Writers' Hall English Guide

Exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and conflict.

Key terms: Freytag's pyramid, internal conflict, person-vs-person conflict

The terms students need for precise character analysis.

Key terms: protagonist, antagonist, foil, round, flat, static, dynamic

Major literary forms and the expectations that shape how a reader approaches them.

Key terms: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, epic, fable, tragedy, comedy

Figurative and sound devices that help students name what a writer is doing.

Key terms: simile, metaphor, imagery, irony, symbolism, foreshadowing

Time, place, mood, and the narrative lens through which a story is told.

Key terms: first person, second person, third-person limited, third-person omniscient

Story-based composition with sequence, scene, detail, and an arc.

Key terms: chronological order, sensory detail, dialogue, narrative arc

Clear explanatory writing built from a controlling idea and organized support.

Key terms: thesis, topic sentence, supporting detail, compare-contrast, cause-effect

Claims supported by reasons, evidence, counterargument, and a fitting call to action.

Key terms: claim, evidence, counterargument, rebuttal, call to action

Aristotle's core persuasive appeals and the difference between character, emotion, and reason.

Key terms: ethos, pathos, logos

The classical sequence for finding, arranging, styling, remembering, and delivering a speech.

Key terms: invention, arrangement, style, memory, delivery

The public purposes of rhetoric in civic, legal, and ceremonial settings.

Key terms: deliberative, judicial, epideictic

Style terms that distinguish patterns of word order from turns of meaning.

Key terms: parallelism, antithesis, metaphor, irony

How to recognize when a persuasive move becomes a faulty shortcut.

Key terms: ad hominem, straw man, false dilemma, appeal to pity

A practical model for analyzing claims and the support that makes them persuasive.

Key terms: claim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier, rebuttal

The simplest sentence pattern. The subject performs an action using an intransitive verb (no direct object needed).

Example: "Birds fly."

Birds | fly

The subject performs an action on something using a transitive verb with a direct object.

Example: "The dog chased the cat."

dog | chased | cat

A linking verb connects the subject to a predicate nominative (noun that renames the subject).

Example: "She is a teacher."

She | is \ teacher

A linking verb connects the subject to a predicate adjective (adjective that describes the subject).

Example: "The sky is blue."

sky | is \ blue

The subject gives/shows/tells something to someone.

Example: "Mom gave me a cookie."

Mom | gave | cookie (me = indirect object)

The subject performs an action on a direct object; a noun renames or identifies the direct object.

Example: "Jesus calls himself Master."

Jesus | calls | himself \ Master

The subject performs an action on a direct object; an adjective describes the direct object.

Example: "Jesus calls himself holy."

Jesus | calls | himself \ holy

Simple

One independent clause

"The dog barked."

Compound

Two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction

"The dog barked, and the cat hid."

Complex

One independent clause + at least one dependent clause

"When the bell rang, the students left."

Compound-Complex

Two or more independent clauses + at least one dependent clause

"When the bell rang, the students left, and the teacher cleaned up."