Georgia Authors Vocabulary

1. Georgia Authors Vocabulary

2. prior knowledge Definition Preexisting attitudes, experiences, and knowledge on a topic or event. Example Dogs love treats.

3. tone Definition Writer’s attitude toward his or her subject and audience. Example The girls were playing in the pond, splashing each other and trying to catch fish. They kept looking over their shoulders at the forest. They felt like someone was watching them. They thought about going back inside, but decided to stay and play with caution.

4. Point of View Definition The perspective or vantage point from which a story is told (1st person: I; 3rd person: he, she, we) Example I was born in Canada. She was born in Maine.

5. mood Definition The feeling created in a reader by a literary work or passage. Example During the holidays my mother’s house glittered with decorations and hummed with preparations. We ate cookies, shared stories and teased each other.

6. symbolism Definition Use of symbols (symbols usually represent something else) Example Dove holding olive branch = peace

7. personification Definition Type of figurative language where a nonhuman object is given human characteristics. Example The grass was dancing. The sun kissed the flowers.

8. hyperbole Definition Exaggeration often used for emphasis. Example • I could eat a horse. • He is older than the hills.

9. idiom Definition An expression where the literal meaning of the words is not the meaning of the expression. Example It is raining cats & dogs.

10. metaphor Definition A direct comparison of two unlike things. It does not use like or as. Example “His voice was a bass drum echoing throughout the car.”

11. simile Definition Figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to make a direct comparison of two unlike ideas. Example Busy as a bee.

12. irony Definition A contradiction between what happens and what is expected to happen. Example Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. -The Mariner

13. Situational irony Definition Occurs when something happens that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters or the audience. Example A character goes to read to his grandmother in the nursing home to make her happy; however, he soon realizes that it makes him happy too.

14. Dramatic irony Definition The audience is aware of something that the character or speaker is not . Example In Romeo & Juliet the other characters think that Juliet is dead but the audience knows that she has taken a sleeping potion.

15. Verbal irony Definition Something contradictory that is said Example When it is raining outside & someone says, “What a beautiful day.”

16. sarcasm Definition Mocking, sharp ironical taunt Example Arriving 15 minutes late for an appointment & the other person says: “Oh, you’re right on time.”