Cultural Literacy- Glossary parts 2 and 3

Also called a play, this writing form uses

dialogue to share its message and is meant to be

performed in front of an audience.

• Drama

• Comedy

• Biography

• Autobiography

A short story that often uses talking animals

as the main characters and teaches an explicit

moral or lesson.

• Folktale

• Tale

• Fable

• Fantasy

A story originally passed from one

generation to another by word of mouth only.

The characters are usually all good or all bad

and in the end are rewarded or punished as

they deserve.

• Short Story

• Fantasy

• Tale

• Folktale

A story set in an imaginary world in

which the characters usually have supernatural

powers or abilities.

• Fantasy

• Folktale

• Historical Fiction

• Short story

A traditional story intended to explain some

mystery of nature, religious doctrine, or cultural

belief. The gods and goddesses of mythology

have supernatural powers, but the human

characters usually do not.

• Fantasy

• Mystery

• Myth

• Historical Fiction

(a)   is a literary work that uses the familiar spoken

form of language, sentence after sentence.

Realistic Fiction: Writing that attempts to show life

as it really is.

• True

• False

Short Story is a humorous, exaggerated story often

based on the life of a real person. The

exaggerations build until the character can

accomplish impossible things.

• True

• False

Climax: The high point in the action of a story.

• True

• False

Conflict: A problem or struggle between two

opposing forces in a story. There are four basic

conflicts: Person Against Person, Person Against Self, Person Against Society and Person Against Nature.

• True

• False