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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 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






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






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






4. An author's choice of words based on their clearness - conciseness - effectiveness - and authenticity.






5. Language widely considered crude - disgusting - and oftentimes offensive.






6. A novel comprised of idealized events far removed from everyday life. This genre includes the subgenres of gothic ____ and medieval ____. Examples include Mary Shelly's Frankenstein - William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida - and King Horn (anonym






7. 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






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






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






10. The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or expected meaning. There are three types....Dramatic - Verbal - Situation.






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






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






13. 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.






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






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






16. A short narrative - usually between 50 and 100 pages long. Examples include George Orwell's Animal Farm and Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.






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






18. A wise saying - usually short and written.






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






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






21. A stanza made up of two rhyming lines.






22. A short poem about personal feelings and emotions.






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






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






25. A word which shows relationships among other words in the sentence. The relationships include direction - place - time - cause - manner and amount Ex. In the sentence He came by bus - 'by' is a _____ which shows manner.






26. Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.






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






28. A story about a person's life written by another person.






29. 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.






30. A person - place - thing - or event used to represent something else - such as the white flag that represents surrender.






31. A novel set in the western U.S. featuring the experiences of cowboys and frontiersmen. Examples include Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage and Trail Driver - Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove - Conrad Richter's The Sea of Grass - Fran Striker's The Lo






32. The study of the structure of sentences.






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






34. 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.






35. The perspective from which a story is told.






36. An expository piece written with eloquence that becomes part of the recognized literature of an era. Often reveal historical facts - the social mores of the times - and the thoughts and personality of the author. Some have recorded and influenced the






37. The writer says one thing and means another






38. 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






39. The study of the orgin of words






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






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






42. 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.






43. 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.






44. Also known as a run - on line in poetry - _____ occurs when one line ends and continues onto the next line to complete meaning. For example the first line in Thoreau's poem 'My life has been the poem I would have writ -' and the second line completes






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






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






47. A metric line of poetry. Its name is based on the kind and number of feet composing it ('foot').






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






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






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