ENGLISH II PRE-AP TERMS GUIDE 2019-2020 - Humble ISD
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ENGLISH II PRE-AP TERMS GUIDE
2019-2020
You are responsible for keeping up with this terms sheet as we will
reference it throughout the entire year. If you lose it, please see my
website to print a new copy.
SECTION 1: PLOT AND LITERARY ANALYSIS TERMS
We will reference these terms during our fiction and poetry units
including, but not limited to, Lord of the Flies, The Theban
Trilogy, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Jane
Eyre.
PLOT TERMS
PLOT: The series of events that present and resolve a conflict.
Many stories follow typical plot development, which can be traced using Freytag’s Pyramid, which helps
us to remember the order in which the steps of plot usually occur.
a. EXPOSITION: The background information that introduces characters, setting, and situation
b. INCITING MOMENT: An event that occurs which initiates the main action and begins the primary
conflict in the story
c. RISING ACTION: Presents complications that intensify the primary conflict; builds suspense as we
wonder what the outcome will be
d. CLIMAX: The major turning point in the story; high point of greatest intensity/interest
e. FALLING ACTION: Events/actions following the climax, often as a result of the climax. Although
these events follow the climax, they occur before the problem created in the inciting moment has
been resolved
f. RESOLUTION: Moment when the primary conflict created by the inciting moment is resolved and
the outcome is clear; the end
g. DENOUEMENT: The “where they are now.” The author ties up any loose ends and answers any
remaining questions
LINEAR PLOT: Goes in chronological order – the events are told in the order in which they happened (In
other words, the story goes in order of Freytag’s Pyramid.)
NON-LINEAR PLOT: Events are NOT revealed in the order that they occurred in time, but in some other
order that the writer chooses. This is usually accomplished through one of the following two non-linear
plot devices.
a. FORESHADOWING: The use of hints to give the reader insight about coming events
b. FLASHBACK: A narrative technique that allows a writer to present past events during current
events in order to provide background for the current narration
c. SUBPLOT: A subordinate or minor plotline within the story that often has a direct relation to the
main plot, contributing to it in interest and in complication
d. PARALLEL PLOT STRUCTURE: A structure in which two stories of equal importance are told
simultaneously, and the story moves back and forth between the two plots
SETTING: The time and place in which the events occurSUSPENSE: Excitement or tension created as readers wait to find out how a story ends or a conflict is
resolve: created by raising questions about what might happen next, often through the use of
foreshadowing
CONFLICT TERMS
CONFLICT: The struggle (internal or external) between two opposing forces
a. EXTERNAL CONFLICT: Clash between a character and an outside force – with another person,
object, or entity
Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Fate, Man vs. Society, etc.
b. INTERNAL CONFLICT: A struggle within a character’s mind
Man vs. Self
CHARACTER TERMS
CHARACTERS: The people/actors in a story
a. PROTAGONIST: The main character of the story, around whom the plot revolves. While s/he is
usually the reader empathizes with, s/he is not in all cases a likeable person.
b. ANTAGONIST: The person, place, or thing in conflict with the protagonist. The antagonist may
take many forms including another person, a force of nature, fate, society, or the protagonist
him/herself.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT/CHARACTERIZATION: The process by which writers reveal their
characters’ traits (qualities)
a. DIRECT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: The author directly describes the character, taking away
the reader’s option to visualize the character in the reader’s own terms.
b. INDIRECT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: The author allows the reader the freedom to create
the character in the reader’s mind. This can be accomplished with any of the following:
a. Appearance: What the character looks like; How s/he carries her/himself
b. Speech: What the character says and how s/he says it
c. The Opinions of Others
d. The Character’s Thoughts
e. Actions: What the character does in certain situations
CHARACTER TYPES
a. FLAT CHARACTER: A one-dimensional character; one or two personality traits only
b. ROUND CHARACTER: A three-dimensional character with many sides to his/her personality
c. STOCK CHARACTER: A stereotypical character
d. STATIC CHARACTER: A character who does not undergo a change during the story
e. DYNAMIC CHARACTER: A character who does undergo an important change during the story
CHARACTER FOILS: A character who provides a striking contrast, calling attention to certain traits possessed
by a main character or simply enhance a character by contrast
CHARACTER MOTIVATION: The reason for a character’s behavior. This requires you to make inferences
based on characterization!
POINT-OF-VIEW TERMSPOINT-OF-VIEW: The vantage point from which a narrative is told. The point-of-view in a story affects how we
perceive “reality” in the story and understand what happens in it.
a. FIRST-PERSON POINT-OF-VIEW: Told by one of the characters in the story; uses the pronoun “I”
b. THIRD-PERSON LIMITED POINT-OF-VIEW: The narrator, who is almost never a character in the
story, zooms in on the thoughts of just one or a select few characters.
c. THIRD-PERSON OMNISCIENT POINT-OF-VIEW: The narrator is able to look into the hearts and
minds of all characters at all times. The Greek prefix omni means “all,” and scient means “seeing.”
IRONY TERMS
IRONY: Occurs when the reader expects one thing, but the opposite occurs – the unexpected. It is the
discrepancy between what is expected and what actually occurs.
THREE TYPES OF IRONY
a. SITUATIONAL IRONY: A discrepancy between the expected result and the actual result
b. VERBAL IRONY: When an individual says one thing but really means another (or, when a
character says one thing, but the opposite is true)
c. DRAMATIC IRONY: When the audience/reader knows what is happening before the characters
do. Horror movies and soap operas are known for their heavy use of dramatic irony.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Note: See your rhetorical terms packet for further figurative language terms.
CONCEIT: A metaphor that just does not work or fit very easily.
Example: “The United States is a venerable sea turtle, silently gliding through the blue depths”.
SYMBOLISM: The use of something concrete that stands for or represents something abstract.
METONYMY: Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it.
Example: “The pen [WRITING] is mightier than the sword [WAR/FIGHTING].”
We await word from the crown.
I'm told he's gone so far as to give her a diamond ring.
The IRS is auditing me? Great. All I need is a couple of suits arriving at my door.
SYNECDOCHE: When something is identified only by mention of a smaller part of itself.
Example: “I soared into the air as the wheels left the runway.” – mentions only wheels, instead of entire
plane.”
DRAMATIC SPEECH TERMS
DIALOGUE: A conversation between two or more people. Any portion of a staged drama, that is neither a
monologue nor a soliloquy, is a dialogue.
MONOLOGUE: A long speech by one person to an audience of any number of people.
SOLILOQUY: A long speech in which a character who is onstage alone expresses his or her thoughts and
feelings aloud.
APOSTROPHE: A figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some
abstraction. This is often used when emotions become most intense.
Example: “Hello darkness, my old friend… I’ve come to talk with you again.”ASIDE: Words spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another character that are not supposed
to be heard by the others onstage.
OTHER IMPORTANT LITERARY TERMS
THEME: The underlying meaning of a literary work. Theme may also be stated as “the author’s idea or what life
is, should be, or could be.” In short, the theme is the statement or observation about life that the author is
trying to make. A theme is NOT a one-word concept like “Revenge.” It is a full statement, such as
“Revenge is not worthwhile unless the avenger makes him/herself known.”
MOTIF: a pattern of recurring objects, concepts, or structures in a work of literature
Example: Footsteps, wine, and the sea in A Tale of Two Cities.
ALLITERATION: The repetition of initial consonant sounds; can be as few as two sounds in close
proximity
Example: “A great fire blazed on the hearth and the sm
ell of cedar cleanly s
plit and s
weetwood burning
bright wafted a cloud of fragrance down the island”
ANACHRONISM: Something out of time or place in a literary text
Example: A smart phone in a story that takes place in 1985
COMIC RELIEF: A humorous scene, incident or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity. By providing
contrast, comic relief serves to heighten the seriousness of the main action while helping audiences to absorb
earlier events in the plot and get ready for the ones to come.
JUXTAPOSITION: To place side by side in order to compare.
PARADOX: An apparently contradictory statement that actually reveals some truth.
Examples: “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."
“Everyone is completely unique, just like everyone else.”
"If there is an exception to every rule, then every rule must have at least one exception, the exception to this
one being that it has no exception.”
OXYMORON: A concise paradox that brings together two contradictory terms.
Examples: jumbo shrimp, act naturally, found missing, genuine imitation
APHORISM: A concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance
Example: “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
IAMBIC PENTAMETER: The rhythm in which Shakespeare writes his plays and his sonnets
Break the name down…
● An ‘iamb’ is a metrical foot, or unit of measurement, consisting of an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable ( ˘ ´). One iamb = ăriśe.
● “Penta” means five, so…
Line of verse that contains five iambs. This line is ten syllables long with an alternating pattern of unstressed
and stressed syllables.
Example: “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?”
BLANK VERSE: Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter; “blank” means the poetry is not rhymed; this
is the major form of verse in Shakespeare’s plays.SECTION 2: RHETORICAL APPEALS, STRATEGIES,
AND FALLACIOUS ARGUMENTS
We will reference these terms primarily during our spring nonfiction unit; however, we will
review them by studying key speeches in Antigone and Julius Caesar.
THE THREE BASIC PERSUASIVE APPEALS
ETHOS: An appeal based on the character of the speaker. This appeal is based
on whether or not the audience perceives the speaker as someone who
is morally competent, trustworthy, and knowledgeable on the subject
about which s/he is speaking.
PATHOS: An appeal to emotions or feelings including fear, humor, romance,
compassion, etc…
LOGOS: An appeal to logic or rational reasoning. If you can explain real-life
cause and effect and if/then situations, and make reasonable
comparisons using facts and figures that can be verified, then you are
using logos.
TYPES OF LOGICAL REASONING
DEDUCTIVE A way of thinking in which one arrives at a conclusion by applying a general principle
REASONING: to a specific situation.
*Syllogism (All A are B; All B are C; therefore, all A are C.) is one of the types of
deductive reasoning.
Example
General Principle: Any student caught cheating will be suspended.
Specific Situation: Jeremiah was caught cheating.
Conclusion: Jeremiah will be suspended.
INDUCTIVE A way of thinking in which one arrives at a conclusion by looking at specific evidence
REASONING: and using it to form a general principle/draw a conclusion.
When dealing with inductive reasoning, be sure that
a) the evidence used is valid and provides sufficient support for the conclusion.
b) the writer doesn’t overgeneralize or draw a conclusion that is too broad
Example
Fact #1: Fewer than one hundred Arizona agave century plants remain in existence.
Fact #2: Over the last three generations, there has been a fifty percent reduction in
the number of elephants.
Fact #3: Only fifty Hawaiian crows are left in the world.
Conclusion: Extinction is a problem facing many classes of living things.
RHETORICAL STRUCTURES AND DEVICES
REPETITION: Using the same word, words, or structure more than once for emphasis.
Example
“Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces ancient hatreds among the
nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.” – Ronald ReaganAMPLIFICATION: Repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it in order to
emphasize what might otherwise be passed over.
Example
“Pride – boundless pride – is the bane of civilization.”
“He showed a rather simple taste, a taste for good art, good food, and good
friends.”
“In my hunger after ten days of rigorous dieting I saw visions of ice cream –
mountains of creamy, luscious ice cream, dripping with gooey syrup and
calories.”
PARALLELISM Repetition of words, phrases, or sentences that have the same grammatical
(PARALLEL structure or that state a similar idea.
STRUCTURE): Example:
“Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater
determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of
challenge, to make America what it ought to be.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
CHIASMUS: A statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is
structurally reversed. Think inverted parallelism.
Example:
“It is boring to eat; to sleep is fulfilling.”
“He knowingly led, and we followed blindly.”
ANTITHESIS: A statement in which sharply contrasting words, phrases, clauses, or sentences
are juxtaposed to emphasize a point. In true antithesis, both the ideas and the
grammatical structures are balanced.
Example:
“Life can be kind and cruel, full of hope and heartache.”
“War is not fought to achieve joy, but to avoid pain.”
ANAPHORA: The same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or
more successive clauses or sentences.
Example:
“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
hallow this ground.” – Abraham Lincoln
EPISTROPHE: Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the end of successive phrases,
clauses, or sentences (the counterpart to anaphora).
Example
‘In our old age we laugh at our past, sigh for our past, cry out over our past.”
ASYNDETON: A construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions.
Example
“Jockeying for room on the table were turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, pies,
rolls, butter, cranberry sauce, a cornucopia of vegetables.”
POLYSYNDETON The use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than are necessary or natural.
: Example
“His hair and face and eyes and mouth combined to form an image of absolute
power.”RHETORICAL A question posed for its persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply.
QUESTION: Examples:
“Do we then submit to our oppressor?”
HYPOPHORA: Raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at
some length. A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a
paragraph and then use that paragraph to answer it.
Example
“How do we know this to be true? We have observed it in the lab.”
“Why should you vote for me? I’ll give you five good reasons…”
LITERARY TERMS FREQUENTLY FOUND IN NONFICTION
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: This includes similes, metaphors, personification, and imagery
HYPERBOLE: Overstatement; the exaggeration of truth for emphasis or humorous effect.
Example:
“That limousine is as long as an ocean liner!”
LITOTES: A type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite.
Example:
Using “She was not unmindful” to mean “She gave careful attention.”
MYTHOLOGICAL A brief, indirect reference to a character or event in mythology.
ALLUSION: Example:
“Galveston had become Atlantis.” (an allusion to the lost city of Atlantis)
LITERARY A brief, indirect reference to a work of literature or a part of that work of literature.
ALLUSION: Example:
“In all of her dealings, she was a regular Madame Defarge.” (an allusion to A
Tale of Two Cities)
HISTORICAL A brief, indirect reference to an historical event, person, place, or object.
ALLUSION: Example:
“Our business is doing so very poorly that I feel like, no matter what we try to do
to make it better, we’re just rearranging furniture on the Titanic.” (an allusion to
the sinking of the Titanic)
BIBLICAL A brief, indirect reference to a story, figure, or passage from the Bible.
ALLUSION: Example:
“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we
remembered Zion.” (an allusion to the story of Babylon in the Bible from people
who are NOT in Babylon)
ANECDOTE: A short narrative detailing particulars of an interesting episode or event. Unlike a
short story, it lacks complications of plot and subtleties of character.
PUN: A play on the multiple meanings of a word or on two words that sound alike but
have different meanings.
Example:
When is a doctor most annoyed? When he runs out of patients.FAULTY/FALLACIOUS ARGUMENTS
EMOTIONAL FALLACIES
FALSE DILEMMA A fallacy of argument in which a complicated issue is misrepresented as
(EITHER/OR FALLACY): offering only two possible alternatives, one of which is often made to seem
vastly preferable to the other
SLIPPERY SLOPE: A fallacy of argument exaggerating the possibility that a relatively
inconsequential action or choice today will have serious adverse
consequences in the future
OVERLY SENTIMENTAL The excessive use of tender emotions to distract readers from facts
APPEALS:
AD POPULUM: A claim or course of action is recommended on the grounds that everyone
else is following it
ETHICAL FALLACIES
AD HOMINEM: Attacks against the character of a person rather than the claims he or she
makes
LOGICAL FALLACIES:
OVERSIMPLIFICATION: An explanation of a complex situation or problem as if it were much simpler
than it is
OVERGENERALIZATION: A generalization that is too broad; can often be identified by words such as
all, everyone, every time, anything, no one, or none
STEREOTYPING: A dangerous type of overgeneralization in which broad statements about
people are made on the basis of gender, ethnicity, race, political ideology,
religious affiliation, etc.
HASTY An inference drawn from insufficient evidence, usually a small sample size
GENERALIZATION: that is not in line with an average situation
POST HOC ERGO Literally translates, “after this, therefore because of this;” the faulty
PROPTER HOC: assumption that because one event or action follows another, the first
causes the second
NON SEQUITUR: An argument whose claims, reasons, or warrants do not connect logically;
one point doesn’t follow from another
STRAW MAN: An attack on an argument that the opponent is not actually making; a
misrepresentation of the opponent’s argument that makes it seem more
extreme than it actually is, making it easier to refute
RED HERRING: An abrupt change in subject to distract an audience from potentially
objectionable claimsFAULTY ANALOGY: Inaccurate or inconsequential comparisons between objects or concepts CIRCULAR REASONING: Supporting a statement by simply repeating it in different words.
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