Mrs Fischer

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage

Apostrophe Usage & Showing Possession
Proper and Common Nouns: Rules of Capitalization
Sentence Fragments
Using Quotation Marks & Writing Dialogue

Vocabulary Grade 10
Literary and Rhetorical Vocabulary Terms to AP Preparation

Vocabulary Grade 10

English 2 Vocabulary

SAT Vocabulary Review A fun way to test your SAT vocabulary knowledge

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Vocabulary Group 1

surreal (adjective): marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream; unbelievable.
raisons d'etre (French): reason or justification for existence.
etymology (noun): the study of the sources and development of words.
entomology (noun): the branch of zoology dealing with insects.
reconnaissance (noun): a search for useful information in the field (often associated with a military mission).
protege (noun): a person under the patronage, protection, or care of someone interested in his or her career or welfare.
rhetorical (adjective): concerned with effect or style rather than content or meaning
expedition (noun): an excursion, journey, or voyage made for some specific purpose, as of war or exploration.
ponder (verb): to consider something deeply and thoroughly.
googolplex (noun): an extremely large number.
precocious (adjective): exhibiting qualities at an unusually early age
intersperse (verb): to insert at intervals among other things
myriad (noun): a great number
imply (verb): to express indirectly
figurative language: language used for descriptive effect, often to imply ideas indirectly. Figurative expressions are not literally true but express some truth beyond the literal level.

Literary and Rhetorical Vocabulary Terms to AP Preparation

SAT Vocabulary Review

A fun way to test your SAT vocabulary knowledge

Group #1

Group #1
ABSTRACT	An abbreviated synopsis of a longer work of scholarship or research.
ADAGE	A saying or proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language.
ALLEGORY	A story in which a second meaning is to be read beneath the surface.
ALLITERATION	The repetition of one or more initial consonants in a group of words or lines in a poem.
ALLUSION	A reference to a person, place, or event meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea.
AMBIGUITY	A vagueness of meaning; a conscious lack of clarity meant to evoke multiple meanings and interpretations.
ANACHRONISM	A person, scene, event, or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is set.
ANALOGY	A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things.
ANNOTATION	A brief explanation, summary, or evaluation of a text or work of literature.
ANTAGONIST	A character or force in a work of literature that, by opposing the protagonist produces tension or conflict.

Group #2

Group #2
ANTITHESIS	A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences, as in the following: "They promised freedom but provided slavery." "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
APHORISM	A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment.
APOLLONIAN	In contrast to Dionysian, it refers to the most noble, godlike qualities of human nature and behavior.
APOSTROPHE	A location that addresses a person or personified thing not present. An example: "Oh, you cruel streets of Manhattan, how I detest you!"
ARCHETYPE	An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form.
ASSONANCE	The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines of a poem.
BALLAD	A simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited.
BARD	A poet; in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to musical accompaniment.
BATHOS	The use of insincere or overdone sentimentality.
*BELLE-LETTRES*	French term for the world of books, criticism, and literature in general.

Group #3

Group #3
BIBLIOGRAPHY	A list of works cited or otherwise relevant to a subject or other work.
*BILDUNGSROMAN*	A German word referring to a novel structured as a series of events that take place as a hero travels in quest of a goal.
BOMBAST	Inflated, pretentious language used for trivial subjects.
BURLESQUE	A work of literature meant to ridicule a subject; a grotesque imitation.
CACOPHONY	Grating, inharmonious sounds.
CAESURA	A pause somewhere in the middle of a verse, often marked by punctuation.
CANON	The works considered most important in a national literature or period; works widely read and studied.
CARICATURE	A grotesque likeness of striking qualities in persons and things.
*CARPE DIEM*	Literally, "seize the day"; enjoy life while you can, a common theme in literature.
CATHARSIS	A cleansing of the spirit brought about by the pity and terror of a dramatic tragedy.

Group #4

Group #4
CLASSIC	A highly regarded work of literature or other art form that has withstood the test of time.
CLASSICAL, CLASSICISM	Deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity, and restraint.
CLIMAX	The high point, or turning point, of a story or play.
CONCEIT	A witty or ingenious thought; a diverting or highly fanciful idea, often stated in figurative language.
CONNOTATON	The suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase. Contrast with denotation.
CONSONANCE	The repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a line of poetry.
COUPLET	A pair of rhyming lines in a poem. Two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter is sometimes called a heroic couplet.
DENOTATION	The dictionary definition of a word.
DENOUEMENT	The resolution that occurs at the end of a play or work of fiction.
*DEUS EX MACHINA*	In literature, the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem.

Group #5

Group #5
DICTION	The choice of words in oral and written discourse.
DIONYSIAN	As distinguished from Apollonian, the word refers to sensual, pleasure-seeking impulses.
DRAMATIC IRONY	A circumstance in which the audience or reader knows more about a situation than a character.
ELEGY	A poem or prose selection that laments or mediates on the passing or death of something or someone of value.
ELLIPSIS	Three periods [. . .] indicating the omission of words in a thought or quotation.
ELLIPTICL CONSTRUCTION	A sentence containing a deliberate omission of words. In the sentence "May was hot and June the same," the verb was is omitted from the second clause.
EMPATHY	A feeling of association or identification with an object or person.
END-STOPPED	A term that describes a line of poetry that ends with a natural pause often indicated by a mark of punctuation.
ENJAMBMENT	In poetry, the use of successive lines with no punctuation or pause between them.
EPIC	A narrative poem that tells of the adventures and exploits of a hero.

Group #6

Group #6
EPIGRAM	A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement.
EPONYMOUS	A term for the title character of a work of literature.
EUPHEMISM	A mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term; pass away is a euphemism for die.
EXEGESIS	A detailed analysis or interpretation of a work of literature.
EXPOSE	A piece of writing that reveals weaknesses, faults, frailties, or otter shortcomings.
EXPOSITION	The background information and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea or purpose of a work of literature.
EXPLICATION	The interpretation or analysis of a text.
EXTENDED METAPHOR	A series of comparisons between two unlike objects.
FABLE	A short tale often with nonhuman characters from which a useful lesson may be drawn.
FALLING ACTION	The action in a play or story that occurs after the climax and that leads to the conclusion and often to the resolution
FANTASY	A story containing unreal, imaginary features.
FARCE	A comedy that contains an extravagant and nonsensical disregard of seriousness, although it may have a serious, scornful purpose.
FIGURE OF SPEECH, FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE	In contrast to literal language, figurative language implies meanings. Figures of speech include metaphors, similes, and personification, among many others.
FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVE	A narrative told by a character involved in a story, using first-person pronouns such as I and we.
FLASHBACK	A return to an earlier time in a story or play in order to clarify present actions or circumstances.

Directions: Identify the example that best relates to the vocabulary term from group 6. Each answer is used only once.

1. _________ “I can resist everything except temptation.”
2. _ And then we knew what happened before!
3. _ Animal Farm is an example.
4. _ Friendly fire is an example.
5. _ In The Sun Also Rises this part of the plot follows the group’s departure from the fiesta.
6. _ Jane Eyre is an example.
7. _ Life as a rollercoaster with many bumps, twists, turns, and freefalls.
8. _ Magical realism is a sophisticated version of this literary genre.
9. _ Ms. Fischer excepts this type of interpretative writing in student essays.
10. _ One of these was doing exploring the exploits of the Black Water security company in Iraq.
11. _ Saturday Night Live also portrays this kind of pointed humor.
12. _ Searching for the other seven-eighths of Hemingway’s meaning in an example of doing this.
13. _ The moon was like a big slice of pocked Swiss cheese.
14. _ The Sun Also Rises is told in this fashion.
15. ___________ This usually begins a story and includes the setting.

Group #7

Group #7
FOOT	A unit of stressed and unstressed syllables used to determine the meter of a poetic line.
FORESHADOWING	Providing hints of things to come in a story or play.
FRAME	A structure that provides premise or setting for a narrative. A group of pilgrims exchanging stories while on the road is the frame for Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
FREE VERSE	A kind of poetry without rhymed lines, rhythm, or fixed metrical feet.
GENRE	A term used to describe literary forms, such as novel, play, and essay.
GOTHIC NOVEL	A novel in which supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terrors pervades the action.
HARANGUE	A forceful sermon, lecture, or tirade.
HUBRIS	The excessive pride that often leads tragic heroes to their death.
HUMANISM	A belief that emphasizes faith and optimism in human potential and creativity.
HYPERBOLE	Overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect.
IDYLL	A lyric poem or passage tat describes a kind of ideal life or place.
IMAGE	A word or phrase representing that which can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or felt.
IN MEDIAS RES	A Latin term for a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point.
INDIRECT QUOTATION	A rendering of a quotation in which actual words are not stated but only approximated or paraphrased.
INVECTIVE	A direct verbal assault; a denunciation.

Group #8

Group #8
IRONY	A mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm; a state of affairs or events that is the reverse of what might have been expected.
KENNING	A device employed in Anglo-Saxon poetry in which the name of a thing is replaced by one of its functions or qualities, as in "ring-giver" for king and "whale-road" for ocean.
LAMPOON	A mocking, satirical assault on a person or situation.
LIGHT VERSE	A variety of poetry meant to entertain or amuse, but sometimes with a satirical thrust.
LITOTES	A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity. Example: He is not a bad dancer.
LYRIC POETRY	Personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject.
MAXIM	A saying or proverb expressing common wisdom or truth.
MELODRAMA	A literary form in which events are exaggerated in order to create an extreme emotional response.
METAPHYSICAL POETRY	The work of poets, particularly those of the seventeenth century, that uses elaborate conceits, is highly intellectual, and expresses the complexities of love and life.
METER	The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry.
METONYMY	A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated. Example: "The White House says..."
MIDDLE ENGLISH	The language spoken in England roughly between 1150 and 1500 A.D.
MOCK EPIC	A parody of traditional epic form.
MODE	The general form, pattern, and manner of expression of a work of literature.
MONTAGE	A quick succession of images or impressions used to express an idea.

Group #9

Group #9
MOOD	The emotional tone in a work of literature.
MORAL	A brief and often simplistic lesson that a reader may infer from a work of literature.
MOTIF	A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature.
MUSE	One of the ancient Greek goddesses presiding over the arts. The imaginary source of inspiration for an artist or writer.
MYTH	An imaginary story that has become an accepted part of the cultural or religious tradition of a group of society.
NARRATIVE	A form of verse or prose that tells a story.
NATURALISM	A term often used as a synonym for realism; also a view of experience that is generally characterized as bleak and pessimistic.
*NON SEQUITUR*	A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before.
NOVEL OF MANNERS	A novel focusing on and describing social customs and habits of a particular social group.
ODE	A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject.
OLD ENGLISH	The Anglo-Saxon language spoken in what is now England from approxiamately 450 and 1150 A.D.
OMNISCIENT NARRATOR	A narrator with unlimited awareness, understanding, and insight of characters, setting, background, and all other elements of the story.
ONOMATOPOEIA	The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning. Example: bubbling, murmuring brooks.
*OTTAVA RIMA*	An eight-line rhyming stanza of a poem.
OXYMORON	A term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create a paradoxical effect. Examples: loud silence, jumbo shrimp.

Group #10

Group #10
PARABLE	A story consisting of events from which a moral or spiritual truth may be derived.
PARADOX	A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true.
PARODY	An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject.
PARAPHRASE	A version of a text put into simpler, everyday, words.
PASTORAL	A work of literature dealing with rural life.
PATHETIC FALLACY	Faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects.
PATHOS	That element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow.
PENTAMETER	A verse with five poetic feet per line.
PERIODIC SENTENCE	A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end. In other words, the particulars in the sentence are presented before the idea they support.
PERSONA	The role or facade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader, a viewer, or the world at large.
PERSONIFICATION	A figure of speech in which objects and animals are given human characteristics.
PLOT	The interrelationship among the events in a story; the plot line is the pattern of events, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
PICARESQUE NOVEL	An episodic novel about a rougelike wanderer who lives off his wits.
POINT OF VIEW	The relation in which a narrator or speaker stands to the story or subject matter of a poem. A story told in the first person has an internal point of view; an observer uses an external point of view.
PROSODY	The grammar of meter and rhythm in poetry.

Group #11

Group #11
PROTAGONIST	The main character in a work of literature.
PSEUDONYM	A false name or alias used by writers.
PULP FICTION	Novels written for mass consumption, often emphasizing exciting and titillating plots.
PUN	A humorous play on words, using similar-sounding or identical words to suggest different meanings.
QUATRAIN	A four-line poem or a four-line unit of a longer poem.
REALISM	The depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect.
RHETORIC	The language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience.
RHETORICAL STANCE	Language that conveys a speaker's attitude or opinion with regard to a particular subject.
RHYME	The repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals, used mostly in poetry.
RHYME SCHEME	The pattern of rhymes within a given poem.
RHYTHM	The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry.
ROMAN A CLEF	French for a novel in which historical events and actual people appear under the guise of fiction.
ROMANCE	An extended narrative about improbable events and extraordinary people in exotic places.
SARCASM	A sharp, caustic expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt; different from irony, which is more subtle.
SATIRE	A literary style used to poke fun at, attack or ridicule an idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change.

The Vocabulary of Poetry (and more), Group 1

PDF Document

1. Ballad: a simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited.
2. Cacophony: grating, inharmonious sounds.
3. Caesura: a pause somewhere in the middle of a verse, often marked by punctuation.
4. Conceit: a witty or ingenious thought; a diverting or highly fanciful idea, often stated in figurative language.
5. Connotation: the suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase. Contrast with denotation.
6. Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word.
7. Diction: the choice of words in oral and written discourse.
8. Elegy: a poem or prose selection that laments or meditates on the passing or death of something or someone of value.
9. Ellipsis: three periods [. . .] indicating the omission of words in a thought or quotation.
10. Elliptical construction: a sentence containing a deliberate omission of words. In the sentence "May was hot and June the same," the verb was is omitted from the second clause.
11. End-Stopped: a term that describes a line of poetry that ends with a natural pause often indicated by a mark of punctuation.
12. Enjambment: in poetry, the use of successive lines with no punctuation or pause between them.
13. Epic: a narrative poem that tells of the adventures and exploits of a hero.
14. Foot: a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables used to determine the meter of a poetic line.
15. Hyperbole: overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect.
16. Idyll: a lyric poem or passage that describes a kind of ideal life or place.
17. Kenning: a device employed in Anglo-Saxon poetry in which the name of a thing is replaced by one of its functions or qualities, as in "ring-giver" for king and "whale-road" for ocean.
18. Light verse: a variety of poetry meant to entertain or amuse, but sometimes with a satirical thrust.
19. Litotes: a form of understatement in which the negative or the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity. Example: He is not a bad dancer.
20. Lyric poetry: personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject.

The Vocabulary of Poetry, Part III

The Vocabulary of Poetry, Part III

[PDF]
1. Apostrophe: addressing a person or personified thing not present. Example: “Oh, you cruel streets of Manhattan, how I detest you!”
2. Ballad: a simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited.
3. Blank verse: is unrhymed iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line or 5 iambic feet)
4. Couplet: a pair of rhyming lines in a poem. Two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter is called a heroic couplet.
5. Free verse: a kind of poetry without rhymed lines, rhythm, or fixed metrical feet.
6. Meter: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry.
7. Ode: a lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject.
8. Ottav rima: an eight-line rhyming stanza of a poem.
9. Paradox: a statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true.
10. Pastoral: a work of literature dealing with rural life.
11. Pathos: the element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow.
12. Pentameter: a verse with poetic feet (10 syllables) per line.
13. Quatrain: a four-line poem or a four-line unit of a longer poem
14. Rhythm: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry.
15. Sonnet: a form of verse usually consisting of three four-line units called quatrains and a concluding couplet.
16. Stanza: a group of two or more lines in poetry combined according to subject matter, rhyme, or some other plan.
17. Trope: the generic name for a figure of speech such as image, symbol, simile and metaphor.
18. Verse: a synonym for poetry. Also a group of lines in a song or poem; also a single line of poetry.
19. Versification: the structural form of a verse as revealed by scansion (scanning the poem to determine meter).
20. Villanelle: a French verse form calculated to appear simple and spontaneous but consisting of nineteen lines and a prescribed pattern of rhymes.

Getting Technical

Poetry has its own language and this is it…

When calculating meter, remember:

A foot is two syllables
10 syllables or 5 feet is a line of pentameter
8 syllables or 4 feet is a line of tetrameter
6 syllables or 3 feet is a line of trimeter
Two lines that are next to each other and rhyme make a heroic couplet
Sonnets are usually written in iambic pentameter

An iamb is a metrical foot consisting of two syllables, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
The opposite type of metrical foot is a troche, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter, whereas free verse is poetry with no identifiable meter or rhyme scheme.

Different Types of Feet

Iamb (Iambic)	Unstressed + Stressed .	Two Syllables
Trochee (Trochaic)	Stressed + Unstressed	Two Syllables
Spondee (Spondaic)	Stressed + Stressed	Two Syllables
Anapest (Anapestic)	Unstressed + Unstressed + Stressed	Three Syllables
Dactyl (Dactylic)	Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed	Three Syllables

And a bit more about METER

Monometer	One Foot
Dimeter	Two Feet
Hexameter	Six Feet
Heptameter	Seven Feet
Octameter	Eight Feet

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Mrs. Fischer