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Praxis Middle School Language Arts

Subjects : praxis, english
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A metrical ______ is defined as one stressed syllable and a number of unstressed syllables (from zero to as many as four). Stressed syllables are indicated by the ? symbol. Unstressed syllables are indicated by the ? symbol. There are four possible t






2. The most specific or direct meaning of a word - in contrast to its figurative or associated meanings.






3. A text or performance that imitates and mocks an author or work.






4. The time and place in which a story occurs.






5. A lesson a work of literature is teaching.






6. The reader sees a character's errors - but the character does not






7. Language that is intended to be evasive or to conceal. Ex. 'downsized' actually means fired or loss of job.






8. A division of poetry named for the number of lines it contains...Couplet: Two - lines - Triplet: Three - lines - Quatrain: Four - lines - Quintet: Five - lines - Sestet: Six- lines - Septet: Seven - lines - Octave: Eight - lines.






9. A kind of adjective which is always used with and gives some information about a noun. There are only two _____ a and the.






10. A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect - as in I could sleep for a year or this book weighs a ton.






11. The use of words to create pictures in the reader's mind.






12. A narrative about human actions that is perceived by both the teller and the listeners to have taken place within human history and that possesses certain qualities that give the tale the appearance of truth or reality. Washington Irvin's The Legend






13. Deals with current or future development of technological advances. Examples are Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse - Five - George Orwell's 1984 - Aldous Huxley's Brave New World - and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.






14. Opposing elements or characters in a plot.






15. The telling of a story.






16. A comparison of two unlike things - usually including the word like or as.






17. A verb form that usually ends in - ing or - ed.






18. A phrase that consists of two contradictory terms






19. A variation of a language used by people who live in a particular geographical area.






20. A genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot - theme - and/or setting. Examples include J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia - and William Morris' The Well at the World's E






21. Expressions that are usually accepted in informal situations or regions - such as 'wicked awesome.'






22. The perspective from which the story is told - four choices: first person; 3rd person (dramatic - objective); 3rd person omniscient; 3rd person limited omniscient.






23. A comparison of objects or ideas that appear to be different but are alike in some important way.






24. The main section of a long poem.






25. Distinctive features of a person's speech and speech patterns.






26. A word that connects other words or groups of words. Ex. In the sentence Bob and Dan are friends - the _____ 'and' connects two nouns and in the sentence.






27. A rhythmical pattern in verse that is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables.






28. A type of pun - or play on words - that results when two words become mixed up in the speaker's mind






29. A method an author uses to let readers know more about the characters and their personal traits.






30. Language that shows disrespect for others or something sacred.






31. Repetition of the final consonant sound in words containing different vowels






32. A person who opposes or competes with the main character (protagonist); often the villain in the story.






33. A narrative technique in which the main story is composed primarily for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories - each of which is a story within a story. Examples include Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - Ovid's Metamorphoses - and Em






34. Fiction that is intended to frighten - unsettle - or scare the reader. Often overlaps with fantasy and science fiction. Examples include Stephen King's The Shining - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - and Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes.






35. The overall feeling created by an author's use of words.






36. A brief story that illustrates or makes a point.






37. A document organized in paragraph form that can be long or short and can be in the form of a letter - dialogue - or discussion. Examples include Politics and the English Language by George Orwell - The American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson - and Mo






38. A philosophy that values human freedom and personal responsibility. A few well known _______ writers are Jean - Paul Satre - Soren Kierkegaard ('the father of _______') - Albert Camus - Freidrich Nietzche - Franz Kafka - and Simone de Beauvoir.






39. The study of the sounds of language and their physical properties.






40. How the author uses words - phrases - and sentences to form ideas.






41. A type of Japanese poem that is written in 17 syllables with three lines of five - seven - and five syllables - respectively. Expresses a single thought.






42. A literary technique in which the author gives hints or clues about what is to come at some point later in the story.






43. Informal language used by a particular group of people among themselves.






44. The use of sound words to suggest meaning - as in buzz - click - or vroom.






45. Verse that contains an irregular metrical pattern and line length; also known as vers libre.






46. U U '






47. A fourteen - line poem - usually written in iambic pentameter - with a varied rhyme scheme. Two main types are Petrarchan (or Italian) and the Shakespearean (or English). A Petrarchan opens with an octave that states a proposition and ends with a ses






48. A narrative form - such as an epic - legend - myth - song - poem - or fable - that has been retold within a culture for generations. Examples include The People Couldn't Fly retold by Virginia Hamilton and And Green Grass Grew All Around by Alvin Sch






49. Literature that makes fun of social conventions or conditions - usually to evoke change.






50. A short story or folktale that contains a moral - which may be expressed explicitly at the end as a maxim. Examples include The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse - The Tortoise and the Hare - and The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.