ENGLISH STUDY GUIDE

Vocab: 1) Foreshadowing- a literary technique used to create suspense by using clues suggesting events that have yet to happen 2) Persona- the mask an author wears in a literary work, may or may not share the same beliefs as the author 3) Atmosphere/Mood- the response the reader has to the authors description of the story, how they want the reader to feel 4) Tone- attitude of the writer towards the subject 5) Figurative Language- language not to be taken literally, written to create a special effect or feeling 6) Genre- classification for a type of literature 7) Connotation- cultural meaning 8) Denotation- dictionary meaning 9) Theme- moral lesson or message about human life or existence 10) Foil- a character used to show contrast to another character 11) Alliteration- repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of a word 12) Satire- literary technique where ideas, customs, and behaviors are ridiculed to improve society 13) Paradox- seemingly contradictory statement that may hold an element of truth 14) Allusion- reference to another literary work 15) Assonance- repetition of vowel sound in a word 16) Consonance- repetition of consonant sound in a word 17) Hyperbole- where truth is exaggerated for humorous effect 18) Irony: dramatic- reader knows something character does not, situational- what the reader expects and what actually happens, verbal- character says one thing and means another 19) Allegory- work with two levels of meeting (a literal one and a symbolic one) 20) Synecdoche- figure of speech is which a part is used to represent the whole or the whole for a part 21) Diction- authors choice of words 22) Idiom- figure of speech whose meaning is different than the literal meaning of the words 23) Imagery- picture an author paints for the reader, uses words appealing to the 5 senses 24) Onomatopoeia- word that sounds like what it means (swish, bang, pop) 25) Enjambment- continuation of a sentence after break in a line of poetry 26) Caesura- pause in line of poetry 27) Scansion- notation of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry 28) Symbol- an object or person that stands for something beyond itself (i.e. dove=peace) 29) Metaphor- comparison of two unlike objects without using like or as 30) Simile- comparison using like or as