Literary Devices and Terms Quiz

Literacy Devices

• Alliteration: Repetition of initial consonant sounds
• Antagonist: Character in conflict with the main character. Antagonist may or may not be a person.
• Antecedent: The noun a pronoun refers back to in a sentence or related sentences.
• Apostrophe: Addressing someone or something not present as if they were. Often to a god, ghost, or supernatural being, or to a person not present.
• Archetype: Character or plot element common across cultures and time periods. Examples include the quest, wise old man, tyrannical king, temptress.
• Arguments: Assertions based on facts, statistics, logic, reasoning, evidence, used to influence or change ideas/actions.

Other Literary Terms

• Aside: A statement delivered by an actor, intended only for the audience. Other characters on stage are presumed to not hear it.
• Assonance: Similarity or repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words.
• Attitude: A person's opinion or way of thinking. How the author feels about their subject and audience
• Autobiography: Author's own life story; first-person account.
• Bildungsroman: A coming-of-age novel, portraying character development from youth to maturity.
• Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter (Shakespearean verse).
• Cacophony: A combination of harsh, unpleasant sounds that creates an effect of discordance
• Characterisation: Methods used to reveal a character's personality in literature. Revealed through what the character says about themselves, what others reveal, and their own actions.
• Chronological Ordering: Arranging events in the order they occurred; past to present, or present to past
• Colloquial Expressions: Informal, not always grammatically correct expressions accepted in certain regions/groups.
• Comedy: A work aiming to provoke laughter and smiles.
• Comic Relief: Humor used to interrupt serious parts of a literary work.
• Comparison/Contrast: Highlighting similarities and differences between two or more things.
• Complement: Part of a sentence following the subject and verb, that completes the thought. Includes direct/indirect objects, predicate nouns and adjectives. (Grammar)
• Complication: Part of a plot where the entanglement from conflict intensifies.
• Conflict: A struggle between opposing forces (e.g., person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. themselves)
• Conjunction: Word/phrase used to connect words, phrases, or clauses.
• Connective/Transition: Words/phrases that link ideas, sentences, or paragraphs.
• Crisis: Climax, turning point in a story or play. (Can have several when characters are almost equal)
• Crux: Most crucial parts of a poem or piece of prose, expressing the essential point
• Denouement: Resolution of the plot after the climax.
• Dialect: A particular way of speaking peculiar to a region or group of people.
• Dialogue: Conversation between characters(usually demarcated by quotation marks)
• Diction: An author's word choice (simple, sophisticated, colloquial, formal, informal)
• Direct Object: Noun complement following an action verb in a sentence.
• Drama: A story performed by actors on stage.
• Dramatic Irony: When characters say things that mean one thing to them but a different thing to the audience/reader.
• Ellipsis: Omission of words understood within the context of a statement.
• Epic: A long narrative poem about a hero and their adventures, often impacting the fate of a nation. Usually written in elevated language.
• Epiphany: Awakening; sudden understanding or burst of insight (often in Greek plays)
• Euphemism: Substituting a milder, less offensive word in place of a harsh or unpleasant word.
• Euphony: Pleasant, harmonious sounds in writing. Opposite of cacophony
• Exposition: Introductory part of a literary work, providing setting, characters, and context.
• Explication: Detailed analysis of a piece of writing, looking at its facets.
• Fable: Short story often involving animals teaching a moral lesson.
• Fairy Tale: A story that often involves fantasy and magic.
• Falling Action: Events occurring after the climax of a plot. Leading to the resolution.
• Farce: Highly improbable comedy; exaggerated situations; stereotyped characters, often violence and situations
• Figurative Language: Writing not meant to be literal, involving figures of speech (e.g., simile, metaphor, personification).
• First Person: Subjective point of view using "I" or "we".
• Flashback: A narrative device showing events that occurred before the current point.
• Flat Character: A character underdeveloped: only one or a few traits.
• Foil: Character contrasting to another, making the other character's traits stand out.
• Folk Tale: Story passed down orally through generations.
• Foreshadowing: Technique used to hint at future events in a story.
• Form: The structure, style, shape, or organization of a piece of writing.
• Free Verse: Unrhymed poetry with varying line lengths. No specific meter.
• Genre: A specific category of literature (e.g., poetry, novel, short story).
• Gothic: Literature involving magic, mystery, horror and chivalry
• Grotesque: Characterisation focusing on physically or mentally warped/deluded/challenged characters.
• Hero/Heroine: Main character in a story, possessing strength/moral character; noble cause
• Humor: Writing meant to elicit laughter.
• Hyperbole: Exaggeration for emphasis, effect.
• Idioms: Expressions that don't translate literally into other languages. Culturally relevant.
• Imagery: Description that appeals to the senses.
• Indirect Object: Noun/pronoun complement following an action verb, with a "to" or "for" implied meaning.
• Inverted Sentence/Inversion: Reversing the normal order (Subject-Verb-Complement) in a sentence.
• Irony: A difference between expectation and reality; surprising, amusing.
• Juxtaposition: Placing elements in close proximity to highlight contrast.
• Legend: A widely told story passed down through time; often based in fact but embellished.
• Line: Unit of poetic verse.
• Literary Devices: Figures of speech and literary techniques
• Lyrical: Emotional writing; showing author's fervent expression
• Metaphor: Comparison without "like" or "as".
• Mood: Atmosphere of a work of literature, determined by tone and setting.
• Narrative: A story
• Narrator: The teller of the story; person, character or entity
• Novel: Extended prose narrative
• Omniscient: Narrator knows thoughts/feelings of all characters.
• Onomatopoeia: Words that mimic sounds.
• Organization: The way a passage/story is structured or compiled. Chronological is typical.
• Oxymoron: Self-contradictory combination of words.
• Paradox: A statement appearing contradictory but possibly true.
• Paraphrase: Restating an idea in different words, maintaining the original meaning.
• Parody: Humorous imitation of a literary work.
• Pathos: Quality in a work provoking pity, sorrow or tenderness.
• Periodic Sentence: Subject and verb come at the end, building anticipation .
• Personification: Giving human qualities to non-human things.
• Playwright: Person who writes plays.
• Plot: Sequence of events in a story; characters and conflict within the story.
• Point of View: Perspective from which a story is told (first person, second person, third person/omniscient, third person/limited, objective).
• Predicate Nominative: Part of a sentence following a linking verb; renames, identifies or describes the subject.
• Prose: Writing not in verse; ordinary language; flexible form and structure
• Protagonist: Main character in a story
• Pun: A play on words; exploiting multiple meanings.
• Repetition: Repeating parts of a piece to create a specific effect.
• Resolution: Conclusion of a story; resolves conflict in a new state of affairs
• Rhyme: Similarity of sounds in words. (true rhyme or slant)
• Rhythm: Metrical or rhythmical pattern in a poem.
• Rising Action: Events leading up to a story's climax
• Romance: Literature involving larger-than-life characters; exotic settings; adventure.
• Round Character: Fully developed; complex character with multiple dimensions
• Sarcasm: Use of apparent praise to express contempt or disapproval.
• Scene: Part of a play or story describing a particular setting.
• Second Person: Narrator uses "you" to involve the reader directly in the narrative.
• Setting: Time and location of a story.
• Short Story: Brief work with several essential characteristics of a novel.
• Simile: Comparison using "like" or "as".
• Slang: Expressions unique to a particular group.
• Soliloquy: Long speech revealing character's thoughts/feelings when alone.
• Stanza: Group of lines in a poem, often equivalent to a paragraph in prose.
• Static Character: A character who remains essentially unchanged throughout the story.
• Stereotype: Type of character based on preconceived ideas/characterisation
• Style: Writer's typical way of writing, word choices and assembling words
• Structure: Framework of a piece of literature
• Subordinate Clause: Clause not as essential as main sentence, and needs additional clause to make a complete grammatical sentence.
• Subordinate Clause: A clause which cannot stand alone as a complete sentence in grammatical terms, and needs a main clause to make a full grammatical sentence.
• Subordinate Conjunction: Word that connects clauses together.
• Symbol: Something representing another idea, thing or concept.
• Symbolism: Use of a symbol to represent an idea or quality
• Syntax: Grammar/structure of sentences or words in a phrase/passage: sentence structure
• Sweeping Generalization: A broadly stated idea that is difficult to prove.
• Theme: Underlying idea or message of a piece of writing
• Thesis: Main point in an essay/speech; scope of topic
• Tone: Writer's attitude toward the subject; revealed through techniques like word choice or sentence structure.
• Tragedy: Downfall, destruction of a character.
• Tragic Flaw: Character's fatal flaw/decision
• Transitional Adverb: Adverb used to connect ideas in a sentence/paragraph. (e.g., however, therefore, consequently)
• Voice: Style of the speaker or narrator of a story.

Plot and Story Structure

• Exposition: Initial part of plot introducing characters/setting.
• Conflict: Main problem driving the plot. Internal/External
• Rising Action: Events leading towards climax.
• Climax: Point of highest tension/excitement in the story
• Falling Action: Events after climax leading to resolution.
• Resolution: Conclusion of the story; loose ends are resolved.

Test your knowledge on various literary devices and terms in this engaging quiz. From alliteration to archetypes, discover how well you understand the essential elements that enhance storytelling. Perfect for students and literature enthusiasts alike!