45 terms
NWEA Reading RIT 191-200
American Literature
short stories, novels, plays, and poems written by authors from the United States
analogy
a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way
argue
have an argument about something
caption
text describing the contents of a picture, graph or chart
chart
a visual display of information
climax
most exciting moment of the story; turning point
compare
to put things together to see how they are the same
compare and contrast
to examine and note the similarities and differences between two or more objects., finding similarities and differences between 2 things
detail
a particular fact or piece of information about something or someone
description
the act of describing something
develop
grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation
drama
a story that is written to be acted out in front of an audience.
entertain
to interest and amuse
essay
a short piece of nonfiction writing that examines a single subject
example
something selected to show the nature or character of the rest
fact and opinion
a fact can be proved; an opinion is a belief that can not be proved
figure of speech
a word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be taken on a literal level
footnote
a note at the bottom of the page used to cite references or give more information
guide words
words at the top of a dictionary page which help locate words
infer
to use available evidence to form a conclusion; an educated guess
inference
a conclusion one can draw from the presented details
inform
the author is trying to give readers information about a topic
job announcement
written statements describing duties and responsibilities of a position
labels
text that describes the data
main point
the most important fact, idea, or opinion
memoir
an account based on the author's personal experiences
meter
a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry
myth
traditional story describing gods or heroes or explaining natural events
narrator
someone who tells a story
news
new information about specific and timely events
novel
a long fictional story which uses all the elements of storytelling (plot, character, setting, point of view, theme).
persuade
to convince
policy
a plan of action adopted by an individual or social group
purpose
reason for doing something
recipe
directions for making something
resolution
how the problem is solved
rhythm
the pattern or beat of a poem.
rising action
the series of conflicts or struggles that build a story toward a climax.
science book
a textbook about science
speaker
the person who is presenting an oral message to a listener
stanza
a group of lines in a poem
synonym
a word having the same or almost the same meaning as some other
topic
the main thought of a paragraph or written work
vocabulary
a language user's knowledge of words
word root
the part of the word that contains its basic meaning