Literary terms and phrases

Directions: Use the clues to match the literary terms we have studied in class with their
definitions. (Hint: Terms with two words, i.e., rising action will not use a space =
risingaction.

Across
3. The highest point of tension before action falls
5. The reader the author thinks of when she/he writes
6. When and where a story takes place
7. The ending or the moral of the story
8. The problem that the main character has
Down

1. This part tells who, where, and when

2. Action the part in which the conflict gets sorted out, solved
4. All the parts of a story that can be shown on a line of
7. The part in which the conflict or problem gets worse
Unit 1 and Unit 2 Reading Skills
I.

Evaluation:
- What is it? Evaluating stories is the process of looking at who, what,
where, when and why events in a story take place.
- How do I do it? Think about your reaction to a story or a part of a story
and ask yourself, why did I feel that way? Why did the author present
that information?
- Example from our class: (Lobs Girl)

II.

Comprehension:
- What is it? Comprehension is a general understanding the plot events.
- How do I do it? By understanding the grammar, vocabulary and how
the event in question impacts the story, we can comprehend what is
going on.
- Example from Class: (Lobs Girl)

*It is important to understand

who is saying what. You must
know which character is
saying You must have him as
a gift.

III.

Prediction:
What is it? It is using descriptions and clues from the reading to make an
educated guess as to what will happen later in the story.
How do I do it? The best way to make a prediction is to use hints and
foreshadows in the story to guess what the characters will do or what will
happen to them.
Example from the text:

The woman will help the

boy to stop stealing
because the title of the
story is Thank you
Maam.

IV.

Inference:
What is it? It is the process of using information that is not directly stated
to understand the text.
How do I do it? By using the descriptions of emotions, actions and
thoughts, you can gather information and then understand what the author
means.
Example from the text: Thank you Maam

Here, it is important to
imagine why a real person
would do this.

V.

You will be given a new text to read during the midterm (it will be quite
short), in that text you will have to answer general questions about the
story (comprehension questions) and who, what, where and when. A good
way to practice for these kinds of questions is to reread the assessment
questions at the end of the stories in the Jamestown Reader.

VI.

You will also need to be able to answer the following questions:

-

What are the five elements of a shorty story?

What is a conflict and what kinds of conflicts are there.
You will also need to know what foreshadowing is, what dialogue is,
and what a theme is.