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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 time and place in which a story occurs.






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






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






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






5. The perspective from which a story is told.






6. Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.






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






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






9. 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.






10. 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.






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






12. Specialized language used in a particular field or content area






13. The telling of a story.






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






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






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






18. The study of the structure of sentences.






19. Unrhymed verse - often occurring in iambic pentameter.






20. 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






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






22. 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.






23. 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






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






25. 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






26. The study of the orgin of words






27. 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.






28. A person or being in a narrative






29. 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.






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






31. 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.






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






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






34. A short story or folktale that contains a moral - which may be expressed explicitly at the end as a maxim. Examples include The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse - The Tortoise and the Hare - and The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.






35. A comparison of two unlike things - usually including the word like or as.






36. Rhyming of the ends of lines of verse.






37. A phrase that consists of two contradictory terms






38. 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.






39. A word that gives more information about a noun or pronoun. Ex. Sue runs very fast - very describes the ____ fast and gives information about how fast Sue runs.






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






41. ' U U






42. 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






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






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






45. 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






46. 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






47. ' U






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






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






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