ACT Literary Terms 2022

Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid

• Irony

• Figurative Language

• Metaphor

The major category into which a literary work fit.

• Genre

• Allusion

• Narrative

THe telling of a story

• Mood

• Narrative

• Onomatopoeia

A work that closely imitated the style or content of another.

• Parody

• Analogy

• Imagery

The implied, suggested, meaning of a word.

• Denotation

• Hyperbole

• Connotation

A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art.

• Imagery

• Allusion

• Analogy

The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work.

• Mood

• Hyperbole

• Irony

The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color.

• Analogy

• Metaphor

• Denotation

A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement.

• Narrative

• Hyperbole

• Mood

To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented.

• Analogy

• Mood

• Inference