8^th Grade SOL English Study Guide

Persuasive techniques used in the media:

A. name calling or innuendo – creating a negative attitude; hinting or implying; using loaded, emotional, or slanted language

B. glittering generalities or card stacking – telling only part of the truth; generalizing from a shred of evidence

C. bandwagon – creating a desire to join a large group satisfied with the idea; making one feel left out if not with the crowd

D. testimonials – using the declaration of a famous person or authoritative expert to give heightened credibility

E. appeal to prestige, snobbery, or plain folks – using a spokesperson who appeals to the audience: a well-known or appealing person the audience wants to emulate, a person like the audience members with whom they can identify, a person whose lifestyle appeals to the audience

F. appeal to emotions – connecting with emotions: loyalty, pity, or fear; love of family, peace, or justice.

Figurative Language:

A. simile – figure of speech that uses the words like or as to make comparisons

B. metaphor – figure of speech that implies comparisons

C. personification – figure of speech that applies human characteristics to non-human objects

D. hyperbole – intentionally exaggerated figure of speech.

Vocabulary:

A. Inferences - making judgments or drawing conclusions based on what an author has implied.

B. The initiating event is the incident that introduces the central conflict in a story; it may have occurred before the story opens.

C. Tone is used to express a writer’s attitude toward the subject.

D. Voice shows an author’s personality, awareness of audience, and passion for his or her subject. It adds liveliness and energy to writing. Voice is the imprint of the writer — the capacity to elicit a response from the reader.

E. static – remaining the same during the course of the story, or

F. dynamic – changing during the course of and as a result of the story

G. Mood refers to the emotional atmosphere produced by an author’s use of language.

H. Point of view is the way an author reveals events and ideas in a story. With an omniscient or “all knowing” point of view, a narrator sees all, hears all, and knows all. By contrast, a limited point of view depicts only what one character or narrator sees, hears, and feels. The point of view may be first person, narrated by someone outside the story or a character within the story. The point of view may also be third person, limited or omniscient, depending on what is known of the story.

I. A symbol is anything that represents something else, often by indirect association or by the convention of an emblem, token, or word. In both prose and poetry, concrete objects used as symbols stand for larger ideas or feelings. The general characteristic of poetry, i.e., its suggestiveness, makes possible the expression of complex feelings and experiences in a few words. Symbolism, like metaphor, imagery, and allusion, is a powerful instrument for the expression of large worlds of meaning in a few words.

J. foreshadowing – the giving of clues to hint at coming events in a story

K. irony – the implication, through plot or character, that the actual situation is quite different from that presented

L. flashback – a return to an earlier time in the course of a narrative to introduce prior information

M. symbolism – the use of concrete and recognizable things to represent ideas

Poetry:

A. haiku – a 17-syllable, delicate, unrhymed Japanese verse, usually about nature

B. limerick – a 5-line, rhymed, rhythmic verse, usually humorous

C. ballad – a songlike narrative poem, usually featuring rhyme, rhythm, and refrain

D. free verse – poetry with neither regular meter nor rhyme scheme

E. couplet – a pair of rhyming lines

F. quatrain – a stanza containing four lines

G. rhyme – recurring identical or similar final word sounds within or at the ends of lines of verse

H. rhythm – the recurring pattern of strong and weak syllabic stresses

I. meter – a fixed pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in lines of fixed length to create rhythm

J. repetition – repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis

K. alliteration – repetition of initial sounds, e.g., picked a peck of pickled peppers

L. assonance – repetition of vowel sounds, e.g., mad hatter

M. consonance – repetition of final consonant sounds, e.g., east/west

N. onomatopoeia – the use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning, e.g. buzz.

Understanding Reading:

A. An author’s viewpoint refers to his or her bias or subjectivity toward the subject.

B. Synthesis involves higher-order thinking and is a result of forming either a concrete or abstract whole from the logical relation of parts.

C. In writing, the writer implies and the reader infers.

D. To critique text requires that a critical (but not necessarily negative) judgment be made.

E. composing – the structuring and elaborating a writer does to construct an effective message for readers

F. written expression – those features that show the writer purposefully shaping and controlling language to affect readers

G. usage/mechanics – the features that cause written language to be acceptable and effective for standard discourse.

H. Elaboration can occur by using descriptive details and examples horizontally within a sentence to give detail and depth to an idea, or vertically from paragraph to paragraph chronologically.

Writing forms:

A. narrative – writing to tell a story

B. persuasive – writing to influence the reader or listener to believe or do as the author or speaker suggests

C. expository – writing to explain and build a body of well-organized and understandable information

D. informational – writing to put forth information, frequently used in textbooks and the news media

E. Voice shows an author’s personality, awareness of audience, and passion for his or her subject. It adds liveliness and energy to writing and allows the reader to know the writer’s ideas. Voice is the imprint of the writer — the capacity to elicit a response from the reader.

F. Tone expresses an author’s attitude toward the subject.