Literary Techniques

Question 1

What is an analogy? Give an example

Answer 1

A comparison made between something that is known and something less familiar (Time is money so spend it wisely)

Question 2

What is the Exposition?

Answer 2

Writer introduces characters, setting, conflict

Question 3

What is the RA?

Answer 3

Series of events develop a problem or conflict

Question 4

What is the climax?

Answer 4

Characters succeed or fail at solving conflict (turning point). An event or choice made by the protagonist that changes the ending of the story.

Question 5

What is the resolution?

Answer 5

All conflicts in the story are wrapped up

Question 6

What are the 2 types of conflicts? What is the difference?

Answer 6

Internal - involves insight into a character’s motivations and inner turmoil

External - involves a character battling against a force outside of them (Another person or nature itself)

Question 7

What are the seven main literary conflicts?

Answer 7

Person vs. Self, Person vs. Society, Person vs. Nature, Person vs. Technology, Person vs. Person, Person vs. Supernatural (God), Person vs. Destiny

Question 8

When does the conflict occur in a story?

Answer 8

Conflicts occur during the Rising Action, right before the Climax

Question 9

Can the protagonist of the story also be the antagonist of the story?

Answer 9

Yes, if they are dealing with inner turmoil against themselves

Question 10

What is Foreshadowing?

Answer 10

A reference that hints about an event that will happen later on in the story

Question 11

What is a flashback?

Answer 11

An interruption in a work of fiction that presents an earlier event

Question 12

What is the antagonist?

Answer 12

Whomever or whatever the protagonist comes into conflict with

Question 13

What is Assonance?

Answer 13

Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words, enhancing rhythm and creating musicality (Bright night lights, Quick Flicks)

Question 14

What are the 4 types of characters?

Answer 14

Tragic, Pathetic, Static, and Dynamic

Question 15

What is a Tragic character? Give me an example.

Answer 15

A character who makes errors in judgement or actions which leads to their downfall. (Romeo’s love for love, he falls too fast)

Question 16

What is a Pathetic character?

Answer 16

Invokes “pathos” a feeling of pity, which is created due to the character’s deep suffering

Question 17

What is a Static Character?

Answer 17

A character that doesn’t change throughout the story, never learning the life lesson the audience intends them to.

Question 18

What is a Dynamic Character?

Answer 18

A character that changes before the end of the story and learns the life lesson through conflict

Question 19

What is diction?

Answer 19

Word choice or sentence structure that makes up a distinct tone of voice (Formal, Informal, Slang, Poetic)

Question 20

What is an Allusion?

Answer 20

A figure of speech that refers to a famous person, place or event (He was the “Good Samaritan” who funded the orphanage)

Question 21

What is a Fable?

Answer 21

A fictional story with a direct and clear moral (General truth, Rules of conduct, and appropriate behaviours) such as the Scorpion and the Frog

Question 22

What is a Simile?

Answer 22

A phrase or sentence which compares an object or person with something else to make a description (She was as sharp as a pencil)

Question 23

What is a Metaphor?

Answer 23

A figure of speech that compares two things by stating one thing is another (The exam was a piece of cake)

Question 24

What is Alliteration?

Answer 24

A series of words that begin with the same constant sound (Peter’s piglet pranced priggishly) Constant: no a,e,i,o,u,y

Question 25

What is Imagery?

Answer 25

Visually descriptive or figurative language in a literary work (Auditory, Visual, Tactile)

Question 26

What are the two types of Imagery?

Answer 26

Tactile (texture, Gustatory-sour, Olfactory - Fragrance or odor) and Taste (one bite of the sour lemon caused my lips to pucker)

Question 27

What are the 3 Ironies?

Answer 27

Dramatic, Verbal, Situational

Question 28

What is Dramatic irony?

Answer 28

When the reader or audience knows something that the character does not (LTTS where Mary cooks the lamb and feeds it to the officers)

Question 29

What is Verbal irony?

Answer 29

When the speaker says something different from what they mean (Boy, this skin rash is a pleasure to experience)

Question 30

What is Situational irony?

Answer 30

When an event or outcome takes place which is the opposite of what we expect (A blizzard of snow on the first day of spring)

Question 31

What is the setting?

Answer 31

Time, place, and mood the story is written in

Question 32

What is Pathetic Fallacy?

Answer 32

When the settings represent human emotion (Character is sad and it is raining, sadness is reflected by gloomy day)

Question 33

What is another Pathetic Fallacy?

Answer 33

Gives emotion to something that is non-human (Angry storms began to roll in)

Question 34

What is Oxymoron?

Answer 34

Placing two opposite words together (The food was awfully good)

Question 35

What is Anthropomorphism?

Answer 35

The attribution of human traits, feelings, and behaviours to inanimate objects or nature (The trees reached out with dangly arms)

Question 36

What is Onomatopoeia?

Answer 36

When words sound like the noise being described (Crunch went the leaves, the cars smashed into each other)

Question 37

What is Symbolism?

Answer 37

When one thing is meant to represent something else (The colour black symbolizes death)

Question 38

What is point of view?

Answer 38

How the story is told and the characters' beliefs

Question 39

What is 1st person

Answer 39

The narrator talks about themselves (I, me, my, we, our, us, mine)

Question 40

What is 2nd person?

Answer 40

The narrator talks to the reader directly (She thought the boy liked her) (You, your, yourself)

Question 41

What is 3rd person?

Answer 41

The narrator talks about other people (he, she, it, they, their)

Question 42

What is Omniscient?

Answer 42

No bias or preference, full knowledge of all characters and situations

Question 43

What is Limited?

Answer 43

Only knowing what is going on inside the heart and mind of one person

Question 44

What is Characterization?

Answer 44

A combination of direct and indirect descriptions regarding a character's inner and outer appearance

Question 45

What is the difference between Direct and Indirect Characterization?

Answer 45

Direct - direct information about the character from the author Indirect - when the author makes readers infer information and draw their own conclusions.