Literary Terms

Ms. Gondocs

Week 3

BR: Activity

• Write 3 words that describe the attitude that a person can have towards something. Put the 3 words on a post-it.

Activity I

• Stand up.

• Say the 1st word on your card. If someone has said it already, then start with the second word.

• If all three words of yours have been said, sit down.

• You have just reviewed several tone words.

• Exp. Angry, confused, curious, wise, worried, skeptical, somber, silly, serious, sad, excited, dry, eerie, disrespectful, content, jolly, joyful, lamenting, bitter etc.

Characters

• The people or animals in the story. They can be major (significant) or minor (insignificant) characters.

Setting

• The time and place of the story

• Exp. 21st century & Chicago

• 19th century (1800s) & Congo

• 20th century (1976) & Budapest

Plot

• Plot refers to the summary of the story.

• What happened?

Theme

• Theme is the universal idea or message of the story. What is the author suggesting in this story?

• The theme has to do with an abstract idea such as: loyalty, love, death, friendship, betrayal, war, identity, anger, destiny, fear marriage, youth, beauty, progress etc.

• Authors say something specific about the above ideas. This becomes their thesis.