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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 reference to a familiar person - place - thing - or event






2. 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 .






3. 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.'






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






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






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






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






8. A stanza made up of two rhyming lines.






9. A category of literature defined by its style - form - and content.






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






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






12. Old - fashioned words that are no longer used in common speech - such as thee - thy - and thou.






13. 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






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






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






16. 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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






26. 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.






27. The study of the structure of sentences.






28. U '






29. The flaw that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero; this term comes from the Greek word hybris - which means 'excessive pride.'






30. 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






31. A philosophy that values human freedom and personal responsibility. A few well known _______ writers are Jean - Paul Satre - Soren Kierkegaard ('the father of _______') - Albert Camus - Freidrich Nietzche - Franz Kafka - and Simone de Beauvoir.






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






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






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






35. A wise saying - usually short and written.






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






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






38. The main section of a long poem.






39. 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






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






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






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 study of the orgin of words






44. The telling of a story.






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






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






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






48. 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






49. A lesson a work of literature is teaching.






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