Academic Vocabulary

English Honors I    Academic Vocabulary Quarter 1                          Ms. Lewis

·       CONTEXT CLUES - Unfamiliar words are often surrounded by words or phrases called context clues that help readers understand their meanings. When readers meet unfamiliar words, context clues narrow the possible word choices, thereby making word identification more accurate.

o   Definition/explanation - A word or phrase is initially defined and then further expanded with examples, explanations, and restatements.

o   Restatement - author uses other words or phrases followed by an explanation (in other words, that is)

o   Comparison/contrast - Author explains the unfamiliar word by providing an antonym

o   Inference - The act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true; the conclusions drawn from this process

o   Antonym - A word having a meaning opposite to that of another word

o   Synonym - A word that has the same or almost the same meaning as another word

·       AUTHOR’S PURPOSE - An author's reason for creating a particular work. Purposes include entertain, to explain or to inform, to express an opinion, or to persuade.

o   Entertain - writing with the intent to make a reader experience emotions (humor, inspiration, sympathy, fear, joy, etc.)

o   Inform - writing with the intent to share information; perspective is typically neutral

o   Persuade - writing with the intent to convince readers to do something or share the author's beliefs about something

·       Rhetoric - the tools an author or speaker uses to persuade an audience

o   Ethos - the sense an author gives that he or she is credible

o   Pathos - an author's appeal to a reader's emotions or interests

o   Logos - an author's appeal to a reader's sense of logic; may include facts, statistics, experiments, logical reasoning, analogies, anecdotes, and authority voices

·       MAIN IDEA (stated/implied) - The most important idea expressed in a piece of writing. It may be the central idea of an entire work or a thought expressed in the topic sentence of a paragraph. The implied main idea is the main idea of a passage or an article that is not directly stated but formed from what is suggested by an author from the supporting details.

·       Essential message - The most important point an author makes

·       Inference—The act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true; the conclusions drawn from this process.

·       Paraphrasing - Helps readers to clarify meaning by restating information in their own words.

·       Summarize/summary statement - A general statement that presents the main points or facts in condensed form, omitting unimportant details and information.

·       TEXT FEATURES

o   Text box—A distinct section of a page that amplifies or highlights information found in the main text and often provides additional information.

o   Caption - The explanatory comment or designation accompanying a pictorial illustration.

o   Title

o   Visuals

o   Stage Directions

o   [Brackets]

o   Textbox

o   Gold Bar-Scenes

·       AUTHOR’S PERSPECTIVE

o   Author's bias - A personal judgment either for or against a particular person, position, or thing. Bias can be favorable or unfavorable and can be used to sway an audience.

o   Author's perspective - The viewpoint that an author brings to a piece of writing. Sometimes the author's perspective is recognizable through the tone of a piece.

o   Point of view - the vantage point from which a writer tells a story

o   Attitude - An author's position on a topic assumed for a particular purpose.

·       Plot/plot development - The action or sequence of events in a story. Plot is usually a series of related incidents that builds and grows as the story develops.

o   Exposition - The early part of a story; author sets tone, establishes settings, introduces characters, and provides important background information.

o   Inciting incident - An event that forces the protagonist to take action.

o   Rising action - Events in a story that move the plot forward; involves conflicts and complications and builds toward the climax of the story.

o   Climax- The highest point or interest or suspense in a story.

o   Falling action - Action that occurs after the climax; conflicts are resolved and mysteries are solved.

o   Resolution - The portion of the play where the central conflict is resolved; resolution comes after the climax and falling action and is intended to bring the story to an end. An insight or a change as a result of the conflict is shown in the resolution.

·       Flashback-An interruption in the plot to tell what happened at an earlier time.  Flashback usually gives background information that helps the reader understand the present situation.

·       Foreshadowing-A writer's use of hints or clues as to what will happen later in the story.  Foreshadowing creates suspense and prepares readers for what is to come.

·       Characterization

o   Dynamic character - characters who change in some important way by the end of the story, novel, or play; also referred to the "hero" 

o   Static character - characters who undergo little or no internal change throughout a story, novel, or play

·       FIGURATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE

o   Imagery - Language that appeals to the senses. Imagery usually appeals to one or more of the five senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch - to help the reader imagine exactly what is being described.

o   Tone - An expression of a writer's attitude toward a subject. Tone reflects the feelings o the writer and can be serious humorous, sarcastic, playful, ironic, bitter, objective.

o   Irony-A contrast between what is expected and what actually exists or happens. Irony involves the tension that arises from the discrepancy, either between what one says and what one means (verbal irony), between what a character believes and what a reader knows (dramatic irony), or between what occurs and what one expects to occur (situational irony). Exaggeration, sarcasm, and understatement are techniques writers use to express irony.