Flashcards: CAHSEE English Words
About these flashcards
Created by:
mskramst on March 11, 2010
Subjects:
Description:
English terms important in the preparation of the CAHSEE exam.
Groups:
Granite Hills High CAHSEE Prep, Mrs. Amann's Accelerated 1P, Mrs. Amann's Composition classes
Log in to favorite or report as inappropriate.All 139 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Active voice | the action is performed by the subject of the sentence, not the object |
| Allegory | a visible symbol representing an abstract idea |
| Almanac | a reference source published yearly, with tables of facts and information on many subjects |
| Ambiguity | An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way. |
| Analysis | the process of studying of something closely and critically |
| Antagonist | opponent |
| Anti-hero | a protagonist who lacks the characteristics that would make him a hero (or her a heroine) |
| Argument | a statement put forth and supported by evidence |
| Aside | a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage |
| Audience | The intended reader or readers of a piece of writing |
| Author's purpose | The reason the author has for writing. ( Inform, persuade, express, & entertain) |
| Ballad | a type of poem that is meant to be sung and is both lyric and narrative in nature |
| Bar graph | a graph that uses horizontal or vertical bars to display data |
| Beliefs | specific ideas that people hold to be true |
| Bias | opinion formed before there are grounds for it; prejudice; predilection; partiality |
| Biography | story of a person's life written by another person |
| Body paragraph | A middle paragraph in an essay. It develops a point you want to make that supports your thesis. |
| Business letter | • A business letter is a formal communication sent from one party (person or organization) to another. |
| Character | the inherent complex of attributes that determine a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions |
| Foil | anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities |
| traits | particular qualities or characteristics of a person or thing |
| Clarity | clearness in thought or expression |
| Clause | (grammar) an expression including a subject and predicate but not constituting a complete sentence |
| Climax | the decisive moment in a novel or play |
| Coherent | holding together; making sense |
| Colon | a punctuation mark (:) used after a word introducing a series or an example or an explanation (or after the salutation of a business letter) |
| Comedy | light and humorous drama with a happy ending |
| Comma | a punctuation mark (,) used to indicate the separation of elements within the grammatical structure of a sentence |
| Complete sentence | a sentence with two parts, a subject and a verb |
| Conscience | Sense of right and wrong |
| Conclusion paragraph | The final paragraph of an essay in which the thesis statement is restated. |
| Connotative meaning | emotional meaning |
| Consumers | People who use goods or services for their personal benefit |
| Contract | a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law |
| Contraction | a word formed from two or more words by omitting or combining some sounds |
| Contradiction | a statement that is opposite to another statement |
| Contrast | to show differences when compared |
| Count noun | A noun that can be counted (one car, two cars, three cars...) |
| Credibility | the quality of being believable or trustworthy |
| Culture | the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization |
| Denotative meaning | refers to the dictionary definition of a word |
| Drama | a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage |
| Epic | a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds |
| Evidence | proof |
| Expository Essay | presents or explains information or ideas in a formal format |
| Exernal conflct | A conflict that occurs between main character and the world and society. |
| Fact | a statement that can be proved |
| Falling Action | events that occur between the climax and the conclusion of a story |
| Fiction | a literary work based on the imagination and not necessarily on fact |
| Figurative Language | Writing or speech that is used to create vivid impressions by setting up comparisons between dissimilar things, [examples are metaphor, simile, and personification. |
| Flashback | a scene that interrupts the action of a work to show a previous event |
| Flashforward | a brief look into a character's future |
| Focus | special emphasis attached to something |
| Form | make something, usually for a specific function |
| Foreshadowing | events or information presented to prepare for later events |
| Generalization | a conclusion that is used to make a broad statement about a topic or person |
| Genre | type or category of literary work (e.g., poetry, essay, short story, novel, drama) |
| Hero/heroine | the principal character in a play or movie or novel or poem |
| Homophones | words that have the same sound but differ in spelling, origin, and meaning |
| Hypotheses | scientists' explanations that may or may not be true |
| Idiom | An expression that cannot be understood if taken literally (ex- "Get your head out of the clouds"). |
| Imagery | description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) |
| Imply | express or state indirectly |
| Infer | believe to be the case |
| Internal conflict | struggle within a character |
| Introduction paragraph | The first paragraph in a essay it includes a thesis statement |
| Irony | a contrast between what is expected and what actually exists or happens |
| Journal | a daily written record of (usually personal) experiences and observations |
| Literary Device | technique that produces a specific effect, esp. a figure of speech, narrative style, or plot mechanism |
| Literal language | language that means exactly what it says |
| Main idea | what a piece of writing is all about |
| Media | term applied to agencies of mass communication, such as newspapers, magazines, and telecommunications |
| Metaphor | comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as as in a simile. |
| Memo | correspondence written to people within the same business or organization |
| Monologue | a (usually long) dramatic speech by a single actor |
| Mood | the overall emotion created by a work of literature |
| Motivation | the force that moves people to act |
| Narrative | The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. |
| Narrator | The person telling the story |
| Nonfiction | writing that tells about real people, places, and events |
| Omniscient narrator | a narrator who is able to know, see, and tell all, including the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters |
| Opinion | a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty |
| Passive voice | When the subject of a sentence is being acted upon. |
| Perspective | point of view |
| Persuasive essay | presents arguements and tries to convince readers to adopt a certain point of view |
| Personification | giving human qualities to animals or objects |
| Persuade | to convince |
| Pie chart | chart in the shape of a circle that shows data values as a percentage of the whole |
| Plot | the sequence of events in a story |
| Point of view | the perspective from which a story is told |
| Precise | clearly expressed; exact; accurate in every detail |
| Predict | to say what will happen before it occurs |
| Prefix | a syllable or word that comes before a root word to change its meaning |
| Primary Source | firsthand information about people or events |
| Prior knowledge | what you already knew before reading |
| Procedure | a method of doing things |
| Protagonist | the main character |
| Quotation | words repeated word for word from another person or source |
| Red Herring | Something that draws attention away from the main issue |
| Reliable | trustworthy; able to be counted on |
| Repetition | repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis |
| Resolution | End of the story where loose ends are tied up |
| Restatement | expressing the same idea in different words |
| Rising Action | the series of conflicts or struggles that build a story toward a climax. |
| Root | (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed |
| Run-on sentence | two-complete sentences, totally fused |
| Sarcasm | saying something and meaning the exact opposite; verbal irony |
| Secondary Source | information gathered by someone who did not take part in or witness an event |
| Semicolon | a punctuation mark (';') used to connect independent clauses |
| Sensory details | details that appeal the five senses |
| Sentence fragment | a sentence missing a subject or verb or complete thought |
| Sequence | order |
| Setting | The time and place of a story |
| Simile | comparison using "like" or "as" |
| Soliloquy | in drama, a character speaks alone on stage to allow his/her thoughts and ideas to be conveyed to the audience |
| Sonnet | a short poem with fourteen lines, usually ten-syllable rhyming lines, divided into two, three, or four sections |
| Source | anything that provides inspiration for later work |
| Statistics | numbers that represent facts |
| Style | the arrangement of words in a way that best expresses the author's individuality, idea, intent |
| Subordinate character | less important or minor characters |
| Subtle | not obvious |
| Suffix | syllables at the end of a word |
| Summary | a brief statement that presents the main points in a concise form |
| Suspense | Uncertainty or anxiety the reader feels about what is going to happen next in a story |
| Symbol | something that stands for something else |
| Synonym | A word that means the same as another word |
| Synthesize | combine so as to form a more complex, product |
| Theme | the general idea or insight about life that a work of literature reveals |
| Thesis | The basic argument advanced by a speaker or writer who then attempts to prove it; the subject or major argument of a speech or composition. |
| Tone | The attitude of the author toward the audience and characters (e.g., serious or humorous). |
| Topic sentence | A sentence that states the topic of its paragraph |
| Tragedy | a type of serious drama that usually ends in disaster for the main character |
| Tragic flaw | the flaw that leads to the hero's downfall |
| Tragic Hero | character who has a error of judgement or fatal flaw |
| Transitions | words or phrases that link ideas together, to show a change in thought, or to convey relationships. |
| Universal | concerning everyone; existing everywhere |
| Universal theme | The theme transcends any time period, place, generation, etc. It could apply to ANYONE at ANYWHERE during ANYTIME |
| Villain/villainess | the principle bad character in a film or work of fiction |
| Voice | The fluency, rhythm and liveliness in writing that makes it unique to the writer |