1. Literary Terms English 10
Hard Choices
Literary Terms
English 10

2. Plot
Series of related events that make up a story or drama.

3. Basic Situation (Exposition)
The first part of a plot that presents the main characters and their conflicts.

4. Internal Conflict
The struggle between opposing needs, desires, or emotions within a single character.

5. External Conflict
A character who struggles against an outside force, which may be another character, society as whole, or something in nature.

6. Climax
The most intense moment in the plot; the moment at which something happens that reveals how the conflict will turn out.

7. Resolution (Denouement)
Where all the problems in the story are resolved, and the story is brought to a close.

8. Setting
The time and place of a story or play.

9. Suspense
The uncertainty or anxiety we feel about what is going to happen next in a story.

10. Atmosphere
Mood or feeling in a work of literature created through descriptive details and evocative language.

11. Mood
The emotions and feelings the story’s setting, theme, tone, and diction creates for the reader.

12. Tone
The attitude the writer takes toward the reader, a subject, or a character created through the writer’s choice of words and details.