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






2. A socially accepted word or phrase used to replace unacceptable language - such as expressions for bodily functions or body parts. Also used as substitutes for straightforward words to tactfully conceal or falsify meaning. Ex. My grandmother passed a






3. A method by which trained readers evaluate a piece of writing for its overall quality. There is no focus on one aspect of the writing.






4. 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.






5. A long narrative poem detailing a hero's deeds. Examples include The Aenied by Vergil - The Illiad and The Odyssey by Homer - Beowulf - Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes - War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - and Hiawath






6. A wise saying - usually short and written.






7. A suspenseful story that deals with a puzzling crime. Examples include Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Murder in Rue Morgue' and Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood.






8. An expression that has been used so often that it loses its expressive power






9. 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.






10. The time and place in which the action of a story takes place.






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






12. The study of the meaning in language.






13. A variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area.






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






15. Meter that is composed of feet that are short - short - long or unaccented - unaccented - accented - usually used in light or whimsical poetry - such as limerick.






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






17. The role of context in the interpretation of meaning.






18. U '






19. Opposing elements or characters in a plot.






20. 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.






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






22. A person's account of his or hew own life.






23. The narrator shares the thoughts and feelings of all the characters.






24. Occurs when there are two or more possible meanings to a word or phrase.






25. Unrhymed verse - often occurring in iambic pentameter.






26. ' U U






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






28. 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






29. Literature - often drama - ending in a catastrophic event for the protagonist(s) after he or she faces several problems or conflicts.






30. The story is told from the point of view of one character.






31. A contradictory statement that makes sense






32. The outcome or resolution of plot in a story.






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






34. Persuasive writing.






35. The flaw that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero; this term comes from the Greek word hybris - which means 'excessive pride.'






36. The set of associations implied by a word in addition to its literal meaning.






37. A person or thing working against the hero of a literary work (the protagonist).






38. A brief fictional prose narrative. Examples include Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery -' Washington Irving's 'Rip van Winkle' D.H. Lawrence's 'The Horse Dealer's Daughter -' Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Hound of the Baskervilles -' and Dorothy Parker's 'Big Bl






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






40. A lesson a work of literature is teaching.






41. A turn from the general audience to address a specific group of persons (or a personified abstraction) who is present of absent. For example - in a recent performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet - Hamlet turned to the audience and spoke directly to one w






42. The purpose of a particular action differs greatly from the result






43. Specialized language used in a particular field or content area






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






45. The specialized language of a particular group or culture. Ex. in the field of education...rubric - tuning protocol - and deskilling.






46. The telling of a story.






47. A word which describes or gives more information about a noun or pronoun. Ex. The lazy dog sat on the rug - the word lazy is an ____ which gives more information about the noun dog.






48. 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






49. 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.






50. 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