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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. The study of the orgin of words






2. A literacy device in which the author jumps back in time in the chronology of narrative.






3. 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






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






5. The regular or random occurrence of sound in poetry.






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






7. Opposing elements or characters in a plot.






8. A lesson a work of literature is teaching.






9. 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.






10. Simple - compound (conjunctions) - complex (subordination) - compound - complex (conjunctions and subordination).






11. A narrative that is made up of fantastic characters and creatures - such as witches - goblins - and fairies - and usually begins with the phrase 'Once upon a time...' Examples include Rapunzel - Cinderella - Sleeping Beauty - and Little Red Riding Ho






12. 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






13. Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.






14. A category of literature defined by its style - form - and content.






15. The repetition of a line or phrase of a poem at regular intervals - particularly at the end of each stanza.






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






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






18. 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






19. The act or an example of substituting a mild - indirect - or vague term for one considered harsh - blunt - or offensive.






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






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






22. Two or more words in sequence that form a syntactic unit that is less than a complete sentence.






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






24. A stanza made up of two rhyming lines.






25. 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






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






27. The study of the structure of words.






28. Persuasive writing.






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






30. A contradictory statement that makes sense






31. 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.






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






33. A literary device in which animals - ideas - and things are represented as having human traits.






34. 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






35. Narrative fiction that involves gods and heroes or has a theme that expresses a culture's ideology. Examples of Greek ______ include Zeus and the Olympians and The Trojan War. Roman ______ include Hercules - Apollo - and Venus.






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






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






38. The study of the meaning in language.






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






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






41. A word which can be used instead of a noun. Ex instead of saying John is a student - the ____ he can be used in place of the noun John and the sentence becomes He is a student.






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






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






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






45. The story is told by someone outside the story.






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






47. 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






48. A reference to a familiar person - place - thing - or event






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






50. The main character or hero of a written work.