English Fast Facts
TYPES OF LITERATURE (GENRE)
1. Narrative - Story
2. Fiction - imaginative narrative designed to entertain (includes short story, novel, folk
literature, and drama)
3.  Short Story - a brief fictional work that usually contains one major conflict and at least one
main character
4.  Novel - an extended work of fiction that is much longer than a short story
5.  Folk Literature - tales passed from generation to generation and from the old to the young
by word of mouth (also called the oral tradition)
6.  Drama - a written story meant to be acted out
7.  Nonfiction - writing in which the author retells actual events
8.  Biography - an account of a person’s life written by another person
9.  Autobiography - a history of a person’s life written by that person
10.  Personal Essay - an essay which emphasizes a personal, subjective view or an essay
written in the first person usually about the writer's life
11.  Poetry - a written work in meter or free verse using figurative language
ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
1.  Setting – time, place, and duration of a story
2.  Plot -  development of conflict and resolution
   -  sequence of events
   -  writer’s map for what happens, how it happens, to whom it happens, when it happens
3.  Character Traits – revealed by what the character says, thinks, does, and how others
respond
4.  Conflicts – internal are within the characters, external are between characters – Characters
can change as the result of conflicts and resolutions
5.  Resolution - a solution to a problem
6.  Theme - the main idea of the story, or the message the author is conveying. This message
is usually about life, society or human nature.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, IMAGERY, AND ANALOGIES USED TO UNDERSTAND MEANING
1.  Analogies show relationships.  Some common relationships are: synonyms, antonyms,
object/action, source/product, part/whole, animal/habitat
2.  Simile – form of figurative language – like or as is used to make a comparison
3.  Hyperbole – form of figurative language – uses extreme exaggeration
4.  Imagery – descriptive language which helps us see, hear, smell, taste, or feel
POETIC ELEMENTS USED IN PROSE AND POETRY
1.  Rhyme – reoccurring identical or similar word endings at the ends of lines of verse
2.  Rhythm - the pattern of sound in a line, usually based on stressed and unstressed syllables
3.  Repetition – repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas
4.  Alliteration - the repetition of initial consonant sounds
5.  Onomatopoeia - words that sound like their meanings; words that give sound effects, such
as "buzz," "hiss," "plop," "pow," etc
POETIC FORMS
1.  Haiku - A 17 syllable form of Japanese poetry that consists of three unrhymed lines of five,
seven and five syllables, usually about nature
2.  Limerick – a 5 – line, rhymed, rhythmic verse that is usually funny
3.  Ballad - a poem which tells a story, usually in short rhyming verses with frequent repetition
of words or lines; originally written for oral performance rather than silent reading
4.  Free Verse - poetry that has no fixed or regular pattern of rhythm or rhyme
WAYS TO INTERPRET AND SHOW UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HAS BEEN READ
1.  Story Map – used to summarize a story with a graphic organizer
2.  Somebody…Wanted…But…So -  used to summarize story.   Somebody is the main
character, Wanted is the goal or motivation, But is the conflict of the story, So is the
resolution.
3.  Flow Charts – a diagram of the sequence of events
4.  Two-column notes - main ideas and concepts in the left column and supporting details and
information in the right column
5.  Venn Diagram – a diagram using intersecting circles to show things in common and things
that contrast.  This can be used to compare two different characters, or show how a
character changes as a result of incidents in the plot.
6.  It says…I say – A method to summarize and/or make inferences from what is read
REFERENCES
1.  A dictionary - contains words alphabetically arranged along with information about their
form, pronunciation, part of speech, and meanings
2.  A thesaurus –used for finding synonyms.
3.  Atlases have maps and a globe is a representation of the earth.
4.  Encyclopedias are references that provide overviews of topics.
5.  Directories - an alphabetical list of names and addresses or on computers a listing of the
files stored in memory
6.  Databases - a collection of data arranged for ease and speed of search and retrieval
7.  Internet resources - an electronic network providing access to millions of resources
worldwide
SOL READING/THINKING SKILLS
Infer – to draw a conclusion or arrive at an answer not stated in the text, using your background knowledge and facts presented in the text
Predict – to tell in advance what is going to happen next in the text
Conclude – to come to a final decision or opinion about a text
Visualize – “seeing” the action, characters or setting of a text
Explain – to give reasons for, justify
Analyze – to examine closely, citing details
Compare – to find the similarities between two or more things
Contrast – to find the differences between two or more things
Persuade – to succeed in causing a person to do or believe in something
Illustrate – to make clear through the use of examples
Summarize – to tell the main pints of a text in a few words