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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 stanza made up of two rhyming lines.






2. U '






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






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






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






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






7. The telling of a story.






8. 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 .






9. The perspective from which a story is told.






10. 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.






11. A person - place - thing - or event used to represent something else - such as the white flag that represents surrender.






12. A person or being in a narrative






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






14. 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






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






16. 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






17. 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






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






19. The narrator shares the thoughts and feelings of one (or a few) character(s).






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






21. 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






22. A literacy device in which the author jumps back in time in the chronology of narrative.






23. The study of the structure of words.






24. 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






25. A literary device in which animals - ideas - and things are represented as having human traits.






26. 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.






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






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






29. Unrhymed verse - often occurring in iambic pentameter.






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






31. 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






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






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






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






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






36. A word that connects other words or groups of words. Ex. In the sentence Bob and Dan are friends - the _____ 'and' connects two nouns and in the sentence.






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






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






39. 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.






40. 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.






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






42. The study of the structure of sentences.






43. A verb form that usually ends in - ing or - ed.






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






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






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






47. The analysis of how sounds function in a language or dialect.






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






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






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