Keystone Exams: Literature
Assessment Anchor & Eligible Content Glossary April 2014
Pennsylvania Department of Education Page 9 April 2014
Narrator A person, animal, or thing telling the story or giving an account of something.
Nonfiction Text that is not fictional; designed primarily to explain, argue, instruct or describe rather than entertain. For the most
part, its emphasis is factual.
Opinion A personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
Personification An object or abstract idea given human qualities or human form (e.g., Flowers danced about the lawn.)
Plot The structure of a story. The sequence in which the author arranges events in a story. The structure often includes the
rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. The plot may have a protagonist who is opposed by an
antagonist, creating what is called conflict.
Poetry In its broadest sense, text that aims to present ideas and evoke an emotional experience in the reader through the use of
meter, imagery and connotative and concrete words. Some poetry has a carefully constructed structure based on
rhythmic patterns. Poetry typically relies on words and expressions that have several layers of meaning (figurative
language). It may also make use of the effects of regular rhythm on the ear and may make a strong appeal to the senses
through the use of imagery.
Point of View The position of the narrator in relation to the story, as indicated by the narrator’s outlook from which the events are
depicted (e.g., first person, third person limited, third person omniscient, etc). The perspective from which a speaker or
author recounts a narrative or presents information. The author’s manner in revealing characters, events, and ideas; the
vantage point from which a story is told.
Prefix Groups of letters placed before a word to alter its meaning.