Test your basic knowledge |

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






2. 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






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






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






5. 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






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






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






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






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






10. 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






11. Persuasive writing.






12. A stanza made up of two rhyming lines.






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






14. 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






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






16. 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.'






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






18. A brief story that illustrates or makes a point.






19. The study of the sounds of language and their physical properties.






20. 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.






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






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






23. U '






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






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






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






27. A variation of a language used by people who live in a particular geographical area.






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






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






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






31. 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






32. A suspenseful story that deals with a puzzling crime. Examples include Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Murder in Rue Morgue' and Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood.






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






34. 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.






35. 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






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






37. 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






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






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






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






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






42. A wise saying - usually short and written.






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






44. A person or being in a narrative






45. 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.






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






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






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






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






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