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






2. 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.'






3. The main section of a long poem.






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






5. 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






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






7. 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






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






9. 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.






10. A type of Japanese poem that is written in 17 syllables with three lines of five - seven - and five syllables - respectively. Expresses a single thought.






11. Persuasive writing.






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






13. Meter that is composed of feet that are short - short - long or unaccented - unaccented - accented - usually used in light or whimsical poetry - such as limerick.






14. 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 -






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






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






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






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






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






20. 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






21. 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






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






23. The study of the structure of sentences.






24. Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.






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






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






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






28. A lesson a work of literature is teaching.






29. A contradictory statement that makes sense






30. A short poem about personal feelings and emotions.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






38. Rhyming of the ends of lines of verse.






39. The study of the meaning in language.






40. 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






41. 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.






42. ' U U






43. The narrator records the actions from his or her point of view - unaware of any of the other characters' thoughts or feelings. Also known as the objective view.






44. A stanza made up of two rhyming lines.






45. 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.






46. 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.






47. 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






48. 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.






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






50. 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