Key Academic Vocabulary

inference An inference is a type of intelligent guess. When you make an inference, you add together details in the selection with what you already know from your own life and experience.

What I Read + What I Know = Inference

conclusion A conclusion is another type of intelligent guess. When you draw a conclusion, you add together the details in the selection.

(Detail + Detail = Conclusion)

prediction A prediction is a guess about the way things will happen in the selection.

text evidenceevidence from the text to support your answer – you can use examples, details, facts, things characters

say, and things that happen in the text

summarizeTo summarize you find the most

important information in a passage and restate it in your

own words.

(who, what, when, where, why, how

or Who, Wanted, But, So, Then)

paraphrase when you put information

in your own words you, paraphrase it.

true story

a story that is real or could actually happen

Elements of Fiction

fiction

books/stories that are made up by the author, or are not true – fiction

includes made up characters and events

folktalea story passed on by word

of mouth rather than by writing

(folktales include legends, fables, jokes, tall tales, fairy tales – they may have similar beginnings [Once upon a time] and similar endings [and

they lived happily ever after])

fablebrief fictional tales that

entertain and include animals that talk and act like humans and teach a

moral lesson

legendhistorical facts of human

wars, migrations, great deeds, and royalty

(characters of legends include heroes and heroines that reflect a strong sense of goodness that overcome worldly evils)

mythA myth is a traditional story

dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes

that informs, as by explaining aspects of the natural world.

(Mythology is the body of myths from a

particular culture.)

tall tale

a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it

were true

plot Plot is the action of a story. It is the sequence or chronological order of related events that the author describes from the beginning of the story to the end.

expositionThis is how the story

begins. It introduces the main character, the

setting and the problem.

settingThe setting includes the location and time (where and when) a story takes place, and sets the main backdrop and mood for a

story.

characterA character is a person, an

animal, or an imaginary creature that takes part in the action of a story.

* We can understand the characters in three ways: what the character says, what the character does, and what others say about him or her.

character traits An author can give

information about a character by describing several aspects of the character:

physical appearance and personality

speech, behavior, and actions thoughts and feelings interactions with other

characters

character types Most stories have both main

and minor characters. The main character, or

protagonist, is the most important character.

The antagonist is the person or thing working against the protagonist.

conflictA conflict is a struggle or

problem a character faces and needs to solve.

*types of conflict: Man vs. Man

Man vs. Nature Man vs. Self

point of viewFirst-person Point of View: in the first-

person point of view, the story is told by one of the characters. The character uses pronouns such as I or we and usually participates in much of the action.

Third-person Point of View: in the third-person point of view, the story is told by a narrator who is not a character in the story. (Pronouns such as she, he, and they are used when writing in third-person point of view)

rising actionThis part of the story shows

what the main character does while trying to come up with the solution to the

problem.

(The events leading to the climax.)

flashback when a story moves back in time and an

earlier event is inserted into the normal

chronological order of the plot

foreshadowing to provide clues or hints for the reader to indicate what is going to happen later in the story or what the outcome of the story

will be

climaxThe climax is the most

exciting part of the story. The turning

point, when the character tries to

resolve the problem or else fail.

falling actionThis starts bringing the story to an end. It shows

what happens as the character tries to solve the problem/conflict.

resolution

The events that bring the

story to an end.

Plot Triangle

theme The theme of a story is its deeper meaning or its message about life. The theme is the big idea of the whole selection.

*At times you will need to infer what the theme is from the work's title, key scenes, characters, symbols, and plot events.

dialoguespoken lines, conversation between two characters in

a story

style Style is how the author says

something, the choice of words and the use of language, sentence construction and imagery… not what they author says.

Style adds significance and impact to the author’s writing.

tone Tone is simply the author’s

feelings toward the subject. You can recognize the tone by the

language the author uses. His language will tell his opinion (that is, whether the author feels positive/negative) about the subject.

Tone must be inferred through the use of descriptive words.

moodThe mood of a selection is

the feelings that a writer wants readers to have while reading. It’s the

emotion that is created.

*Writers can choose words, phrases, and images to create a whole range of moods – from anger to sadness to excitement and fear.

text connections Text connections occur when you makes a personal connection from the text with something in your own life, another text, or something occurring in the world.

*There are three types of text connections: text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world.