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. U U '






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. The telling of a story.






4. 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.






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






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






7. A short poem - often written by an anonymous author - comprised of short verses intended to be sung or recited.






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






9. Opposing elements or characters in a plot.






10. 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






11. The main section of a long poem.






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






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






14. Narrative fiction that is set in some earlier time and often contains historically authentic people - places - or events






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






16. ' U






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






18. A contradictory statement that makes sense






19. The perspective from which a story is told.






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






21. 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






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






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






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






25. 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.






26. The study of the structure of words.






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






28. 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.'






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






30. A lesson a work of literature is teaching.






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






32. 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.






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






34. Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.






35. Unrhymed verse - often occurring in iambic pentameter.






36. 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.






37. 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.






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






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






40. A word which can be used instead of a noun. Ex instead of saying John is a student - the ____ he can be used in place of the noun John and the sentence becomes He is a student.






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






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






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






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






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






46. The study of the orgin of words






47. 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.






48. 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






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






50. Narrative fiction that involves gods and heroes or has a theme that expresses a culture's ideology. Examples of Greek ______ include Zeus and the Olympians and The Trojan War. Roman ______ include Hercules - Apollo - and Venus.