eyes were gray and sharp like the points of two ice picks.“ [Flannery O’Connor, Parker’s Back]

IDIOMDefinition:• a word or phrase that is not meant to be

taken literally; a dialect or jargon of a group of people

Examples:• A chip on your shoulder=you have a bad

attitude• Sick as a dog=you are very ill• Rub someone the wrong way=to annoy

or bother• In English, it would be “raining cats and

dogs.” In Africa, they might say “it's raining old women with clubs.”

INFERENCEDefinition:• refers to the process of using observation and

background knowledge as well as other known premises to determine a conclusion that makes sense.

Examples:• Jack sees cookie crumbs on the floor and chocolate

around his son's mouth. Jack can infer that his son got into the cookie jar.

• Watching a man run towards the gate at the airport, one can infer that he is running late for his flight.

• It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.”

Because of our knowledge of what a holocaust is, we can infer that this means that George is now dead as well.

DRAMATIC IRONYDefinition:• occurs when the audience knows something that

the characters do not.

Examples:• If you’re watching a movie about the Titanic and a

character leaning on the balcony right before the ship hits the iceberg says, "It's so beautiful I could just die."

• In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo thinks Juliet is dead and the audience knows she is not.

• In a scary movie, the character walks into a house and the audience knows the killer is in the house.

SITUATIONAL IRONYDefinition:• occurs when the outcome of a certain

situation is completely different than what was initially expected.

Examples:• At a ceremony celebrating the

rehabilitation of seals after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, at an average cost of $80,000 per seal, two seals were released back into the wild only to be eaten within a minute by a killer whale.

• A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.

VERBAL IRONYDefinition:• occurs when words are used in such a way that their

intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words.

Examples:• “Upon the murderer I invoke this curse – whether he is

one man and all unknown, or one of many – may he wear out his life in misery to miserable doom!” Oedipus is unknowingly cursing himself as his father’s murderer. • “Go ask his name: if he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed.” Juliet commands her nurse to find out who Romeo was and says if he were married, then her wedding bed would be her grave. It is a verbal irony because the audience knows that she is going to die on her wedding bed.

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

Definition:• occurs when the author tells what

he/she wants the audience to know about the character(s)

Examples:• “The patient boy and quiet girl were

both well mannered and did not disobey their mother.”

• "Curly was quick and mean.“ [John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men]

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATIONDefinition:• occurs when the audience has to figure

out for themselves the characteristics of the character by observing his/her thought process, behavior, speech, way of talking, appearance, and interactions with other characters

Examples:• “’I’ve got a nice place here,’ he said, his

eyes flashing about restlessly.” [Tom Buchanan, The Great Gatsby]

• “You did, you did! You drank the charm to kill John Procter’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Procter!” [Betty Parris to Abigail Williams, The Crucible]

SATIREDefinition:• a technique employed by writers to expose and

criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule with the purpose of improving humanity

Examples:• “Weekend Update” from Saturday Night Live• The Daily Show• Most political cartoons in newspapers and magazines• “There warn’t anybody at the church, except maybe a

hog or two, for there warn’t any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summer-time because it’s cool. If you notice, most folks don’t go to church only when they’ve got to; but a hog is different.” [Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]

SARCASMDefinition:• the use of words that mean the opposite

of what one really wants to say especially in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to create humor

Examples:• "Some cause happiness wherever they

go; others whenever they go." [Oscar Wilde]

• "Honesty is the best policy -- when there is money in it." [Mark Twain]

• "The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech." [George Bernard Shaw]

SYNONYMDefinition:• words that are similar or have a related

meaning to another word.

Examples: •Hardworking: Diligent, Determined, Industrious, Enterprising•Honest: Honorable, Fair, Sincere, Trustworthy•Intelligent: Smart, Bright, Brilliant, Sharp•Introverted: Shy, Bashful, Quiet, Withdrawn

ANTONYMDefinition:• a word that is the opposite meaning

of another

Examples:• dangerous and safe• clever and foolish• risky and safe• simple and challenging• worried and calm

OXYMORONDefinition:• a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas

are joined to create an effect Examples:• open secret• tragic comedy• seriously funny• foolish wisdom• original copies• liquid gas• deafening silence

EXTERNAL CONFLICTDefinition:• struggle between a literary or dramatic

character and an outside force such as nature or another character, which drives the dramatic action of the plot

Examples:• Person vs. Person [Tom Buchanan vs. Jay

Gatsby]• Person vs. Nature [Captain Ahab vs. Moby Dick

(whale)]• Person vs. Unknown [Tom Walker vs. Devil]• Person vs. Society [Huck Finn and Jim vs.

society’s prejudices]

INTERNAL CONFLICTDefinition:• psychological or emotional struggle within the

mind of a literary or dramatic character, the resolution of which creates the plot's suspense.

Examples:• Person vs. him/herself • Huckleberry Finn struggles between his own

beliefs about what is right and wrong when he runs off with Jim, an escaped slave.

• Nick Carroway struggles with his own feelings of both admiration and disgust over Jay Gatsby’s determination/obsession over achieving his dreams.

PARODYDefinition:• an imitation of the style of a particular writer,

artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect; differs from satire in that the purpose is for entertainment, not social change

Examples:• Vampire Sucks parodies and pokes fun at Twilight• Scary Movie (all horror movies)• The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah

Marshall and Felt Superbad About It (40-year-old Virgin, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad)

EPISTOLARY NOVELDefinition:• a novel written as a series of

documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used.

Examples:• Dracula, Bram Stoker• Gone Girl, Gilliam Flynn• The Color Purple, Alice Walker• Carrie, Stephen King• Bridget Jones’ Diary, Helen Fielding

FIRST PERSON POVDefinition:• story told from the point-of-view of a character in

the novel (often the protagonist); makes frequent use of the pronoun "I" or “we” as they are talking about themselves or what is going on around them; gives us insight into a character's thoughts and feelings

Examples:• Scout in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird• Bilbo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit• Nick Carroway in The Great Gatsby• Huckleberry Finn in Mark Twain’s The

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

SECOND PERSON POVDefinition:• the narrator tells the story to another

character using "you"; the story is being told through the addressee's point of view; least commonly used POV in fiction

Examples:• guide books, self-help books, do-it-

yourself manuals, interactive fiction, role-playing games,

• choose Your own adventure series-type books

• Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City• Tom Robbins's Half Asleep in Frog

Pajamas

THIRD PERSON LIMITED POVDefinition:• a method of storytelling in which the narrator knows

only the thoughts and feelings of a single character, while other characters are presented only externally; third person limited grants a writer more freedom than first person, but less than third person omniscient.

Examples:• Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls• Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series • William Faulkner’s Barn Burning• Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT POV

Definition:• a method of storytelling in which the

narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story, as opposed to third person limited, which adheres closely to one character's perspective.

Examples:• Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice • George Orwell’s 1984• Toni Morrison’s Beloved• Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina

FRAME NARRATIVEDefinition:• 1. a secondary story or stories embedded in

the main story. 2. a narrative providing the framework for connecting a series of otherwise unrelated stories. Examples:• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein• Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights• new movie version of The Great Gatsby• Forrest Gump

GENREDefinition:• a particular type or category of literature or

writing, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Examples:• horror• romantic comedy• frame narrative• epistolary• parody• superhero fiction

SYMBOLISMDefinition:• the use of symbols to express or

represent ideas or qualities

Examples:• color symbolism: black=death or evil,

white=life, purity, wealth red=blood, passion, danger, or immoral character purple=royalty

• swastika=symbol of hate• Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken“

roads=journey/paths one can take through life

IN MEDIAS RESDefinition:• the narrative technique of relating a story from the midpoint,

rather than the beginning; the story opens with dramatic action rather than exposition setting up the characters and situation.

Examples:• Dante’s Inferno• Homer’s The Odyssey and The Illiad• “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll

probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it . . . I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy.” [J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye]