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






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






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






4. A humorous verse form of five anapestic (Composed of feet that are short - short - long or unaccented - unaccented - accented) lines with rhyme scheme of aabba.






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






6. 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






7. The study of the orgin of words






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






16. 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






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






18. A lesson a work of literature is teaching.






19. 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






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






21. Opposing elements or characters in a plot.






22. A break in the rhythm of language - particularly a natural pause in a in a line of verse - maked in prosody by a double vertical line ( || ). Ex. Arma virumque cano - || Troiae qui primus ab oris .






23. A poem that is a mournful lament for the dead. Examples include William Shakespeare's 'Eligy' from Cymbeline - Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Requiem -' and Alfred Lord Tennysone's 'In Memoriam.'






24. 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






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26. 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.






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






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






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






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






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33. A short poem about personal feelings and emotions.






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35. 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.






36. 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






37. The structure of a work of literature; the sequence of events.






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






39. During the mid -19th century in New England - several writers and intellectuals worked together to write - translate works - and publish. Their philosophy focused on protesting the Puritan ethic and materialism. They valued individualism - freedom -






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






41. The study of the meaning in language.






42. Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.






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






44. The writer says one thing and means another






45. A pair of lines of poetic verse written in iambic pentameter.






46. 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






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






48. A repetition of the same sound in words close to one another






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






50. 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