PSSA

Terms	Definitions
Accuracy	Correctness or precision.
Affix	To add a prefix or suffix to a word.
Alliteration	Words that repeat beginning consonant sounds (Ted tiptoed toward two tiny trees.)
Allusion	An implied reference in writing to a familiar person, place or event without actually mentioning them.
Analysis	The process of identifying the parts of a whole idea and their relationships to one another.
Antonym	A word that is the opposite of another word (e.g. hot-cold, night-day).
Appositive	Writing where two nouns in a row refer to the same person (ex- " My father, Ned, worked for NASA.").
Assertion	A statement or claim.
Purpose	What the author is trying to do by writing (ex - entertain, inform, persuade, describe).
Autobiography	The story of a person's life written by himself or herself.
Biography	The story of a person's life written by someone else.
Cause and Effect	The reason something happens and the result of it happening.
Characterization	The way an author describes characters to show what they are like.
Compound Word	A word composed of two or more smaller words (ex - doorknob)
Conclusion	The ending of the story.
Conflict/Problem	A struggle between opposing characters or forces in a story; the plot is usually about getting a resolution to it.
Context Clues	Information from the reading that hints at a word's meaning.
Contrast	To compare or find differences.
Conventions of Language	Rules for proper writing.
Descriptive Text	Writing that allows a reader to picture the scene or setting in which the action of a story takes place.
Dialogue	Conversation between people in a story.
Differentiate	Distinguish, tell apart and recognize differences between two or more items.
Editorial	A newspaper or magazine article that gives the opinions of the editors or publishers.
Epic	A long story-like poem about the adventures of a hero.
Evaluate	To examine and to judge carefully.
Exaggeration	To make an overstatement or to stretch the truth.
Explanatory Sentence	A sentence that explains something.
Explicit	Something actually stated or written out; the opposite of implicit
Expository Text	Text written to explain and give information about a topic.
Fable	A story intended to teach a moral lesson. Animals with human characteristics often serve as characters.
Fairy Tale	Short stories featuring mythical beings such as fairies, elves and sprites.
Fiction	Any story that is the product of imagination, even if the story is possible or realistic.
Figurative Language	Language that cannot be taken literally. (ex - "You're pulling my leg, right?")
First Person	When the narrator of the story uses "I" to describe events. (ex - "I went down my back steps and there, in front of me, was the thing that terrified me.")
Flashback	A way of writing that looks back on an event that happened before the time of writing; often written as if from the memory of a character.
Fluency	The level of a reader's ability to read clearly, without un-needed pauses.
Focus	The center of interest or attention.
Folktales	A fairy-tale type story coming from spoken tradition.
Foreshadowing	Hinting at future events without actually telling them.
Free Verse	Poetry without regular meter and rhyme patterns.
Generalization	A conclusion formed from specific information, used to make a broad statement about a topic or person.
Genre	A category used to classify writing, usually by form or content (ex - action, mystery, romance, poetry).
Graphic Organizer	A diagram or picture device that shows relationships.
Homophone	Words pronounced the same, but have a different spelling or meaning (ex -"write" and "right")
Hyperbole	An exaggeration or overstatement (ex- I was so embarrassed I could have died.).
Idiom	An expression that cannot be understood if taken literally (ex- "Get your head out of the clouds").
Imagery	A word or group of words in a writing which speak to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing and smell.
Implicit	Meanings which, though unwritten in the actual text, may be understood by the reader.
Inference	A judgment based on reasoning rather than on direct or actual statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances.
Irony	The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or usual meaning, often sarcastically.
Legends	A story about mythical or supernatural creatures or events, or a story coming down from the past.
Limerick	A five line poem in which lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme and lines 3 and 4 rhyme.
Limited view	In a story, the narrator is usually one of the characters and only knows what is going on in his own mind, not in other characters' minds.
Literary Elements	The techniques used in writing (ex- characterization, setting, plot, theme).
Literary Nonfiction	Factual writing that uses techniques more often used with fiction or stories.
Main Idea	The author's central thought or chief topic.
Metaphor	Writing that compares or describes without using 'like' or 'as'. (ex. - the man is a bulldozer; nothing can move him.)
Meter	The repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.
Mood	The 'emotions' of a work or of the author in his or her creation of the work.
Narrative	Writing which tells a story or relates events or dialogue
Nonfiction	Writing that is factual, not creative or fictional.
Omniscient	Form of writing where the author is "all-knowing" and can share each character's thoughts or past.
Onomatopoeia	The use of words whose sounds express or suggest their meaning. (ex. - "hiss" or "meow".)
Paraphrase	Restate text or passage in other words, often to clarify meaning or show understanding.
Personification	Something non-human which is given human qualities or human form (ex. Flowers danced about the lawn.).
Phonics	The relationship between letters and sounds fundamental in beginning reading.
Plot	The sequence in which the author arranges events in a story. The structure often includes the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the resolution.
Poetry	Writing that aims to present ideas and evoke an emotional experience in the reader through the use of meter, imagery, and sometimes, rhyme.
Point of view	The vantage point from which the story is told.
Possessive	A form of a noun or pronoun that indicates belonging to someone or something. (usually apostrophe and s. Michael's boat.
Prefix	A Prefixes are groups of letters that can be placed before a word to alter its meaning.
Print Media	Includes such forms as newspapers, periodicals, magazines, books, newsletters, advertising, memos, business forms, etc.
Problem/Solution	An organizational structure in nonfiction texts, where the author typically presents a dilemna and possible answer to it.
Propaganda Techniques	Unfounded or illogical ways of getting someone to agree with your point of view.
Public document	A document that focuses on civic issues or matters of public policy.
Reading critically	Reading in which a questioning attitude, logical analysis and inference are used to judge the worth of text.
Reading rate	The speed at which a person reads, usually silently.
Research	A systematic study of a subject or problem.
Resolution	The part of a story following the climax, in which the story's main conflict is resolved.
Retell	Recounting in your own words a story or article that has just been read.
Rhyme	Identical or very similar recurring final sounds in words usually at the end of lines of a poem.
Rhythm	The pattern or beat of a poem.
Rising Action	The part of a story where the plot becomes increasingly complicated, leading up to the climax.
Root Word	A word to which prefixes and suffixes can be added (example: HELP - helpful, unhelpful, helpless, helper)
Satire	The use of ridicule, sarcasm, or irony in writing to make fun of someone or something.
Self-monitor	A comprehension strategy; knowing or recognizing when what one is reading or writing is not making sense.
Semantics	The study of meaning in language.
Setting	The time and place in which a story unfolds.
Simile	A comparison of two unlike things in which a word of comparison (like or as) is used (e.g., She eats like a bird.).
Sonnet	A lyric poem of fourteen lines whose rhyme scheme is usually abbaabba cdecde.
Primary Source	Text and/or artifacts that tell a first-hand account or are original works (letters, journals, etc.)
Secondary Source	Text and/or artifacts that are not original, but written from something original (biographies, magazine articles, research papers).
Story Maps	A visual representation of a story that provides an overview including characters, setting, the problem, and resolution or ending.
Subject area	An organized body of knowledge; a discipline; a content area.
Suffix	Groups of letters placed after a word that change its meaning or part of speech.
Summarize	To capture all the most important parts of the original story, but express them in a much shorter space, and in the readers own words.
Style	How an author writes; an author's use of language
Symbolism	A device in literature where an object represents an idea.
Synonym	One of two or more words in a language that have highly similar meanings (e.g., sorrow, grief, sadness).
Syntax	The pattern or structure of word order in sentences, clauses and phrases.
Text Structure	The author's method of organizing a text.
Theme	A topic of discussion or writing; a major idea broad enough to cover the entire scope of a literary work.
Thesis	The basic argument advanced by a speaker or writer
Third Person	A perspective that presents the events of the story from outside of any single character's perception
Tone	The attitude of the author toward the audience and characters (e.g., serious or humorous).
Validity	Refers to statements that have the appearance of truth or reality.
Venn Diagrams	Idea map made up of two or more overlapping circles.
Voice	The fluency, rhythm and liveliness in writing that make it unique to the writer.

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