A motif is a recurring symbol which takes on a figurative meaning. We see them in books, films, poems; in fact almost every text commonly uses the literary device of the motif. A motif can be almost anything: an idea, an object, a concept, a character archetype, the weather, a color or even a statement.
So basically something that is reoccurring in a book with a meaning.
Answer:
the characters are just the people in the story. The setting is where it happens, so if it mainly happens in a school, that would be the setting. The problems could be like two of the characters hating each other or someone's mom sick in the hospital, stuff like that. problems like these usually get solved at the end of the story but they might not, like a cliffhanger.
Then "How are they like other stories you've read?" You can just take any other stories you know and look for things that are the same in both of them. Like if there's a character who's really shy in the story you read for class and the story you read on your own, then you would say " In this story, a character named Mia is really shy. In a story I read on my own, Social Caterpillar, Nicky is really shy and quiet."(Just a fake example) You would do the same thing for the setting and problems.
Something which is out of its proper historical time is said to be anachronistic.
Archaic means old.
In vogue means modern.
Denotation of a word means its literal definition, may be one
you found in the dictionary and connotation of any word means the positive and
negative associations the word is carrying.
The denotation of word bony is consist of bones or full of
bones and connotation is if we refer word bony to the people and other animals
it often implies being extremely skinny or underweight.