Mid-term Review

Words to Know

Elements of Fiction

• Plot: the series of events in a story.

• Four stages of Plot:• Exposition: introduce the characters and

setting. This is where we get the background information.

• Rising Action: story becomes more and more complicated and the conflict develops.

• Climax: the turning point of the story. This is the most exciting or suspenseful part of the story.

• Falling Action and Resolution: the loose ends are tied up and the conflict is usually solved.

Remember this Diagram

Conflict

• A struggle or clash between opposing forces.• External: a struggle between a

character and an outside force. For example: Nature or a fight between another character

• Internal: a struggle between opposing desires within a character. For example: Should I tell on my friend or not?

Characters

• Are the people, animals, and imaginary creatures who take part in the action of a story.• Main character: the action of the story

centers on this character.• Minor characters: interact with the main

character and help move the story along.

• Character traits: are qualities a character possesses. For example: kind, selfish, courageous

More about Characters

• You can determine things about a character by:• How they are described by the narrator• How they are described by other

characters• How they act• The character’s motivations (why they

do what they do)• The character’s thoughts and feelings

Setting

• The time and place which a story occurs.

• Answers the questions:• When ?• Where?

Tone

• The way the author feels about what he or she is writing. You have to figure it out by asking yourself what the author is saying and why (serious, silly, cheerful, dark, suspenseful, angry)

Theme

• The meaning or the moral of a story.

• Think back to the Holocaust novels we read.• What was the lesson or the moral of

those stories?• Authors create themes to express their

ideas about life and human nature.

Poetry

• Sounds: rhyme, rhythm, and repetition• Rhyme: the repetition of similar sounds

at the ends of words like moon and June.• Rhythm: the pattern of stressed and

unstressed syllables.• Repetition: the use of sounds, words,

phrases, or whole lines more than once. • Alliteration: the repetition of consonant

sounds. • Remember when I read The Cat in the Hat?

Figurative Language

• Imagery: words and phrases that appeal to the five senses. For example: blistering sun

• Simile: a comparison of two things that have something in common using the words like or as. For example: Her eyes are green as emeralds.

• Metaphor: a comparison that states one thing is actually something else. For example: Her eyes are emeralds.

• Personification: an animal, object, or idea is given human qualities. For example: The sun wrapped its warm arms round my shoulders.

Point of View

• The narrator’s perspective or position from which the story is told.

• First person: uses I, me, us, my; the narrator is a character in the story

• Third person: uses he, she, they; the narrator is not a character in the story- tells what a character thinks or feels.

Predictions

• When you guess what is most likely to happen next in a story.

• Its based on what has already happened and what you already know about the world

• Should always be reasonable, should be related to what you know about the story.

Inferences

• A determination you make based on information you have:

• A. You should have some kind of evidence to back it up

• B. It is the most likely interpretation of a situation given the evidence that is available

• C. You can make inferences about:

• A character’s interests, personality, or physical appearance

• A character’s history

• A character’s age

• The history of relationships between characters

• The reasons for a character’s behavior

• A character’s intentions (what he plans to do and why)

• A character’s next actions