1. Epic Hero Vocabulary Definitions
English 1 – First Quarter

2. Character: a person in a work of fiction
Week 1
Hero: a person who is admired for their deeds, accomplishments, and/or good qualities
Character: a person in a work of fiction
Protagonist: the main character; the character whom the audience wants to succeed (GOOD GUY)
Antagonist: A character or force that tries to prevent the protagonist from succeeding (BAD GUY)
Narrative: a story
Setting: the time and place where a story occurs
Adjective: a word that describes a noun
Adverb: a word that describes a verb

3. Week 2
Epic: a narrative poem which tells of the life and accomplishments of a hero
Epic Hero: the protagonist of an epic poem
Comparative adjective: an adjective that shows a difference in quality between two nouns, where one is more (and the other is less). Some end in “-er.” Others are preceded by the word “more.”
Superlative adjective: an adjective that has reached the upper limit of a quality. Some end in ”-est.” Others are preceded by the word “most.”
Compare: to identify similarities and/or differences between two things
Contrast: to examine differences between two things
Plot: the sequence of events in a narrative
Evidence: facts or information which prove that something is true (or likely to be true)

4. Week 3
Fiction: literature that is created from the author’s imagination; the events in fiction did not actually happen, although they may be inspired by real life.
Nonfiction: literature that is written truthfully about something that actually happened. The author does not imagine anything, but records what took place.
Text: a written work, such as a story, article, poem, book, or play
Main idea: the most important thought in a text. Found by reading the entire text and combining all of the ideas into one short statement. Should be a complete sentence, and should be specific. (sometimes called central idea)
Topic: What a text is broadly about; can be a single word or phrase, and can be vague.
Summarize: to give a shorter statement of the main idea of a text in your own words
Paraphrase: to to restate someone else’s ideas in your own words, without changing the length
Quote: to copy someone else’s words exactly as they were written. (sometimes called direct quotation)

5. Week 4
Chronological: using time as a measurement; arranged in the order that things happened
Transition: a word/phrase that connects one idea to another. Can occur within and/or between paragraphs in a text.
Former: describes the first thing in a list
Latter: describes the last thing in a list
Penultimate: describes the second-to-last thing in a list
Verb: an action word; what the subject of the sentence is doing
Noun: a person, place, thing, or idea
Consistent: done in the same way each time; unchanging over time (antonym = inconsistent)

6. Week 5
Verb tense: The time when the verb occurs. #2-7 are all verb tenses.
Simple present: used for something that is happening right now. (go, jump, am)
Simple past: used for something that has already happened. (went, jumped, was)
Simple future: used for something that has not happened yet. (will go, will jump, will be)
Present perfect: used for something that started happening in the past, but is still happening right now OR forms context for what you are doing right now. (have gone, have jumped, have been)
Past perfect: Something that happened in the past, and was important to something else that happened in the past. (had gone, had jumped, had been)
Future perfect: Something that you plan on having finished by a certain time in the future. (will have gone, will have jumped, will have been)
Participle: a form of a verb that is used to indicate a past or present action. The perfect tenses are created by combining the helping verb “have” with a past participle.

7. Clarify: (v) to make something clearer or easier to understand
Week 6
Logic: (n) a system of thinking and reasoning used to reach a conclusion, decision, or judgment
Example: (n) a specific someone/something that is mentioned to help explain what you are saying or to show that a general statement is true
Clarify: (v) to make something clearer or easier to understand
Elaborate: (v) to add details to fully explain an idea
Relevant: (adj) meaningful or important to what is currently being discussed. (antonym = irrelevant)
Rationale: (n) an explanation
Phrase: (n) any group of two or more words
Clause: (n) a phrase that includes both a subject and a verb

8. Week 7
Thesis statement: a sentence that tells the main idea of an essay. This is the last sentence of an introduction.
Prong: in writing, one of two or more items or ideas in a list. Thesis statements often end with three prongs that will turn into the main ideas of three body paragraphs.
Essay: a written nonfiction paper that explains and/or presents the writer’s opinion on something
Reasoning: the process of thinking about something in a logical way in order to form a conclusion or judgment
Plagiarism: stealing someone else’s words or ideas and pretending they are your own
Citation: giving credit to the person whose words/ideas you are using in your writing
Textual evidence: a specific example or quotation from the text that proves something is true
Parenthetical documentation: (P-DOC) a citation inside parentheses that comes at the end of a sentence with textual evidence. In MLA format, it includes the author’s last name and the page number.

9. Week 8
Introduction: the first paragraph of an essay, which gets the reader’s attention and tells the main idea. Includes the thesis statement. Sometimes called introductory paragraph.
Body paragraph: one of the middle paragraphs of an essay, which includes concrete details and commentary to elaborate on the thesis statement
Topic sentence: the first sentence of a body paragraph which tells its main idea
Concrete detail: (CD) a specific example or fact. In English class, it’s usually a quote or paraphrase cited with P-DOC.
Commentary: (CM) a sentence explaining why the concrete detail is important or relevant
Conclusion: the last paragraph of an essay, which restates your main idea and wraps up your argument.
Outline: a bulleted or numbered list of the ideas you want to include in your essay. Does not need to use complete sentences or correct grammar.
Draft: the current version of an essay or story you are writing

10. Week 9
Rough draft: (n) an early of an essay that is not yet ready to be published, but which includes all of the paragraphs you want to have in your final draft. May include some accidental mistakes, but should be written with complete sentences.
Final draft: (n) the last version of your essay which is as perfect and excellent as you can get it, and which you submit to your teacher.
Revise: (v) to edit and make changes to something in order to improve it
Adversity: (n) an unfavorable fortune or fate; a disaster; a setback
Forlorn: (adj) sad, dreary, hopeless
Classical literature: (n) literature from ancient Greece and Rome
Trait: (n) a distinguishing characteristic or quality of a person; may relate to personality or physical appearance