Gator Literary Terms for 2016-2017

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1. Inference - a logical guess based on evidence

What I read + What I know = What I infer
Text Information + Prior Knowledge = Inference
2. Textual Evidence - specific information from the text that we use
to support our inferences
3. Explicit Information - clearly stated (written in the text)
4. Implicit Information - implied or suggested (not clearly stated)
5. Theme - the message the author wants the reader to understand
or learn
6. Central Idea - what the story is about (main idea)
7. Narrator - a person who tells the story
8. Genre - a type of literature
9. Fiction - writing that comes from the authors imagination
10. Characters - people, animals, or imaginary creatures in a story
Main characters - most important characters in the story
Minor characters - characters that are not as important
11. Protagonist - hero in a story (good guy)
12. Antagonist - villain in the story (bad guy)
13. Static Character - a character that does not change in the story
14. Dynamic Character - a character that changes in the story
15. Plot - a sequence of events that occur in the story
15. Setting - when and where the story takes place
16. Exposition - beginning of the story; where the characters are
introduced (part of the plot)
17. Rising action - complications and conflict occur in the story (part
of the plot)
18. Climax - highest point of interest in the story where the
character(s) start to
change (part of the plot)
19. Falling action - less suspenseful part of the story (part of the
plot)
20. Conflict - a struggle between opposing forces
Internal conflict - a struggle within a characters mind
External conflict - a struggle between two outer opposing forces
21. Literal - representing the exact words in the text
22.. Figurative - language that expresses more than the dictionary
meaning (words represent something else)
23. Simile - comparison using like or as

24. Metaphor - comparison not using like or as

25 Personification - giving human traits to animals, objects, or ideas
26. Hyperbole - exaggerating to show strong feelings or effects
27. Understatement - expression with less strength than expected
28. Onomatopoeia - a word that makes a sound; sound words
29. Idiom - an expression that isnt meant to be take literally (its
raining cats and
dogs)
30. Pun - a form of word play in which words have a double
meaning
31. Oxymoron - combined words that appear to contradict each
other (jumbo shrimp, living dead, deafening silence)
32. Alliteration - repeating the beginning consonant sound.
33. Mood - the way the poem/story makes the reader feel
34. Tone - the way the author feels; an authors attitude toward the
subject
35. Denotation - the dictionary meaning of the word
36. Connotation - the suggested meaning of a word.
37. Imagery - language that evokes the readers senses (looks,
feels, smells, or taste, sounds)
38. Nonfiction - writing that is about real people, places, and events
39. Fact - a statement that can be proven
40. Opinion - a statement that cannot be proven
41. Point of View - the perspective from which the author tells the
story
First person point of view - the narrator is a character in the story
(I, me, we)
Third person point of view - the narrator is outside the story (he,
she, they)
42. Argument - states an authors position about a topic
43. Claim - statements the author presents as true in order to
support his or her
position
44. Evidence - supports the claim
45. Proposal - a plan written in order to persuade the reader to
solve a specific
problem in a specific way.