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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 feeling a text evokes in the reader - such as sadness - tranquility - or elation.






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






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






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






5. 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






6. 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.






7. 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






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






9. A wise saying - usually short and written.






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






11. 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.






12. The writer says one thing and means another






13. 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






14. The perspective from which a story is told.






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






16. A phrase that consists of two contradictory terms






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






18. 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.






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






20. 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






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






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






23. A short poem about personal feelings and emotions.






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






25. 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






26. 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.






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






28. A group of words containing a subject and a predicate and forming part of a compound or complex sentence.






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






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






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






32. 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






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






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






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






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






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






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






40. The multiple use of a word - phrase - or idea for emphasis or rhythmic effect.






41. A word which shows action or state of being. Ex. In the sentence The dog bit the man - bit is the ____.






42. 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.






43. Persuasive writing.






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






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






46. 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.






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






48. A figure of speech in which a comparison is implied but not stated - such as 'This winter is a bear.'






49. Unrhymed verse - often occurring in iambic pentameter.






50. 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