Essential Academic Vocabulary: Literary and Historical Analysis

Fill-in-the-blank: A common ________ in the story is “never give up.”

• Denotation

• Theme

• Medium

• Concept

Definition: What does “medium” mean in this sentence? “The author used film as the medium to tell her story.”

• Message

• Place

• Way to communicate

• Main character

Synonym: What word is most similar to “concepts”?

• Details

• Thoughts

• Ideas

• Sentences

Antonym: What is an antonym of “synonyms”?

• Denotations

• Allusions

• Antonyms

• Concepts

Fill-in-the-blank: The word “snake” can have a negative ________, meaning someone who betrays others.

• Allusion

• Denotation

• Connotation

• Theme

Definition-based: What is the denotation of the word “rose”?

• A sweet-smelling flower

• A symbol of love

• A memory of childhood

• A happy feeling

Context clue: In this sentence, what does “historical significance” mean? “The fall of the Berlin Wall has great historical significance.”

• It was a funny story

• It happened last week

• It is important in history

• It is not remembered

Fill-in-the-blank: An ________ is a reference to something famous, like the Bible or a well-known movie.

• Allusion

• Antonym

• Theme

• Medium

Synonym: What is a synonym of “complexity”?

• Simplicity

• Confusion

• Difficulty

• Easy

Word usage: The word “figures of speech” in this sentence means what? “Writers use figures of speech like metaphors and similes.”

• Names of people

• Wordplay or special expressions

• Grammar mistakes

• Different languages