The smell of fresh bread carried Jay back to his grandfather's kitchen, where he once stood on a stool to help knead the dough.
7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 1 of 13
Literary Devices
Irony, foreshadowing and symbolism
What your child practices
Recognizing the tools writers use: figurative language, foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism and the three kinds of irony (verbal, situational and dramatic), plus the parts of a plot.
Alabama Course of Study content standard: 7.3; 7.4 · irony, foreshadowing and symbolism
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Foreshadowing hints at what will happen later. A flashback jumps back to an earlier time.
- A symbol is an object that stands for a bigger idea.
- Irony: verbal (saying the opposite of what you mean), situational (the opposite of what’s expected happens), dramatic (readers know what a character doesn’t).
Example: A fire station burns down. What kind of irony is this? You’d expect a fire station to be the safest place from fire. The opposite of what you expect happens. Answer: Situational irony
Literary Devices in Alabama
In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 1 of 13 in 7th grade English Language Arts, before Tone & Mood.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
A scene interrupts the present action to show something that happened earlier. What is this called?
- Personification
- Foreshadowing
- Flashback
- Symbolism
Flashback
Hint: The story “flashes back” to the past.
Question 2
Put the parts of a plot in order, from beginning to end.
- Falling action: events after the turning point
- Climax: the turning point
- Exposition: characters and setting are introduced
- Resolution: the conflict is settled
- Rising action: the conflict builds
Exposition: characters and setting are introduced → Rising action: the conflict builds → Climax: the turning point → Falling action: events after the turning point → Resolution: the conflict is settled
Hint: Picture a mountain: the story introduces its people, climbs as the conflict builds, peaks at the turning point, then comes down to an ending.
Question 3
Which literary device does this excerpt use?
- Foreshadowing
- Flashback
- Onomatopoeia
- Hyperbole
Flashback
Hint: A smell sends Jay back to a scene from his past. Interrupting the present to show the past is a flashback.
Question 4
Which literary device does this excerpt use?
Leo tucked the spare key into his backpack. “I won't need this,” he said, “but just in case.”
- Alliteration
- Flashback
- Foreshadowing
- Simile
Foreshadowing
Hint: When a story makes a point of saying something won't be needed, it often will be. That's a hint about later events.
Question 5
Which literary device does this excerpt use?
The stars were diamonds scattered across the dark sky.
- Flashback
- Simile
- Onomatopoeia
- Metaphor
Metaphor
Hint: The stars are called diamonds directly, without “like” or “as.” That's a metaphor.
Question 6
A character says the opposite of what they really mean. What is this called?
- Hyperbole
- Situational irony
- Verbal irony
- Dramatic irony
Verbal irony
Hint: Verbal means spoken in words. The irony is in what the character says.