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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 wise saying - usually short and written.






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






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






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






5. 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.






6. 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






7. 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.






8. 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






9. Opposing elements or characters in a plot.






10. A story in which people (or things or actions) represent an idea or a generalization about life. Usually have a strong lesson or moral.






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






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






13. 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






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






15. Persuasive writing.






16. 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






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






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






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






20. 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






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






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






23. 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






24. A text or performance that imitates and mocks an author or work.






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






26. 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.






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






28. 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.






29. 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.






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






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






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






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






34. ' U






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. 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.






37. Unrhymed verse - often occurring in iambic pentameter.






38. 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.'






39. The main section of a long poem.






40. 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






41. 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.






42. A word which names a person - place or thing. Ex. boy - river - friend - Mexico - triangle - day - school - truth - university - idea - John F. Kennedy - movie






43. The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words - such a 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.'






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






45. A short poem about personal feelings and emotions.






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






47. 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 -






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






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






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