Theme
Central idea of a work of literature
Imagery
visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.
Setting
The time and place of a story
Exposition/Introduction
the beginning of the story where the characters and the setting are revealed
conflict in literature
a struggle by the central and secondary characters against another person (man vs. man), against the self (man vs. self), against some element of nature (man vs. nature), against some societal convention (man vs. society). The first 3 are pretty self-evid
rising action
A series of events that builds from the conflict. It begins with the inciting force and ends with the climax.
denouement
the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.
Thesis
Focus statement of an essay; premise statement upon which the point of view or discussion in the essay is based.
Evidence, Literary
Cited quotations, crafted paraphrase, and identified devices provided during text analysis
commentary
an explanation or interpretation
active voice
The subject of the sentence performs the action. This is a more direct and preferred style of writing in most cases.
passive voice
the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb
sentence combining
an effective way to increase syntactic maturity and improve quality of writing; encourages students to expand and develop their own creation
Verbal Phrase
A group of words to add to your core sentence. Verb+ing immediately following the comma.
May occur in the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence, but alone would be a fragment.