Middle School Literary Terms

What is giving nonhuman things human characteristics?

• personification
• characterization
• dialogue
• imagery

What is a comparison that uses "like" or "as"?

• simile
• metaphor

What is a comparison that does not use "like" or "as"?

• simile
• metaphor

What is an episode in the story that tells about something that happened earlier?

• foreshadowing
• flashback

What are clues that a writer adds to hint at things that will happen later?

• flashback
• foreshadowing

What is it when an author makes less of something in order to emphasize it?

• symbol
• climax
• hyperbole
• understatement

What is the main idea of a literary work?

• plot
• setting
• theme
• style

What is conversation between characters in a story?

• dialogue
• point of view
• dialect
• imagery

What are the things an author does to develop the characters in a story?

• characterization
• setting
• plot
• theme

What is a reference to something well known like the Bible, or mythology?

• foreshadowing

• characterization

• allusion

• symbol