READING NOTES

Comprehension Strategies
Visualization - pictures in my head

Schema -background knowledge

Inferring - education guess

Questioning - questions when reading

Commas
Before a coordinating conjunction or fanboy

Ex. I like pizza, yet i do not like italian pizza

To separate item in a list

Ex. The boy likes to play games, eat pizza, and shoot hoops.

Capitalization
Capitalize languages, nationalities, race, and religion.

● Ex: Jewish
● Ex: Greek
● Ex: Latino
● Ex: European

Capitalize holidays, days of the week, and months.

● Ex: Christmas, Thursday, February

Do not capitalize seasons.

● Ex: fall, winter, spring, summer

Proper Nouns and Adjectives

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Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives. A proper noun is a noun that
names a specific, one-of-a-kind person, place, or thing.

● Ex: George, New York, Central Park

● Ex: I like cookies. (Common noun)
● Ex: I like Oreos. (Proper noun)

A proper adjective is a proper noun that has had the ending changed and is
used to describe a noun.

● Ex: Italian, Victorian, Shakespearian, Christian

● Ex: Da Vinci was a Renaissance man.
● Ex: Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated in October.

Family
Do not capitalize family terms like mom, dad, grandma, cousin, aunt, uncle,
etc. unless they are part of a name.

● Ex: Aunt Jane took me to the park. (Capitalize)

● Ex: My aunt took me to the park. (Do not capitalize)
● Ex. Grandma Jill’s house is right around the corner (Capitalize)

Do not capitalize the family term if it comes after my, our, your, their, his, her,
the, a, or an.

● Ex: I like Mom’s new shoes. (Capitalize)

● Ex: Can I meet your mom? (Do not capitalize)

Directions
Capitalize north, east, south, and west when they refer to a region of the country.

● Ex: Let’s go to the South.

Do not capitalize a general direction.

● Ex: Let’s go south this winter.

Capitalize northern, southern, western, and eastern when they refer to people or to
their political, social, or cultural activities.

● Ex: The Northern states did not vote the way we thought they would.

Do not capitalize directions when they refer to a location, region, or climate

● Ex: It is very cold in the northern states right now.

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When northern, southern, western, or eastern is part of the name, you must capitalize
it.

● Ex: I am going to Northern Ireland next year. (Capitalize)

● Ex: I am going to southern California for school. (Do not capitalize)

Sometimes people capitalize the adjective of a place to emphasize the importance of it

to them, but it is not correct grammar.

● Ex: I was born and raised in Southern California. (Incorrect)

Organizations and Industries

Capitalize the important words in the names of organizations and industries.

Ex: Northern Arizona University.

Ex: The Society for the Advancement of Chocolate Lovers

Ex: The Subcommittee for the Oil Commission

Do not capitalize organizations and industries if they are not specific names.

Ex: I went to university with him.

Ex: The historical society meets on Wednesday.

Holidays, Days, and Months

Capitalize holidays, days of the week, and months.

Ex: Christmas, Thursday, February

Do not capitalize seasons.

Ex: fall, winter, spring, summer

Names of Modes of Transportation

Capitalize the names of ships, planes, and trains.
Ex: I built a model replica of the Titanic.

Capitalize the brand name of vehicles.

Ex: My friend drives a Toyota Corolla.

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 how to write a expository essay
1. Topic
2. What it is about
3. How it influences (people or your life)
4. How it is important in general
5. Conclusion

Wordiness and Redundancy

Wordiness and Redundancy
Avoid wordiness and redundancy when writing and choose language that expresses ideas
precisely and concisely. It is important to be precise and consistent so the reader will
understand your point and will want to continue reading.

What is Wordiness?
Wordiness is using more words than necessary to get your point across.

● Ex: He found his neighbor who lived next door to be attractive in appearance.
○ You don’t need who lived next door because that is what neighbor
means.
○ You don’t need appearance because attractive implies appearance.

Some wordiness is okay in narratives if you are not redundant! Narratives are better
with description, but don’t over do it. Wordiness is also okay if you are emphasizing
something.

● Ex: There was no way he would have lost the game on purpose.

What is Redundancy?
Redundancy means repeating something. Redundancy is a type of wordiness and
comes in two forms.

● First, repeating a word or phrase using a synonym or definition.

○ Ex: I was supposed to go to the store at 9 a.m. this morning but I had to
postpone the trip until later.
■ You don’t need morning because a.m. means morning and you
don’t need until later because that is what postpone means.
■ I was supposed to go to the store at 9 a.m., but I had to postpone
the trip.
● Second, stating the same information in a different way.

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 ○ Ex: Doctors have proven that eating right and exercising makes you
healthy. A healthy person is a person who eats right and exercises, as
proven by doctors.
■ Both sentences mean the exact same thing. They are just written
differently. Don’t make your reader/listener have to suffer
through the same information without learning anything new.

When to use Redundancy

You can use redundancy in a sentence when you are using a word that your reader may not
know. This allows the reader to understand the word without having to look it up.

● Ex: Eve was beguiled, or deceived, by the serpent.

You can also use redundancy to emphasize something and make people notice it.

● Ex: “Free Gift!”

You can repeat information in the conclusion of an essay. You should restate your topic
sentence and summarize your main points.

Precise and Concise

Instead of being wordy and redundant, you need to be precise and concise. Precise
means exact and specific. Concise means short and to the point. If you can say
something with fewer words, without changing the meaning, do it!

How to avoid Wordiness and Redundancy

Avoid filler phrases like "it is/was", "there are/were", "there is/was."

● Ex: There were ten kids in the street. (Wordy)

● Ex: Ten kids were in the street. (Precise)

Don’t start a sentence with “this.” Make it part of the previous sentence.

● Ex: We adopted a dog today. This dog lived at the pound. (Wordy)
● Ex: We adopted a dog from the pound today. (Precise)

Avoid using “which” and “that”

● Ex: The mother, who had four kids, worked from home and volunteered.
(Wordy)
● Ex: The mother of four worked from home and volunteered. (Precise)

Use action verbs instead of “being” verbs

● Ex: I didn’t know where I was being taken. (Wordy)

● Ex: I didn’t know where they took me. (Precise)

Combine short and awkward sentences.

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 ● Ex: The cat likes to run. The cat likes to chase mice. The cat likes to sleep.
(Wordy and redundant)
● Ex: The cat likes to run after mice and to sleep. (Precise)

Remove labels/categories

● Ex: The house, which was brown in color, was huge! (Wordy)
● Ex: The brown house was huge! (Precise)

Replace phrases with single words.

● Ex: He looked for a book with reference to the Civil War. (Wordy)
● Ex: He looked for a book about the Civil War. (Precise)
● For more examples visit this website:
http://www2.gsu.edu/~accerl/wordiness/WO.html

Instead of synonyms, use one strong word.

● Ex: She was stunningly and remarkably beautiful. (Redundant)

● Ex: She was stunning! (Precise)

Don’t repeat the words that are part of an acronym.

● Ex: Mom needed money from the ATM machine. (Redundant)

● Ex: Mom needed money from the ATM. (Precise)

Don’t get too fancy or try to sound too proper.

● Ex: It should be noted that the four legged companion that accompanies
everywhere will need a seat adjacent to my own seat. (Wordy)
● Ex: My dog will need a seat next to mine. (Precise)

Context Clues
When you read, you may come across words or phrases you don't know the
meaning of or that have multiple meanings. you can use context clues to help you
figure out the meaning. .
Context clues are the words, sentences, and ideas that surround an unknown word.

Examples of Context Clues

● The overall meaning of a paragraph

● The place or function of the word in the sentence
● Punctuation
● Key words
● Examples
● Synonyms
● Antonyms

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 ● Definition
● Roots and Affixes
● Logic

Overall Meaning of the Paragraph

You may not know all of the words in a paragraph, but you will know most of them.
You can use the context clues around the unknown words or phrases to figure out the
words you don't know.

● Ex: In search of fresh country air, his family would travel most summers to a
rustic lakeside camp in Maine. Young Elwyn also scoured the nearby woods and
barn of his boyhood home in Mount Vernon, New York, acquainting himself with
farm animals and assorted critters.
○ You guess the meaning of rustic by looking at the words country, barn,
lakeside camp, woods, farm animals, and assorted critters. The word
rustic has to do with all of those things.

Word Place and Function

Where the word is and what its function is in the sentence can help give you a clue of
its meaning.

● Ex: "That home was acquired in 2009 by the Smithsonian's National Museum of
African American History and Culture."
○ In this sentence, the word acquired is the verb. The sentence doesn't
make sense without it. Since it is a verb, then it must be an action. You
could substitute a number of words to see what makes sense. Bought,
built, constructed, made and destroyed all make sense.

If you read the rest of the paragraph and article that this sentence came from, it will be
even easier to guess what the word means.

Punctuation
Punctuation can be a context clue. Commas and dashes can give you a clue as to what
a word means. Sometimes the author puts an explanation between commas and
dashes.

● Ex: The captain used the astrolabe, an instrument for calculating latitude while
sailing, to find their location.
● Ex: Beautiful sounds came from the mandolin--a guitar-like instrument--as the
man thumbed the strings.
○ You may not know what the word means, but the author tells you what it
means.

Key Words or Helping Words

Look for keywords. Sometimes the author includes the definition set off by key words
or helping words. These keywords can be things like or, that is, and, like, and called.

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 ● Ex: The man was guilty of perjury; that is, he knowingly lied while under oath.

Look for examples of what the word might mean. Many times the author will show
what the word means through the actions in the text.

● Ex: He tried to impede the progress of the bulldozer by standing in front of it,
stealing the extra gas tanks, and placing boulders in its path.

Synonyms
Synonyms are words that have similar meanings. Sometimes synonyms are listed to
show the meaning of the word.

● Ex: The bride was radiant in her wedding dress. She was glowing and happy.

Antonyms
An antonym is a word that means the opposite of something. Sometimes the author
will use a word that means the opposite to help you figure out its meaning.

● Ex: At first they thought the cat was docile, but then he went wild.

Explanation
Sometimes the author explains the meaning of the word in another sentence or
even later in the paragraph.

● Ex: The majority of the population was illiterate. They had never been taught to
read or write.

Roots and Affixes

You can use roots and affixes to help you too. You can dissect the word and use parts to
figure out the meaning of the whole word.

● Ex: The man was unemployed and would have to find a new job.
○ You know that the root employ means to give word and un means not.
○ The sentence talks about about jobs.
○ You can guess from the context and the root and prefix that unemployed
means not having a job anymore.

Logic
Sometimes there is no specific context clue to use to help you find the meaning
of an unknown word. Sometimes you have to use more than one strategy. Oth‎er times
you have to ask yourself questions about he sentence and about the paragraph and
think about what information has been given to you.‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Heterographs, Homonyms, and Heteronyms

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 These are all types of words that can be confusing to a reader/listener because you may
not know which word that the writer/speaker is referring to without using context clues or
a dictionary.

Heterographs
Heterographs are words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings.

● Ex: to, two, and too

○ George bought some candy. Two girls went to the store so they could buy
some candy, too.
● Ex: their, there, and they're
○ There is a group of boys playing with their airplanes and they're having
fun!
● Ex: miner and minor
○ The miner dug diamonds out of the mine.
○ The minor was too young to see the movie without an adult.

Homonyms
Homonyms are words that sound the same and are spelled the same but have
different meanings.

● Ex: bear and bear

○ Bears live in the woods.
○ I can't bear to leave my puppy home alone.
● Ex: against and against
○ Speeding is against the law.
○ He leaned against the fence.

Heteronyms
Heteronyms are the words that sound different and have a different meaning but are
spelled the same.

● Ex: wind and wind

○ Wind up the toy and let it go!
○ The wind is blowing really hard!
● Ex: abuse and abuse
○ Don't abuse your privilege to go to the restroom during class.
○ The animal had suffered a lot of abuse.

Context Clues and Words with Multiple Meanings

If you come to a word that has more than one meaning or you aren't sure which
spelling you are suppose to use, you can use one of the ten context clues skills that
you learned to help you decide.

● Read the whole paragraph.

● Look for clues in the paragraph to help you understand the word.

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 ● Replace the word with a synonym to make sure the definition you chose makes
sense.
○ Ex: In search of fresh country air, his family would travel most summers
to a rustic lakeside camp in Maine. Young Elwyn also scoured the nearby
woods and barn of his boyhood home in Mount Vernon, New York,
acquainting himself with farm animals and assorted critters.
● His family would travel most summers to a rural country lakeside camp in
Maine.

Use a Dictionary
Watch this short video and then turn to your neighbor and explain how you would use
a dictionary to figure out which word to use. Click here.

Antonyms, Synonyms, and Analogies

Word Relationships
When reading and writing, it is important to understand the relationships
between words because it helps improve comprehension, helps to make connections
between known and unknown words, and builds problem solving skills. Antonyms,
synonyms, and analogies help you understand relationships between words.

Antonyms
An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word.

● Ex: hot and cold

● Ex: black and white

Synonyms
A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another.

● Ex: happy and joyful

● Ex: honest and truthful

Analogies
An analogy is a word formula that helps you to understand the relationships
between words.

● Ex: hot:cold::up:down

This analogy is read, "Hot is to cold as up is to down."

The relationship between hot and cold is the same relationship between up and down.

Hot and cold are antonyms, so both up and down are antonyms.

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 Analogy Relationship Pairs
There are many different types of analogy relationships.

● Antonyms
○ Ex: hot:cold::up:down
● Synonyms
○ Ex: pretty:beautiful::hard:solid
● Parts to Whole
○ Ex: minutes:hour::tablespoons:cup
● Object to Function
○ Ex: spood:eat::straw:drink
● Cause to Effect
○ Ex: cut:bleed::drop:break
● Characteristic
○ Ex: mattress:soft::chair:hard
● Item to Category
○ Ex: French:language::history:subject
● Product to Producer
○ Ex: chicken:egg::cow:beef

And so many more! There is no limit to the types of relationships that you can
show with an analogy.

Practice
Create two analogies.

● One needs to be from the list of analogy types on the last page.
● For the other, you will need to make up your own analogy type and create an
analogy.

Analogy Relationships
Sometimes you have only part of an analogy and you must figure out what the
relationship is.

● Ex: word:essay::
○ This is a part to whole relationship
○ Another part to whole relationship would be legs:chair.
○ The whole relationship would be word:essay::legs:chair.

Roots and Affixes

As you learned before, roots and affixes can be used to help you understand the
meaning of a word. You can take apart the word and divide it into different parts. The
different parts of the words can help you figure out the meaning as well as help you to
define relationships between words with similar roots.

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 Root
A root is the core part of a word from which longer words grow. It is only part of a
word and can't be used by itself.

A root contains the core, or main meaning of a word.

Affixes
An affix is a part of a word attached to the front or back of a root.

There are two types of affixes:

● Prefixes – The part of the word attached to the front of a root. (Pre means
before.)
● Suffixes – The part of the word attached to the back of a root.

Roots and Affixes

Pretend that a word is a pencil.

● The root is the middle of the pencil--the part you hold.

● The prefix is the point--the part you write with.
● The suffix is the eraser--the part you erase with.

Not all words have both a prefix and a suffix. Some only have one or another. Sometimes
you have a pencil with just a point and no eraser. Sometimes you have a pencil with just an
eraser and no point. It is the same way for words.

Word Meaning
You can use roots and affixes to figure out what a word means. If you know the
meaning of the root and affixes but you don't know the meaning of the word, you can
use the meaning of the parts to understand the whole.

● Ex: Projection
○ pro - forward
○ ject - throw
○ ion - act

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 You can figure out that projection has something to do with the act of throwing
something forward.

Examples of Roots and Affixes

Here are a few examples of roots and affixes and their definitions. Follow the links to
see a full list of roots and affixes.

Prefix Root Suffix

de- (opposite) aqua (water) -en (made of)

fore- (front of) duct (to lead) -ness (state of)

sub- (under) mater (mother) -ic (having characteristics of)

trans- (across) sect (cut) -er (more)

Ex: subject

● sub - under
● ject - throw
● "throw under"

Ex: transport

● trans - across
● port - carry
● "to carry across"

Ex: nonviolent

● non - not
● "not violent"

Word Relationships

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 Knowing roots and affixes can help you figure how words are related. If a word you
don't know has the same root word as a word you do know, you can use it to figure out
the meaning of the word.

● Ex: Pretend you don't know what aqueduct means, but you know what aquarium
means.
○ An aquarium is a tank that holds water.
○ So, an aqueduct must do something with water.

The same goes for prefixes and suffixes.

Allusions
Figure of Speech
A figure of speech is a saying that has a meaning other than its literal meaning. Figures
of speech enhance writing by making it more interesting and by helping the reader
understand the author's point better.

● Ex: It's raining cats and dogs.

○ Cats and dogs are not really falling from the sky. It means that it's raining
really hard.

An allusion is a type of figure of speech. The following slides will illustrate allusions.

Allusions
An allusion is a reference to a well-known person, place, thing, or event. Allusions help you
to make connections between something you already know about and something new. For
an allusion to work correctly, you must know what the author is referring to. Otherwise, the
allusion is lost and no connection is made.

● Ex: It's raining cats and dogs.

○ Cats and dogs are not really falling from the sky. It means that it's raining
really hard.
An allusion is a type of figure of speech. The following slides will illustrate allusions.

Making Connections
There are three steps you should take when making connections through allusions.

1. Identify what the author is alluding to.

2. Identify what connection the author is trying to make.
○ Plot, character, setting, information, etc.
3. Identify why the author is making the connection.
○ To show a character's traits and/or personality?
○ To create the same mood that was created by the thing being alluded to?
○ To be funny?
○ To emphasize something?

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 Types of Allusion
There are three common types of allusion:

● Literary
● Biblical
● Mythological

You may not recognize an allusion because you have not been exposed to it yet. The
longer you live and the more you learn, the more allusions you will know.

Literary Allusions
Literary allusions come from well-known literature, works of art, poems, plays, etc.

● Ex: Her smile was as mysterious as Mona Lisa's.

○ The allusion here is referring to the painting of The Mona Lisa.

Biblical Allusions
Biblical allusions come from the stories in the Bible.

● Ex: It had been raining for days and I was starting to worry that we were being
judged like the people in Noah's time.
○ The allusion here is referring to the flood in Noah's time caused by the
rain sent by God because he judged the earth to be wicked.

Mythological Allusions
Mythological allusions come from Greek and Roman mythology and other myths.

● Ex: Chocolate is my Achilles' heel.

○ Achilles' mom dipped him in the river so he would be invincible, but held
him by his heel when she did. Because of that, the only weak part of
Achilles was his heel.

Phrases and Clauses

Phrases and clauses are what you use to create sentences.

Phrase – A piece of a sentence that does not have a verb and/or a subject.

Clause – A sentence that has both a subject and a predicate.

Predicate – The comment about the subject and has a verb.

Phrases
Phrases are not complete sentences.

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 ● Ex: the cat
● Ex: ran to the store

Phrases can be a piece of a sentence.

● Ex: I ran to the store for milk.

○ "for milk" is a phrase. It isn't a sentence on its own because it is missing a
subject and a verb.

Phrases can have just a verb or just a noun.

Independent Clauses
There are two types of clauses--independent and dependent.

An independent clause is a clause that can stand on its own as a sentence because it is
a complete thought.

● Ex: I ran to the store to get some milk.

○ "I ran to the store" is an independent clause. You don't need the rest of
the sentence to make it a complete thought.
○ It has a subject: I
○ It has a predicate: “ran to the store”.
■ The verb is “ran”.
● Ex: Sit!
○ This is an independent clause because it has an implied subject (you) and
a verb. It is a command.

Dependent Clauses
A dependent clause is a clause that cannot stand on its own, is not a complete
thought, and must be a part of a sentence.

● Ex: I ran to the store to get some milk.

○ "to get some milk" is a dependent clause. The clause does not make
sense without the rest of the sentence and is not a complete thought.

Dependent Clause Versus Phrase

What is the difference between a dependent clause and a phrase?

A dependent clause has a verb and subject. A phrase has one or the other, but not
both.

● Ex: I ran to the store for milk.

○ "for milk" only has a subject, so it is a phrase.
● Ex: I ran to the store to get some milk.
○ "to get some milk" has a verb and a subject. It is a dependent clause.

When to Use Dependent Clauses and Phrases Alone

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 Sometimes it is okay to use a dependent clause or a phrase without it being part of a
sentence. Dependent clauses or phrases can be used to express an incomplete thought
or to answer a question in dialogue.

● Ex: "I don't think..." he started to say.

● Ex: "Maybe tomorrow," she answered.

Dependent clauses and phrases can also be used to emphasize something.

● Ex: I can't believe I dropped the vase! The vase!

Types of Sentences
There are four types of sentences:

● Simple
● Compound
● Complex
● Compound Complex

They help to vary your sentence structure, make your text flow better, and make your
writing more interesting.

Simple Sentence
A simple sentence has an independent clause that has a subject and predicate and is a
complete thought.

● Ex: The girl read a book.

○ The girl is the subject.
○ Reading a book is the predicate.
○ The whole sentence is a complete thought.

Write your own simple sentence and share it with your neighbor.

Compound Sentence
A compound sentence combines two or more independent clauses.

There are two ways to connect independent clauses--with a coordinating conjunction or

with a semicolon.

A coordinating conjunction is a word that connects clauses that go together. There are
seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Use the acronym
"FANBOYS" to help you remember them.

Write a compound sentence like this:

● Independent clause +, + coordinating contraction + independent clause.

● Ex: James went for a walk; but he forgot to get the mail.

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Write a compound sentence and share it with your neighbor.

Complex Sentence
A complex sentence has an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses
and is connected by a subordinate conjunction.

A subordinate conjunction is a transition word that connects the independent and

dependent clauses.

Some subordinate conjunctions are:

● after
● although
● as
● because
● before
● even if
● even though
● if
● in order to/that
● once
● provided that
● rather than
● since
● so that
● than
● that
● though
● unless
● until
● when
● whenever
● where
● whereas
● whenever
● whether
● while
● why
● no matter how

Complex sentences can be written two ways:

1. The dependent clause first with a comma:

● Ex: While Bob was eating cake, the kitchen exploded.

○ "While Bob was eating cake" is the dependent clause.
○ "the kitchen exploded" is the independent clause.

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 ○ "while" is the subordinate conjunction.

2. The dependent clause second:

● Ex: The kitchen exploded while Bob was eating cake.

Complex sentences can have more than one dependent clause.

● Ex: The kitchen exploded while Bob was eating cake because he didn't turn off
the gas after baking.
○ "The kitchen exploded" is the independent clause.
○ "while Bob was eating cake" is a dependent clause.
○ "while" is a subordinate conjunction.
○ "because he didn't turn off the gas after baking" is a dependent clause.
○ "because" is a subordinate conjunction.

Write a complex sentence and share it with your neighbor.

Compound Versus Complex

How do I know if a sentence is compound or complex?

Ask yourself:

● Are there two independent clauses or an independent clause and a dependent

clause?

If you aren't sure if the clause is dependent or not, ask yourself:

● What is connecting the clauses? A coordinating conjunction or a subordinate

conjunction?
○ If it is a coordinating conjunction, the sentence is compound.
○ If it is a subordinate conjunction, the sentence is complex.
● Ex: The kitchen exploded while Bob was eating cake because he didn't turn off
the gas after baking.
○ While and because are subordinating conjunctions, so this is a complex
sentence.
● Ex: James went for a walk, but he forgot to get the mail.
○ But is a coordinating conjunction, and there is a comma in the sentence
as well. This is a compound sentence.

Compound-Complex Sentence
A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and at least one
dependent clause.

● Ex: Even though it was overcast outside, it was a warm day, and I walked to the
store.
○ "Even though it was overcast outside" is a dependent clause.
○ "It was a warm day" is an independent clause.
○ "I walked to the store" is an independent clause.

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A compound-complex sentence can have more than one dependent clause.

● Ex: Even though it was overcast outside, it was a warm day, and I walked to the
store because I needed milk.
○ "because I needed milk" is a dependent clause.

Write a compound-complex sentence and share it with your neighbor.

Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

Modifiers
A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes, clarifies, or gives more detail
about another word, phrase, or clause. Modifiers are adverbs or adjectives.

An adverb is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies a verb.

● Ex: The cute, little boy ran quickly around the room.
○ The phrase "quickly around the room" describes how and where the boy
ran (the verb).

An adjective is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies a noun.

● Ex: The cute, little boy ran quickly around the room.
○ "The cute, little" describes the noun "boy.

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Modifiers are important because they add detail, make a sentence more interesting,
and help the reader better understand the text.

However, if a modifier is not used correctly it can make the sentence difficult to
understand or change the sentence's meaning.

When a modifier is not used properly, it is called a misplaced or dangling modifier,

depending on how it is being improperly used.

Misplaced Modifier

20
A misplaced modifier is a modifier that is too far from the word it is modifying. The
modifier can go before or after, but it should be as close as possible to the word it is
modifying.

Most misplaced modifiers can be fixed by changing the word order.

● Ex: The teacher gave the boy his report card wearing a green sweater.
○ The report card is not wearing a green sweater. Maybe the boy or the
teacher is wearing a green sweater, but we do not know who is wearing it
because the modifier is misplaced.
○ Corrected sentence: The teacher wearing a green sweater gave the boy
his report card. OR
○ The teacher gave the boy wearing a green sweater his report card.
● Ex: The girls saw the shirt in the mall with Justin Bieber on it.
○ Was Justin Bieber in the mall? No.
○ Corrected sentence: The girls saw the shirt with Justin Bieber on it in the
mall.

Does it matter?
Sometimes it doesn't matter where you put the modifier. The sentence will still make
sense wherever you put it.

● Ex: I went to the store yesterday.

● Ex: Yesterday I went to the store.
● Ex: I went yesterday to the store yesterday.

Other times, it matters where you put the modifier because it changes the meaning of
the sentence.

● Ex: She only saw him eat one.

● Ex: She saw him eat only one.
● Ex: Only she saw him eat one.
● Ex: She saw him eat one only.
● Ex: She saw him only eat one.

21
 Dangling modifiers
A dangling modifier is a modifier that does not have a specific word to modify. Most
dangling modifiers are dependent clauses. To correct a dangling modifier, just give the
modifier a verb or a noun to modify.

Ex: After waiting in line all day, the book was bought.

"After waiting in line all day" is a dependent clause.

We do not know what the clause is modifying. The book wasn't waiting in line all day,
so we know that is not what is being modified.

Corrected sentence: After waiting in line all day, I bought the book.

"I" is the noun being modified.

Ex: While babysitting, my sister came over.

Corrected: While I was babysitting, my sister came over.

"I" is the noun being modified.

Presentation

Journal
Which hamburger would you rather eat and why? A or B?

22
Presentation.
Presentation is how the piece of writing looks as a finished product.

Our drawing presentation is represented by the garden. The flowers, trees, paint on the
house, pictures, furniture, etc. all make the house look nice.

When you write you want your finished product to look nice and be well written

Presentation..
When turning in your final draft of a piece of writing, you want to make sure that it looks
good. You wouldn’t like to eat hamburger A. It is gray, flat, and unappetizing. It looks a bit
old and is thrown on a napkin. You would want to eat hamburger B. It is colorful, with a
nice big patty, and it looks juicy with a side of fries. It is nicely arranged on a cutting board.
Your writing should look like hamburger B.

Presentation and Format

● Handwriting
○ If you are writing it by hand, you need to make sure that it can be read
● Typing
○ If you are typing it, the font should be legible. Times New Roman, Calibri,
or Arial are good fonts to use. Make sure the font is not too big or too
small. The 12 point font is a good size.
● Graphics and pictures
○ Make sure that graphics and pictures are a good size and appropriate to
the text.

23
 Presentation and Format
● Margins
○ Are the margins even? Usually 1 inch margins are appropriate in a typed
paper.
○ For a hand written paper, write to the right of the red line and don’t squish
your words all the way to the edge of the page.
○ They frame the text.
● Spacing
○ For a typed paper double spaced is usually preferred.
○ For a handwritten paper if you use college ruled double space. If you use a
wide ruled single space.
○ The spacing can cause confusion if it isn't done right and it can detract from
the text.

Presentation Examples
Which would you rather read?

1.
2. How is the brown cow?

The 2nd one is easier to read right?

Which is Easier to Use?

The one on the left was easier to use because it wasn’t so busy and there weren't a ton
of disorganized stickies on it.

Writing a Summary
Summary
A summary is recapping something in your own words. A summary includes facts and
should be objective.

Objective means not influenced by opinions or judgments and includes only facts.

It does not include:

● Opinions
● Personal information
● Interpretations
● Background knowledge

Summaries are important because they allow you to demonstrate what you understood
and show what the main points were.

24
Three Parts of a Summary
There are 3 main parts to writing a summary.

● Comprehension – You need to read and understand the text.

● Identification – You have to be able to pick out the topic sentence, main idea,
and key points.
● Own Words – You need to write the main idea and key points in your own words
without adding your opinion or other information that is not needed.

Hand Method
A simple way to write a summary is the 1-Hand method to help you with the
identification part.

Hand method Continued...

1. Topic Sentence
○ What is the text about? Locate the topic sentence in the text. If it’s
not clear, write your own using the text.
2. Someone
○ Who is the main character/person in the text?
3. Wanted
○ What did the character or person want?
4. But then
○ What is the conflict or problem?
5. Finally
○ How was the conflict or problem solved?

Hand Summary

25
 After you have read the text and then found the 5 pieces of information on the hand,
you can then write your summary.

To write your summary, you put all of the above information together and make it into
a paragraph that is easy to understand.

Sometimes the information isn't going to be obvious and you may have to reread, and
dig, and read between the lines to find it, but it is all in your text.

This method can be used for both fiction and nonfiction texts.

Practice Comprehension
Comprehension – Read the text.

“The problem was, strange things often happen around Harry and it was just no good
telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen. …He’d gotten into terrible trouble for
being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as
usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the
chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress
telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he
shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind
the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have
caught him in mid- jump.”

-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, pg. 18

Practice Identify
Identify – Find the topic sentence and main points.

● Topic Sentence: Strange things happened to and around Harry and he didn’t
make them happen.
● Someone: Harry
● Wanted: to get away from Dudley’s gang who were chasing him
● But then: Harry ended up on the roof and he got in trouble
● Finally: Harry was locked in his cupboard, even though the tried to explain he
tried to jump behind the garbage and the wind must of caught him

Practice Own Words

Own Words – Write a summary

● Strange things were always happening to Harry and he didn’t make them
happen. One time, he was running away from Dudley and his gang and he ended
up on the roof of the school. He was locked in his cupboard for that, even

26
 though all he tried to do was jump behind the garbage can and the wind must
have caught him.

Figurative Language
Language
Language is an important part of writing. It is what adds variety and makes a text more
interesting. It also helps you get your meaning across better.

There are several types of language that you can add to your writing

● Figurative
● Connotative
● Technical

Figurative Language
Figurative Language is words or expressions with a meaning that are different from the
literal definition.

There are many types of figurative language.

● You learned about allusions in the last unit.

● You have probably learned metaphors ,similes, personification, hyperbole,
understatement, idioms, and onomatopoeia, but we will review them.
● We will look at alliteration later.

Metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison between two similar things saying that one thing is
another.

● Ex: The classroom is a zoo.

Metaphors help you to visualize what the author is trying to saying and make it come
to life

Simile
A simile is a comparison between two things using like or as.

● Ex: Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.

Similes really bring your writing to life.

Personification
Personification is giving animals or objects human traits.

27
 ● Ex: The chair groaned as she sat in it.
● Ex: The wind sighed in the trees.

Personification also helps you visualize what the author is writing.

Hyperbole
A hyperbole is an exaggeration to make a point, emphasize something, or add humor.

● Ex: I think I'm going to die of embarrassment!

Understatement
An understatement is making something seem less important or serious. The opposite
of hyperbole.

● Ex: Arthur cuts off the Black Knight's left arm.

○ Arthur: Now stand aside, worthy adversary.
○ Black Knight: 'Tis but a scratch.
○ Arthur: A scratch? Your arm's off!

Used to downplay something and not draw attention to it and sometimes it adds
humor.

Idiom
An idiom is language that does not mean what it says.

● Ex: It’s raining cats and dogs.

○ It’s not really raining cats and dogs, it just means it’s raining a lot.

They are used to emphasize something.

Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia are words that sound like the noise they make.

● Ex: Pow! Bang! Pop!

Author’s Purpose
Author's Purpose Introduction
Authors write with a purpose in mind.

The author’s purpose is the reason why the author is writing about a specific topic.

There are 3 main reasons authors write:

Persuade

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Persuade means to convince someone to believe something or to do something.

Authors attempt to persuade their readers to believe like they do or to do something

that they want them to do.

Example of Argumentative Text

Read the argumentative text below:

If we already have cameras in the halls, why spend the money to get thirty more
cameras for all the different classrooms? Our school district already has a low budget,
so we would be spending money on something completely unnecessary. There hasn’t
been camera-worthy trouble in classrooms. Camera-worthy trouble would be bad
behavior every time a teacher left the room. There is no reason to install cameras that
might just cause trouble, both for the students and for the budget. Different students
react differently when there is a camera in the room. Some students get nervous and
flustered, trying hard to stay focused on their work with a camera focused on them.
90% of students claim that they do better work when they are calmer, and cameras are
not going to help. Other students look at cameras as a source of entertainment. These
students will do things such as wave at the camera, make faces, or say hi to the people
watching through the camera. This could be a big distraction for others who are trying
to learn and participate in class. Still other students will try to trick the camera. They
will find a way to block the lens or do something that the camera will not be likely to
catch. All of these different students will be distracted by the cameras in their
classrooms. Instead of solving problems, cameras would cause the problems. That is
why I disagree with the idea to put cameras in classrooms. This plan should not be put
to action.

● What is the author trying to persuade you to do or not do?

Examples of Persuade
● Commercials
● Speeches
● Letters
● Essays

Inform
Inform means to tell facts or information.

Authors try to teach you something when they write an informative piece. They want
you to learn something.

Examples of Inform

29
● Nonfiction
● Essays
● Recipes
● Instructions
● Textbooks

Example of Informative Text

Read the informative text below:

Vernal pools are a unique and rare form of wetland. Wetlands are areas that are
covered or soaked by water enough to support plants that grow only in moist
ground. Some examples of wetlands are bogs, swamps, marshes, and edges of
lakes and streams. These are what people think of when they hear “wetland”. But
vernal pools are different from these other types of wetlands. They are located
in dry and flat places. No one would expect to find a wetland in such a dry area!
San Diego vernal pools are surrounded by small mounds called “mima mounds”.
The name mima mounds come from the Mima Prairie near Olympia, Washington.
People don’t know for sure how mima mounds are formed. Some think that they
were formed by gophers piling up the earth. Others think that ice wedges from
glaciers caused the upheaval, or maybe the wind pushed loose dirt, catching in
clumps of shrubs. Mounds can be found on prairies or terraces with a hardpan
or clay layer underneath.

● What is the author trying to teach you?

Entertain
Entertain means to provide amusement or enjoyment.

Authors try to entrain their readers. People read for fun and want to connect
with the author through emotions. Authors want to make their readers laugh,
cry, feel angry, etc.

Examples of Entertain
● Fiction
● Stories
● Poems
● Plays
● Jokes

Examples of Entertainment in Text

Read the entertaining text below:

Long ago and once upon a time, there lived a princess. Her name was Oriana,
and her entire court loved her. She always helped those in need and had a smile
for everyone. Oriana wasn’t vain, although she had every reason to be. She had
wavy, raven hair that fell past her knees; pure, olive skin; and a face that was

30
 perfectly oval. Her real beauty, however, lay in her eyes. Whenever Oriana felt an
emotion strongly, they changed from their usual ebony to true gold.It seemed
that nothing could make her angry; but alas, it was not so. Her aunt ruled the
kingdom while Oriana’s father was away tending to his people’s needs. Aunt
Desdemona was selfish, petty, and cruel. She was proud of her immortal beauty
and didn’t hesitate to show it. The people hated and feared her.

● How is the author entertaining you?

Which Piece of the P.I.E. is Being Used?

How do I know which piece of the P.I.E. the author is using?

Types of Writing
Types of Writing
The three types of writing are:

● Argumentative
● Narrative
● Informational

Author's Purpose
Remember P.I.E.? That is the acronym to help you remember the 3 purposes an author
might use.

● Persuade
● Inform
● Entertain

Author’s Purpose and Types of Writing

Each of the author’s purposes has a type of writing that goes with it.

31
 ● Persuasive = Argumentative
● Inform = Informative
● Entertain = Narrative

Argumentative
Argumentative writing is where you pick a side on a topic, research it, and use
evidence to support it.

Argumentative writing is an opinion and is used to persuade someone. Sometimes it is

called persuasive.

Examples of argumentative writing are

● Editorials
● Speeches
● Letters
● Essays

Click here to read an example

Narrative
Narrative writing that tells a story.

Narrative writing usually marks a passage of time and it tells a story. Think narrator or
storyteller.

Examples of narrative writing:

● Plays
● Novels
● Myths
● Legends
● Narrative Nonfiction

Click here for an example.

Similarities and Difference

All writing can be divided up into one of these categories.

That being said, there are many similarities between the three types of writing.

Let’s look at a Venn diagram below of the 3 together.

32
 Literature vs. Informational Text
Fiction and Nonfiction
I'm sure you know the difference between fiction and nonfiction, but we are going to
review.

● Fiction – Something created from the author’s imagination and isn't real.
● Nonfiction – About real events.

Two Important Types of Text

There are many types of text. But we will be focusing on :

Literature and Informational Text

Literature
Literature is written works that have lasting importance. It is fiction.

You read it for entertainment enjoyment. You can learn information from it, but that is
not the main purpose of literature.

Examples of Literature:

● short stories

33
 ● poems
● novels (science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, etc.)

Informational Text
Informational text is nonfiction text that informs the reader about the subject.
Informational texts are nonfiction.
The purpose of informational text is to provide information about a subject.

You come in contact with information text all the time in your everyday life. It is
essential to making life run smoothly and for learning.

Informational Text
There are 5 main types of structure for Informational Texts:

1. Cause and Effect

2. Sequential (Goes in order/follow steps)
3. Description
4. Compare and Contrast
5. Problem and Solution

Informational Text.
Examples of informational text are:

● speeches
● textbooks
● letters
● photos
● menus
● newspaper
● articles
● maps
● invitations
● commercials
● recipes
● instructions
● schedules
● applications
● receipts
● signs
● travel brochures
● fact sheets
● poems
● autobiographies
● biographies

What is Evidence?

34
Evidence – “Something which shows that something else exists or is true.”

Textual evidence – Details from the text that support your ideas or answer questions
that you have.

Types of Textual Evidence or Details

There are two types of textual evidence that you can find in the text:

● Explicit
● Implicit.

We will discuss implicitly in the next lesson.

Explicit means: “very clear and complete : leaving no doubt about the meaning.”

Explicit evidence is clearly stated and can be pointed to in the text. You do not have to
hunt for the information.

○ Ex: The black and white striped animal was named Jenny and she has a
long flowing mane.
■ You can state the color and the name of the animal, so those are
examples of explicit evidence.

Textual Evidence
When answering a question or analyzing literature you need to support your answer or
analysis with information from the text.

After you read a text and analyze it, you will then need to find explicit information to
back up your answers.

Another name for textual evidence is supporting ideas and supporting details.

Supporting Ideas
Supporting ideas and details support the main idea of an analysis.
Picture a three legged stool.

Supporting Ideas.
The answer or the analysis is the seat.

The three legs are three supporting ideas and details or textual evidence.

What happens if one or all of the legs are missing? The stool falls over and can’t stand
up.

35
The same goes for an answer. If it doesn’t have enough support it will not be valid.

You need to make sure that there is enough textual evidence to support the answer or
analysis.

Practice
Read the story below:

One day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother said to her, “Take this basket of goodies to
your grandma’s cottage, but don’t talk to strangers on the way!”

Promising not to, Little Red Riding Hood skipped off. On her way she met the Big Bad
Wolf who asked, “Where are you going, little girl?”

“To my grandma’s, Mr. Wolf!” she answered.

The Big Bad Wolf then ran to her grandmother’s cottage much before Little Red Riding
Hood, and knocked on the door. When Grandma opened the door, he locked her up in
the cupboard. The wicked wolf then wore Grandma’s clothes and lay on her bed,
waiting for Little Red Riding Hood.

When Little Red Riding Hood reached the cottage, she entered and went to Grandma’s
bedside.

“My! What big eyes you have, Grandma!” she said in surprise.

“All the best to see you with, my dear!” replied the wolf.

“My! What big ears you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“All the better to hear you with, my dear!” said the wolf.

“What big teeth you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“All the better to eat you with!” growled the wolf pouncing on her.

Little Red Riding Hood screamed and the woodcutters in the forest came running to the
cottage. They beat the Big Bad Wolf and rescued Grandma from the cupboard.
Grandma hugged Little Red Riding Hood with joy. The Big Bad Wolf ran away never to
be seen again. Little Red Riding Hood had learnt her lesson and never spoke to
strangers ever again.

Practice
Let’s look at “Little Red Riding Hood” and find explicit details that could become
evidence to support an answer or analysis.

● Explicit Details:
○ Little girl called Little Red Riding Hood
○ Mother sent her to take goodies to her grandma.

36
 ○ Mother says do not talk to strangers.
○ Big Bad Wolf stops her and talks to Red
○ Wolf runs ahead, stuffs granny in the cabinet, and disguises himself as
grandma.
○ Wolf pounces on Red with the intention to eat her.
○ Woodcutter saved her.
○ They untie Red.

Textual Evidence and Support-Implicit: Making Inferences

Types of Textual Evidence or Details
In the last lesson, we talked about explicit evidence. Now we will discuss implicit
evidence and details.

● Implicit means: “understood though not clearly or directly stated”

● Implicit evidence is not clearly stated and usually is given in the form of clues.
● To understand the implicit information we must use inference. We must read
between the lines of what the author says.

Citing
Citing Textual Evidence
When analyzing a text you need to cite where your supporting information or textual
evidence comes from.

To cite means to quote or summarize information from the text that supports your
answer or idea.

There are 2 ways to cite your evidence.

1. Quote
2. Paraphrase

Quoting
When you quote evidence, you copy the evidence that you are using in your analysis
word for word. You are quoting the author. You will need to put quotation marks
around the citation.

Ex: Read the paragraph and answer the question.

​
​ Jenny got dressed up to go to a friend’s house. She was wearing a pink
sundress, with hot pink shoes, and a white hat with pink flowers on it. Jill, her
friend, said “Wow! Your favorite color must be pink!”
○ How did Jill know that Jenny’s favorite color was pink?
​

37
Jill knew that Jenny’s favorite color was pink because Jenny had on “a pink sundress,
with hot pink shoes, and a white hat with pink flowers on it.”

I put “quotation marks” around what Jenny was wearing because I copied it word for
word, directly from the text.

Paraphrasing
To paraphrase means to say something that someone else has said or written but in
different words.

When you cite something by paraphrasing you do not have to use quotation marks.
However, you need to use a leading sentence that lets your reader know that they are
going to be reading paraphrased information and not your own words.

● Ex: The author states…

● Ex: In chapter 3 we read…
● Ex: The text says...
● Ex: For example….

Example of Paraphrasing
Read the paragraph and answer the question.

● Jenny got dressed up to go to a friend’s house. She was wearing a pink

sundress, with hot pink shoes, and a white hat with pink flowers on it. Jill, her
friend, said “Wow! Your favorite color must be pink!”
○ How did Jill know that Jenny’s favorite color was pink?

Jill knew that Jenny’s favorite color was pink because the paragraph says that
everything that Jenny was wearing was pink.

I used the information from the text to support my answer, but I did not write down
what the author said word for word. I put it into my own words.

Importance of Citing
It is important to cite your answers because it shows that you are using evidence from
the text to support your answer. When you quote or paraphrase it shows that you took
the information from someplace else and that it was not created by you.

Conventions
Journal
At Giza a few miles north of Saqqara sit three great pyramids, each named for the king –
or Pharaoh – during whose reign it was built no other buildings are so well known yet the
first sight of them sitting in their field is breathtaking. when you walk among them you
walk in a place made for giants. they seem too large to have been made by human beings
too perfect to have been framed by nature and when the sun is overhead, not solid

38
enough to be attached to the sand In the minutes before sunrise, they are the color of
Faded Roses, and when the last rays of the desert sun touch them, they turn to amber But
whatever the light, their broad proportions, the beauty of the limestone, and the care with
which it is fitted into place creat three unforgettable works of art.

Conventions.
Conventions are the nuts and bolts of a text – the grammar, the punctuation, the
spelling, the format, etc.

In our drawing, the convention is the roof. It is what finishes off the house. It is
planned from the beginning but it is not finished until the very end. It is framed and
strengthened throughout the whole house building process, but it isn't completed until
everything else in the house is built.

In our writing, conventions are the last thing we finish. While writing we have a general
layout and we try to get our punctuation and spelling right, but not everything is
perfect, nor is it supposed to be. You can change and edit and revise things at the end
of the writing process.

Importance Conventions
● Allows the reader to understand the text.
● Helps the reader start to understand the meaning and main ideas of the text.

In the first draft conventions aren't important. It’s more important to get out your
thoughts. Conventions are important in the final draft.

Conventions..
Conventions help the writer make sure everything looks and sounds right.

There are many conventions. They include:

● Spelling
○ Abbreviations
○ Contractions
● Grammar
○ Tenses
○ Plurals
○ Parts of speech
● Punctuation
● Capitalization

Questions to ask about Conventions

● Did the writer use proper spelling?
● Did the writer use proper capitalization?
● Did the writer use proper punctuation?
● Is it easy to read?
● Does it make sense?

39
 Conventions Practice
Which passage makes more sense and is easier to read?

Abraham lincon is the president of the united States of america he freed the Slave and
united the Union. he changed. America

Or

Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United States of America. He freed the slaves and
united the Union. He changed America!

Conventions Practice.
Passage 2 makes more sense. It is easy to read and understand.

You get the meaning and general idea of passage number 1, but you have to think
about it and figure out where the punctuation goes and how things should be spelled.

Your brain is focused on editing instead of processing the text.

Plot Map
Plot
Every piece of literature has a plot.

● The plot is the series of events that make up a story.

● Every plot is made up of events that relate to each other and together make up a
whole story.
● It is also called the storyline.

We will use the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” as an example.

Plot Map
A plot map or plot diagram is a way to show the movement of the plot and how all
the pieces go together using a diagram.

It helps you to visualize the storyline of a story better and to divide it up into parts so
you can analyze it better.

"Little Red Riding Hood"

40
One day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother said to her, “Take this basket of goodies to
your grandma’s cottage, but don’t talk to strangers on the way!”

Promising not to, Little Red Riding Hood skipped off. On her way she met the Big Bad
Wolf who asked, “Where are you going, little girl?”

“To my grandma’s, Mr. Wolf!” she answered.

The Big Bad Wolf then ran to her grandmother’s cottage much before Little Red Riding
Hood, and knocked on the door. When Grandma opened the door, he locked her up in
the cupboard. The wicked wolf then wore Grandma’s clothes and lay on her bed,
waiting for Little Red Riding Hood.

When Little Red Riding Hood reached the cottage, she entered and went to Grandma’s
bedside.

“My! What big eyes you have, Grandma!” she said in surprise.

“All the best to see you with, my dear!” replied the wolf.

“My! What big ears you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“All the better to hear you with, my dear!” said the wolf.

“What big teeth you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“All the better to eat you with!” growled the wolf pouncing on her.

Little Red Riding Hood screamed and the woodcutters in the forest came running to the
cottage. They beat the Big Bad Wolf and rescued Grandma from the cupboard.
Grandma hugged Little Red Riding Hood with joy. The Big Bad Wolf ran away never to
be seen again. Little Red Riding Hood had learnt her lesson and never spoke to
strangers ever again.

Exposition and Conflict

The exposition is the beginning of the story.

In the exposition we:

● Meet the characters

● Discover the setting (time and place)
● Learn about the conflict or problem

Exposition of “Little Red Riding Hood”

● Characters: Mother, Red Riding Hood, Wolf, Grandma

● Setting: the woods
● Conflict: Red has to take the basket of goodies to her grandma's house and not
to talk to strangers.

41
 Rising Action
The rising action is all the events leading up to the climax.

● The conflict or problem develops.

● The suspense builds.

Rising Action of “Little Red Riding Hood”

● Red meets the Big Bad Wolf and tells him she is going to grandma's house.
● The Wolf runs ahead and knocks on grandma’s door
● The Wolf puts on grandma’s clothes and gets in her bed.
● Red comes in and starts making comments on the strangeness of “grandma”,
who answers her.

Climax
The climax is the turning point of the story.

● The main character(s) faces conflict or problems.

● The main character(s) changes in some way, for example they learn a lesson or their
attitude changes.

Climax in “Little Red Riding Hood”

● Red says “My, what big teeth you have!”

● The Wolf says “All the better to eat you with!” and pounces on Red.

Falling Action
The falling action of the story is where all the loose ends are tied up and the conflict or
problem is being resolved.

The falling action of “Little Red Riding Hood”

● Red screams.
● The woodcutters run in and beat the Wolf.
● They let Grandma out of the cupboard.

Resolution
The resolution of a story is when the conflict is completely resolved and the story comes to
a reasonable ending.

Resolution in “Little Red Riding Hood”

● The Wolf runs away, grandma and Red are reunited.

● Red learns not to talk to stranger

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Theme
Theme Introduction
Theme is the moral, meaning, or the life lesson of the story.

It is the central idea of the text.

● What does the author want us to learn from reading his text?
● Why did the author write this story?

Theme.
A theme is a sentence not a word or phrase.

You take the story and find the life lesson that you can apply to both the story and the
real world.

● Ex: Believe in yourself.

● Ex: Stand up for what is right even if no one else is.
● Ex: Money can’t buy happiness.

Theme
Theme is implicit, not explicit. The author isn't going to say “The theme of this book is.
. .” You have to use the textual evidence and make inferences to find the theme.

○ Sometimes the author will write a topic sentence or summary sentence,

which may contain the theme, but most of the time this is not the case.
You will have to look for the theme on your own.
● fThere also may be more than one theme in a book or story.

Steps to Finding Theme

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 1. Read the whole text! You can’t find the theme if you didn’t finish the story or
book.
2. Write a list of topics. (What is the text about?)
○ Topics are one or two words
■ War
■ Peace
■ Love
3. Pick a topic and write a sentence about what the author believes about that
topic. The author believes that. . .
4. Cross out “The author believes that. . “ and revise your sentence. Don’t be too
vague!
5. Make sure that there is textual evidence to support your theme! If there is little
or no evidence, try again.

1. Read the Whole Text

Little Red Riding Hood
One day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother said to her, “Take this basket of goodies to
your grandma’s cottage, but don’t talk to strangers on the way!”

Promising not to, Little Red Riding Hood skipped off. On her way she met the Big Bad
Wolf who asked, “Where are you going, little girl?”

“To my grandma’s, Mr. Wolf!” she answered.

The Big Bad Wolf then ran to her grandmother’s cottage much before Little Red Riding
Hood, and knocked on the door. When Grandma opened the door, he locked her up in
the cupboard. The wicked wolf then wore Grandma’s clothes and lay on her bed,
waiting for Little Red Riding Hood.

When Little Red Riding Hood reached the cottage, she entered and went to Grandma’s
bedside.

“My! What big eyes you have, Grandma!” she said in surprise.

“All the best to see you with, my dear!” replied the wolf.

“My! What big ears you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“All the better to hear you with, my dear!” said the wolf.

“What big teeth you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“All the better to eat you with!” growled the wolf pouncing on her.

Little Red Riding Hood screamed and the woodcutters in the forest came running to the
cottage. They beat the Big Bad Wolf and rescued Grandma from the cupboard.
Grandma hugged Little Red Riding Hood with joy. The Big Bad Wolf ran away never to

44
 be seen again. Little Red Riding Hood had learnt her lesson and never spoke to
strangers ever again.

2. Write a list of topics

● Strangers
● Obedience
● Safety
● Pay attention
● Deception

I’m sure we could come up with others.

3. Pick a Topic to Write About

Pick a topic and write a sentence about what the author believes about that topic.

● The topic I picked was strangers.

● The author believes that you should never talk to strangers because they can
harm you.

4. Cross out
Cross out “The author believes that. . “ and revise your sentence.

● The author believes that you should never talk to strangers because they can
harm you.
○ Revised sentence: Never talk to strangers because they can harm you.

5. Check for Supporting Evidence

Make sure that there is textual evidence to support your theme

● Support for “Never talk to strangers because they can harm you.”
○ Red talked to the Wolf, who was a stranger.
■ The wolf snuck into grandma's cottage
■ “He locked her up in the cupboard.”
■ “The wicked wolf then wore Grandma’s clothes and lay on her bed,
waiting for Little Red Riding Hood.”
■ The Wolf tried to eat Red. “’All the better to eat you with!’ growled
the wolf pouncing on her.”

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Development of Theme Introduction
After you have found the theme of a story, you will need to analyze how the theme
develops throughout the story.

You will need to analyze and determine the relationship between the them and the

● Setting
● Characters
● Plot

We will use the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” and its theme of “Never talk to
strangers because they can harm you.”

"Little Red Riding Hood"

One day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother said to her, “Take this basket of goodies to
your grandma’s cottage, but don’t talk to strangers on the way!”

Promising not to, Little Red Riding Hood skipped off. On her way she met the Big Bad
Wolf who asked, “Where are you going, little girl?”

“To my grandma’s, Mr. Wolf!” she answered.

The Big Bad Wolf then ran to her grandmother’s cottage much before Little Red Riding
Hood, and knocked on the door. When Grandma opened the door, he locked her up in
the cupboard. The wicked wolf then wore Grandma’s clothes and lay on her bed,
waiting for Little Red Riding Hood.

When Little Red Riding Hood reached the cottage, she entered and went to Grandma’s
bedside.

“My! What big eyes you have, Grandma!” she said in surprise.

“All the best to see you with, my dear!” replied the wolf.

“My! What big ears you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“All the better to hear you with, my dear!” said the wolf.

“What big teeth you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“All the better to eat you with!” growled the wolf pouncing on her.

Little Red Riding Hood screamed and the woodcutters in the forest came running to the
cottage. They beat the Big Bad Wolf and rescued Grandma from the cupboard.
Grandma hugged Little Red Riding Hood with joy. The Big Bad Wolf ran away never to
be seen again. Little Red Riding Hood had learnt her lesson and never spoke to
strangers ever again.

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Setting and Theme
Look at the setting. How does where the story takes place help make the theme make
sense?

Sometimes the setting is very important to the story. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes you
just need a place for the story to take place.

In some cases, the story would change if it was set someplace else.

● Would “Frozen” make much sense if it took place in the desert?

Sometimes the setting helps create the conflict and you have a better chance to see the
theme in action.

● If “Frozen” was set in the desert, it would not make sense for Else to freeze things
and then the theme of her “freezing out” everyone wouldn’t make sense.

Setting and the Theme Example

● “Little Red Riding Hood” is set in the woods.
● Wolves and woodcutters only live in the woods.
● If the story was set someplace else, the characters would have had to be
changed to make the story and the theme make sense.
● Also, when in the woods most people don’t think of the people and animals they
meet as strangers, just fellow nature lovers. Therefore Red wasn’t on her guard.
● However, if the story was set in a busy place like a fair or a big city, Red may
have been more cautious and would have not talked to the wolf or anyone else.

Characters and the Theme

Character’s traits and personality are often similar to traits and personalities of real
people in the real world. This helps you connect the theme from the story to the real
world better.

You also have to look at the actions of the characters because their actions move the
story and theme along.

● How does what they do show the theme?

Characters and the Theme Example

In “Little Red Riding Hood” there are 5 characters.

Characters Themes

47
 Mother Mother warns Red to not talk to strangers. A real mother in real
life would have done that. A brother or friend may have not done
that. If Mother had something else, the theme may have been
different.

Little Red Red is a young child and doesn’t see any harm in talking to the
Riding Hood wolf. She also asks innocent questions of the wolf disguised as
grandmas and doesn’t seem too suspicious of him until the end. If
Red was less social and older she may have seen through the
wolf’s ideas to harm her.

The Big Bad The wolf is definitely a stranger and asks creepy questions. He
Wolf doesn’t try to be friendly to her and doesn’t seem like a nice
“person”. He asks where she is going and then runs off. That is a
bit suspicious. If he had a different personality the theme would
have changed.

Grandma Grandma is old, so she is easily overpowered and doesn’t put up a

fight. If she had been younger she may have changed the story,
thus changing the theme.

Woodcutters The woodcutters would not have changed the theme, just the
story, if they did not save Red.

Plot and the Theme

Analyzing the plot and theme is one of the easier ones. What happened to the
characters that helped show the theme?

● You can use a plot map to help you analyze your theme.
● The 3 main parts of the plot that show the theme are the conflict, the climax,
and the resolution.
○ The conflict happens because of the character’s actions or traits and lead
to the theme being shown.
○ The climax is the turning point of the story and this is where we get to
see the consequences of the characters actions and traits, which also
shows the theme.
○ The resolution shows how the characters deal with the consequences of
their own actions, which also shows the theme.
● Sometimes you may need to look at the rising and falling action as well.

Plot and the Theme

● Conflict: Red has to take the basket of goodies to her grandma’s house.

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 ● Climax: Red speaks to the wolf disguised as Grandma. Red says “My, what big teeth
you have!” The Wolf says “All the better to eat you with!” and pounces on Red.
● Resolution: The Wolf runs away, grandma and Red are reunited. Red learns not to
talk to strangers.
● Red’s mission to deliver the goodies gets complicated by the Wolf intercepting her
and talking to her. She tells him where she is going and he goes and hides there to
harm her. If Red hadn’t talked to strangers there would have been no story and no
theme

What would have happened if we changed any one of these things? The theme would have
been different

Compare and Contrast

To refresh your mind:

“Compare is a verb that means to examine two or more items for the purpose of noting both
similarities and/or differences.”

Contrast is a verb that means “to present a difference.”

Comparing and contrasting are both very similar. They both talk about differences. But we want
to do both, not just one.

We call it compare and contrast to remind you to look at both the similarities and the
differences.

Also, compare reminds you to examine them, not just list them. Another word for examine is
analyze.

So the definition for compare and contrast is to analyze the similarities and differences
between two or more things.

● Red’s mission to deliver the goodies gets complicated by the Wolf intercepting her
and talking to her. She tells him where she is going and he goes and hides there
to
harm her. If Red hadn’t talked to strangers there would have been no story and
no
theme
What would have happened if we changed any one of these things? The theme would have

been different

Compare and Contrast

To refresh your mind:

“Compare is a verb that means to examine two or more items for the purpose of noting both

49
similarities and/or differences.”

Contrast is a verb that means “to present a difference.”

Comparing and contrasting are both very similar. They both talk about differences. But we want

to do both, not just one.

We call it compare and contrast to remind you to look at both the similarities and the

differences.

Also, compare reminds you to examine them, not just list them. Another word for examine is

analyze.

So the definition for compare and contrast is to analyze the similarities and differences

between two or more things.

Reasons for Comparing and Contrasting

There are two main reasons to compare and contrast.

1. To explain

● You may compare and contrast two things to explain something to someone.
○ Ex: Football and Rugby – to explain sports in different countries.

2. To evaluate

● You may compare and contrast two things to help you evaluate which one is
better.
○ Ex: Cars and Horses - to help you understand why cars are a better mode
of transportation.

How?
How do you compare and contrast things?

● The easiest way to compare and contrast something is to use a Venn Diagram.
● A Venn Diagram allows you to see the similarities and differences quickly and all
at once .
○ It is a very neat and organized way of comparing and contrasting.
○ Click here for a good website to use to make Venn Diagrams.
● Other ways include charts, graphs, and drawings.

Important Points
Compare and Contrast things that have a reason to be and that make sense to be.

● You wouldn’t compare and contrast something that only has one similarity.

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 ● You wouldn’t compare and contrast something that shouldn’t be compared and
contrasted. (Cows to desks)

Equal time

● When comparing and contrasting two things you need to give both of them
equal time so the reader can get the full picture.

SEMESTER 2
What is Poetry??
Poetry is a type of literature written in a special form.

● A poem is a piece of writing that can include figurative language, expresses

thoughts and feelings, often plays with rhyme and rhythm, and/or has a musical
feel to it.
● A poem does not have to have all of those things.
○ Ex: Roses are red

Violets are blue

Sugar is sweet

And so are you

Poetry in Everyday Life

Poetry is all around us:

● In songs
● In entertainment
● In books
● On signs
● In advertising
○ TV Commercials
○ Billboards
○ "The snack that smiles back", Goldfish!

Importance of Poetry
Poetry helps us remember things.
● It was very important to people throughout history, especially when history was
remembered orally instead of being written down.
● The rhyme and rhythm of the poems help the speakers and listeners remember
them better.
● You probably use poems to help you remember things.

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 ○ Ex: Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November;
February has twenty eight alone
All the rest have thirty-one
Except in Leap Year, that's the time
When February's Days are twenty-nine

Poetry also gives more feeling and depth to an emotion or idea.

● This helps the reader understand what the speaker/writer is saying and feeling.
● It allows the writer to express themselves

Fiction or Nonfiction
Poetry really should be in its one category, but most put it under fiction.

● Poetry is categorized as fiction because of how it is written and not by what it

contains.
● Poetry uses sound and language to convey its message.
○ It appeals to sight and sound and your feelings.

Personal
Poetry is a very personal form of fiction.

● It allows the writer to speak directly to the audience.

● Many times poetry lets people see into the souls of the writer in a way that could
not otherwise.
● It can allow the reader and the writer to connect.
● Not all poems will speak to all readers, but everyone can find a poem that they
relate to.

Elements of Poetry
Elements of poetry are the pieces that make up the structure of the poem.

● Every poem is made up of different elements of poetry.

○ A poem does not have to include all of the elements of poetry, just some.

Form
The form of a poem is it’s appearance.

Every poem is made up of lines.

● A line in a poem is like a sentence in a story. It is a row of words.

● A line in a poem does not have to be a full sentence.

Sometimes the lines are arranged in a special way and sometimes they are not.

52
 Groups of lines are called stanzas.

● A stanza is like a paragraph in a story.

● Stanzas are organized and usually have a rhyme scheme and/or rhyme.

If the lines are not organized, then the poem is free verse.

Free verse poems do not have a rhyme scheme or rhythm and the stanzas and lines are
not in a special order.

Stanzas
● Like a paragraph is a story, each stanza is a signal to the reader that something
is going to change and that they need to stop and think.
● After each stanza, the author wants you to reflect on what you just read before
going on the next stanza.
● Each new stanza will present a new idea or thought or shows a change in time,
place, or perspective.

Rhythm
Rhythm is the musical sound of the poem.

Rhythm is created using stressed and unstressed syllables, rhyme scheme, and
alliteration.

● Ex: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-

Only this, and nothing more.“

-“The Raven” Edgar Allen Poe

Rhyme and Repetition

We have already discussed Rhyme and Repetition. Here's a brief summary of that lesson.

A rhyme is a word or phrase that ends in the same sound, such as cat and mat. There are
many uses for using rhyme, such as emphasizing words, creating a rhythm, or making it
memorable.

There are three types of rhyme: perfect rhyme, near rhyme, and eye rhyme.

● Perfect rhyme – The words rhyme perfectly, meaning they end in the exact same
sound.

53
 ● Near rhyme – The words almost rhyme, but not quite. For example, soul and all are
almost the same ending, but they have a slightly different vowel sound.
● Eye rhyme – The words look like they should rhyme, but actually they are
pronounced differently.

In addition to ways to rhyme words, there are also ways to incorporate rhyming into a
poem or other written work. This is known as a rhyme scheme. Rhyme scheme has to do
with where you put the rhyming words in your poem and where they repeat. Rhymes can be
either internal or external.

● Internal rhyme scheme – The rhyme is within the same line.

● External rhyme scheme – The rhyme is at the end of two different lines.

Another aspect of rhyming is repetition. Repetition is repeating words, phrases, or sounds.

● Example: A horse is a horse, of course, of course.

Not only do the words rhyme, but they are repeated in a way that forms a specific rhythm.

Rhyme Scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes in a poem, specifically the rhymes made by
the last words in the lines.

You find the rhyme scheme by looking at the end words of each line in a stanza.

Then you mark all the words that rhyme with the same letter.

Usually, but not always, each stanza will follow the same rhyme scheme.

● Ex:
Some say the world will end in fire, a
Some say in ice. b
From what I've tasted of desire a
I hold with those who favor fire. a
But if it had to perish twice, b
I think I know enough of hate c
To say that for destruction ice b
Is also great c
And would suffice. b

-“Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost

The rhyme scheme of this poem is abaabcbcb

Figurative Language
Please review the lesson on figurative language here.

● What seven types of figurative language were discussed?

● Figurative language is what makes poetry come to life.

54
 ○ It allows the writer to expresses themselves in a way that they normally
wouldn’t.
○ The writer can create mood and deep feeling using figurative language.
● Imagery is a type of figurative language that uses the five senses and create a
picture in your mind.
○ Imagery helps the reader understand the poem better and allows the
writer to create a word picture.

Example of figurative language

Theme
All writing has a theme, including poems.

You can figure out the theme by looking at the title, the subject, and the figurative
language.

● What is the poem about?

Types of Poetry.
There are many types of poetry!

● Write a list of as many as you can.

● Then turn to your neighbor and share with them.
● We will discuss as a class.

55
 There are so many different types of poetry because there are so many different ways
to express yourself.

One poem format may not fit your style or the message you are trying to get across.

Free Verse
In the last lesson we mentioned free verse.

Free verse poems do not have a rhyme scheme or rhythm and the stanzas and lines are
not in a special order.

● Free verse poems are more conversational – like someone speaking.

● They are considered modern poetry.

Ex: Fog by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.1

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45032

Ballad
A ballad is a poem that tells a story and is often put to music.

Often ballads are written in quatrains, but not always.

​ A stanza that has 4 lines

​ It usually rhymes.

Ex: I often contradict myself by Kenn Nesbitt

I often contradict myself.

Oh no, I never do.

I argue with me day and night.

That simply isn't true.

Oh yes it is. Oh no it’s not.

I do this all day long.

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 Oh no I don’t. Oh yes I do.

That’s right. No way! It’s wrong.

I’m really quite agreeable.

I argue night and day.

I love to be around myself.

I wish I’d go away.

So if you see me arguing,

it’s certain that you won’t.

I like to contradict myself.

I promise you I don’t.

Narrative
A narrative is a poem that tells a story and has the elements of a story (plot,
characters, settings, etc.)

● Narratives can rhyme and have a stanzas.

● Narratives can also be free verse poems.

Lyric
A lyric is a short, musical poem that expresses thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

● Usually lyrics are short.

● They do not tell a story.
● They sometimes describe things.

Ex: Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day

Nothing gold can stay.

57
Sonnet
A sonnet is a poem with 14 lines that contain 10 syllables each and a set rhyme
scheme.

There are two types of sonnet’s, each with their own rhyme scheme.

● English Sonnet: abab cdcd efef gg

● Italian Sonnet: abba abba cdecde

Ex: Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (English Sonnet)

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? A

Thou art more lovely and more temperate. B

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, A

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. B

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, C

And often is his gold complexion dimmed; D

And every fair from fair sometime declines, C

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed; D

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, E

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, F

Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, E

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st. F

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, G

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. G

Soliloquy
A soliloquy is when a character speaks to themselves out loud, usually during a play.

● You get to hear the speaker’s thoughts.

○ Ex: “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”

-Romeo and Juliet- Shakespeare

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Haiku
A haiku is a three lined poem with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second,
and five in the 3rd.

● There is usually a theme of nature and seasons, but not always.

Ex: By Paul Muldoon

A stone at its core,

this snowball’s the porcelain

knob on winter’s door.

Limerick
A limerick is a silly poem with 5 lines.

● Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme and have the same number of syllables.

● Lines 3 and 4 rhyme and have the same number of syllables.

Ex:

Hickory Dickory Dock,

The mouse ran up the clock,

The clock struck one,

And down he run,

Hickory Dickory Dock

Analyzing Poetry
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, G

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. G

Soliloquy
A soliloquy is when a character speaks to themselves out loud, usually during a play.

● You get to hear the speaker’s thoughts.

○ Ex: “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

59
 Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”
-Romeo and Juliet- Shakespeare

Haiku
A haiku is a three lined poem with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second,

and five in the 3rd.

● There is usually a theme of nature and seasons, but not always.

Ex: By Paul Muldoon

A stone at its core,

this snowball’s the porcelain

knob on winter’s door.

Limerick
A limerick is a silly poem with 5 lines.

● Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme and have the same number of syllables.

● Lines 3 and 4 rhyme and have the same number of syllables.
Ex:

Hickory Dickory Dock,

The mouse ran up the clock,

The clock struck one,

And down he run,

Hickory Dickory Dock

60
 Analyzing Poetry
Poetry
Poetry seems scary, but it’s not. I often hear the question “What does this even mean?” after
a person reads a poem. If you have the right tools, it is easy to read and understand a
poem and then analyze it.

● The following six steps will help you read, understand, and analyze poems.

6 Steps
1. Preview

2. Read

3. Vocabulary

4. Analyze

5. Paraphrase

6. Evaluate

Step 1: Preview
Before you read your poem, preview it.

● Read the title.

○ What can you learn from the title?
● Look at its shape.
○ Is it written straight or in a pattern or does it make a shape?
● How many stanzas does it have?
● How many lines does it have?
● Is there special punctuation and capitalization?

Step 2- Read
● Read the poem silently to yourself.
● Read the poem out loud.

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 ● As you read look and listen look for
○ Rhythm
○ Rhyme and Rhyme scheme
○ Repetition
○ Alliteration
○ How does the poem sound?
○ What is the tone of the poem?
○ What mood does it create?

Step 3-Vocabulary
Read the poem again and underline any words that you don’t know or any
connotations that are different from the usual.

● Look up unknown words and write down the definitions. Reread the poem
replacing the unknown words with synonyms to help you understand it better.
● For the connotations, ask yourself why the author chose to use that word
instead of another.

Step 4-Analyze
Read the poem again and look for imagery and figurative language.

● Write down any imagery and figurative language found in the poem.
○ What do they mean?
○ Why do you think the author choose to use those techniques?
○ What mood do they add to the poem?

Step 5-Paraphrase
● Read the poem again.
● Think about everything that you have discovered about the poem so far.
● Write the poem in your own words. Pretend that you are telling a friend what the
poem is about.
○ This will help you understand and make connections to the poem.

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Step 6-Evaluate
Read the poem again

● Find the theme of the poem

○ What is the poem mostly about?
○ Is there a moral or lesson to the poem?
○ What point is the author trying to make?
● Connect
○ How does this apply to you?
○ How can you relate this to your life?

Write an Analysis
Once you have finished all 6 steps, you should have a better understanding of the
poem and you can analyze it.

● Use the information that you found to write your analysis .

● How do all of the things that you found contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Text Features.
Informational text contains text features.

Text features help the reader make sense of what they are reading and helps them
understand what is important.

Some text features include:

● Titles
● Subtitle
● Table of contents
● Headings
● Subheading
● Graphics
● Bullets
● Special Text
● Captions
● Index

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 ● Glossary

Title
The title tells the reader what they will learn about.

Subtitles
Subtitles are under the title on a book or article and they will give you more info about
what the article or book will be about.

Table of Contents
The table of contents lists the titles of chapters tells what page to find them on.

Chapters are the divisions of the book into smaller chunks of like information.

Headings and Subheadings

Headings and subheadings are found within chapters and they tell you what that
section of the chapter will be about.

● A heading is a division of a chapter and is usually a main point that supports the
topic of the chapter.
● A subheading is the division of the headings and is usually a point that supports
the topic in the heading.

Bullets
Bullets are dark, bolded dots that are used to make a list or point out important
information.

Graphics
Photographs are pictures used to give the reader a visual and emphasize the point.
Diagrams are illustrations that show how something works, includes labels, and makes
a hard concept easier to understand.

Captions

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 Captions are bits of information under a picture or diagram that helps the reader
understand the graphic.

● Can help predict what the text will be about.

Special Text
Special text are words that are bold, italic, or underlined are important for the reader
to know.

● Many times words that are bold are definitions.

Index
An index is a list the topics and ideas at the end of the book and the pages where it
can be found.

● This way you don’t have to read the whole book if you are only looking for
something specific.

Glossary
A glossary is a section at the back of the book with a list of words in alphabetical order
that helps the reader define words specific to that text.

Main Idea
Parts of a Text
Every paragraph, essay, and article has a topic, a main idea, and supporting details.

● The topic is what the text is about and is usually a word or two.
● The main idea is the main point or thought being expressed.
● The topic sentence is the sentence that states the main idea. It is the author’s
main idea.
● The supporting details are the facts and information that explain and support
the main idea.

Topic

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The topic is what the whole text is about and is usually a word or two.

It is broad and can be the topic of many paragraphs, essays, articles, or books.

● Ex: Cats, Space Exploration, Cell Phones

Main Idea..

The main idea is the main point or thought being expressed.

It is the most important thing that the author is trying to say.

Finding the main idea in informational text is easier than finding the theme in literature. The
main idea is always in the topic sentence.

It is more specific than the topic.

● Ex: Cats make good pets.

● Ex: Space exploration changed America.
● Ex: Cell phones have become a household item.

Topic Sentence
The topic sentence is the sentence that states the main idea. It is the author’s main idea.

It is sometimes, but not always, the first sentence in the text. If it isn't the first sentence, it will
always be in the first paragraph of the text.

The topic sentence never changes.

You and your friend might state the main idea differently, but the topic sentence never changes
because the author wrote it.

● Ex: Cats make good pets because they don’t need constant attention, they are
entertaining, and they are quiet.

Supporting Details
The supporting details are the facts and information that explain and support the main idea.

● The supporting details answer the questions who, what, where, when, why, and how.

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 ● They are specific.
● Remember the 3 legged stool? There should be at least 3 supporting details for the topic
sentence.

Tips for Finding the Main Ideas

● Preview the text.
○ Read the title. Scan the headings, subheading, pictures, sidebars, graphs, etc.
○ This will give you an idea of the topic.
● As you read the text ask yourself “What is the main point the author is trying to make?”
● Look for the topic sentence and look for the same idea repeated in different ways.
● When you think you found the main idea, look for supporting details to back up the idea.
If the details support the idea, you found the main idea. If the details don’t support the
idea, try again.

Finding the Main Idea Through Text Features

It’s a lot easier to find the main idea in a short paragraph than in a full essay or article. There are
tips and tricks that you can use to help find the main idea a longer text.

One way to help you find the main idea is to use the text features.

● Before you begin reading informational text, you can scan it and look at the text features.
● Then you can make a prediction on what you think the main idea will be.

Let's Scan a Text Together

As we scan the text, look for text features. Click here for the text.

You can consider keeping track of them with a graphic organizer to help you analyze the
information better.

Text Feature Describe the Text Feature What Does the Text Feature Tell You?

Text Features and Main Idea

Without even reading the text, we can an idea of what the main idea is going to be just
from looking at the text features!

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 ● We can guess that the main idea of the article is that a new planet has been
discovered and that it's unique because it has four suns! It's also unique
because it was discovered by amateurs.

The text features often support, emphasize, or restate the main idea. There will always
be a common theme among the text features.

Having an idea of what the main idea might be can help us to focus better on the
reading, help us find the topic sentence, and help us look for supporting ideas to
support the main idea.

Text Features and Main Idea

After you have scanned and predicted what the main idea is going to be, go back and
read the text. Look for the topic sentence and the see if your main idea is right!

● What was the main idea of this article?

○ Half of the world’s coral reefs have died in the last 30 years. Now
scientists are racing to ensure that the rest survive.

Textual Evidence, Inference, and Citing

Textual Evidence
Textual evidence is the supporting details from the text that support your analysis or answer a
question.

There are two types of textual evidence: Implicit and explicit.

● Explicit evidence is evidence is clearly stated and can be pointed to in the text.
● Implicit evidence is not clearly stated, is usually is given in the form of clues, and must
be inferred.

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Explicit Evidence
Explicit evidence can take many forms.

● Facts
● Statistics
● Examples
● Testimonies
● Logical Reasoning

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Explicit Evidence Example

Ex: Read the passage and answer the question.

● A German shepherd named Rumor was awarded Best in Show Tuesday night at the
141st annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City. When the
announcement was made, the crowd at Madison Square Garden erupted into boisterous
applause. But no one was as elated as Tom Ryan, Rumor’s handler and co-owner. Rumor
is only the second German shepherd to be named top dog at Westminster. The last time
one won the nation’s premier dog competition was in 1987.
● Why was everyone so happy that Rumor won the Best in Show award?
● Everyone was happy that Rumor won the Best in Show award because he “is only the
second German shepherd to be named top dog.” The last time it happened was 30 years
ago.

You answered the question using explicit information found in the passage.

Textual Evidence and Inference

Sometimes the answer to a question will not be written in the text. You will need to use both
explicit and implicit information and inference to answer the question.

Inference means to read between the lines and come to a conclusion based on evidence in the
text and what you know.

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Textual Evidence and Inference Example
Ex: A German shepherd named Rumor was awarded Best in Show Tuesday night at the 141st
annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City. When the announcement was
made, the crowd at Madison Square Garden erupted into boisterous applause. But no one was
as elated as Tom Ryan, Rumor’s handler and co-owner. Rumor is only the second German
shepherd to be named top dog at Westminster. The last time one won the nation’s premier dog
competition was in 1987.

● Why was everyone so happy that Rumor won the Best in Show?
● Everyone was happy that Rumor won the Best in Show because it is unusual for a
German shepherd to win. He is only the 2nd German shepherd to win in 30 years. Most
of the dogs who win best in show are probably smaller, cuter breeds instead of work
dogs.
○ See, we used inference to answer the question. It does not say anything in the
text about smaller, cuter dogs winning, but in can be inferred because of the
strong reaction of the audience and his handler, as well as the fact that it hasn’t
happened in years.

Citing
Remember, when using textual evidence you must cite it.

There are 3 ways to cite:

● Quote : Copy word for word from the text. If you quote directly you must use quotation
marks.
● Paraphrase: put the author’s words into your own words.
● Summarize: go over the main points of a longer text in your own words.

Remember, citing does not mean that you are analyzing. You must explain why you cited that
evidence.

Main Idea Development in Informational Text

Main Idea Development
After you find the main idea of the text, you will then need analyze how it develops throughout
the text.

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 In literature, the theme is developed through the story elements and the plot map.

In informational text, the main idea is developed through it’s supporting details and using the 5
W’s and 1 H.

5 W’s and 1 H
● Who
○ Who is the text about?
● What
○ What is the problem? What can we do?
● Where
○ Where is this a problem? Where is it taking place?
● When
○ When is this happening? How long has it been happening?
● Why
○ Why is this a problem? Why does it matter?
● How
○ How is this happening? How can we solve the problem?

Supporting Details

Which of the details, 5 W’s, and H support the main idea?

Not all the details will support the main idea. Some information is included because it is
intersecting, but isn't essential to the main idea and supporting it.

● For example, there may be 5 or 6 six people talked about in a text, but only 1 of 2 of them
support the main idea.
● Or it might list a cool unknown fact, but that fact doesn't support the main idea so it
doesn't not help develop the text.

Steps for Analyzing the Development of the Main Idea

Steps for analyzing the development of the main idea of the text.

1. What is the main idea?

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 ○ Find the main idea
2. 5 W’s and 1 H
○ List every single W and H
3. Which details are important? Which aren't?
○ Narrow down the details.
4. Write your analysis.
○ The length of the analysis of the main idea will vary.
■ If you have a short text, the analysis will be short.
■ If you have a longer text, the analysis will be longer.
○ Your analysis should include information from the text. You need to either paraphrase
it or quote it, but it you need examples from the text to back up your analysis.

Making Connections in Informational Text

What are Connections?
Connections are how individuals, ideas, or events in a text are related.

The easiest way to make connections is by analyzing the text structure.

● Description
● Sequential
● Problem and Solution
● Cause and Effect
● Compare and Contrast.

Making Connections
1. Read the text
2. Determine the type of text structure.
○ This can be done by looking for signal words.
3. Once you have determined the text structure you can make connections.
○ Making connections is easier after finding the text structure because the
development of the text is more obvious.

Description
In a text that is describing something, the author will help the reader understand the different
parts of whatever he is describing.

The description will make connections on a surface level.

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 ● Ask yourself
○ What is being described?
○ How is it being described?
○ What is important to remember?

Complete a bubble map to see the connections between different ideas, events, and people.

Once you have completed the bubble map you can easily see how things are related and how
certain events or people influence other events or people.

Problem and Solution

In a problem and solution text, the author presents a problem and then presents one or more
solutions to solve it.

● Ask yourself “What is the problem? What does the author think should be done to fix it?”

Connections are made looking at the problem and all the solutions that have been tried or will
be tried.

● When were things tried?

● Who tried them?
● What happened?

You can use a graphic organizer if you wish.

Cause and Effect

In a cause and effect text, connections are made when the author describes the causes and the
consequences of the cause.

● Ask yourself “Why did this happen?” or “What happened because of this?”
● Look to see how people and events may have caused something to happen.

Compare and Contrast

In a compare and contrast text, the author makes connections by showing how two or more
things are alike and different.

● Sometimes the connections are not as obvious, but they can still be found.
● The easier connections are made between how the things or people are alike.
● It is harder to make connections with the differences, but still possible.
● You can use a Venn diagram to help you see the connections.

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Making Connections.
How the individuals, events and ideas in a text interact is how the author supports his
main idea.

The author can’t just write his main idea and then list all the things that support it. He
must make connections between the things that support it and use the text structure to
create a strong argument for his main idea.

Author's Perspective
Perspective
Perspective is the way someone sees something.

An author’s perspective is the author’s opinions, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings about a topic or
subject in the text.

● It is how they see things and is their side of the story.

● Sometimes, in informational text ,the author also gives other people’s perspectives.

Perspective vs. Point of View

Perspective and Point of View are very similar.

Remember, point of view is how the article is written.

● 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person

Perspective is how the author feels about the topic.

● This is the information the author chooses to share with you.

● They may choose to share both sides of the story.

Finding the Author's Perspective

There are 6 Tips to finding the author’s perspective.

1. Identify the type of text and the author’s purpose.

2. Look for statements about what the author feels, thinks, or believes.
3. Look at word choice.
4. Look for tone.
5. Look at evidence
6. Look at background information.

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Tip 1- Author's Purpose
● Why did the author write this text?
○ To persuade?
○ To inform?
○ To entertain?

Finding out why the author wrote the text will help you decide what the author’s perspective is.

● If the purpose is to persuade, then the author agrees with what they are trying to get you
to do.
● If the purpose is to inform, the topic might be something they are passionate about.
● If the purpose is to entertain, then the author enjoys the topic.

Tip 2-Statement
Look for statements of opinion, belief, or feelings.

Some of these will be obvious.

● I feel
● I believe
● I think
● In my opinion

Some will not be.

● Ex: Guns should be banned.

○ It does not say I feel or I believe. But you can tell that the author feels and
believes that guns are bad.

Tip 3- Word Choice

Look at the words the author uses.

Loaded words are a big indicator.

● Loaded words are words that cause strong emotions.

○ Ex: Love, hate

What do the words make you think about the author’s feelings and options on the topic?

Tip 4-Tone
Remember, tone is the author’s attitude towards the subject.

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 ● What sort of tone does he have?
○ Happy
○ Sad
○ Formal
○ Bored
○ Sarcastic
○ Optimistic
○ Etc.

Tip 5-Evidence
What evidence is there to back up the author’s idea?

The evidence – quotes, facts, statistics, etc. – that the author chooses to support his main idea
will give you a good idea of the author’s perspective.

● If he writes a paper about seat belts and quotes a statistic of how many lives are saved
by wearing one then you can tell that he thinks that seat belts are a good thing.

Tip 6- Background Information

● Does the author share any background information that might cause him to feel or
believe that way?
● Is there a personal connection for the author?

Perspective
What is the author’s perspective?

● Look at the information you found using the 6 tips and use it to sum up the author’s
perspective.

It is important to understand the author’s perspective because it will help you to understand the
text better.

● You will be able to read critically and will be able to judge the information written in the
text.
● It will also allow you to answer the questions about the text easier.

Comparing and Contrasting Different Mediums

Medium
A medium is a form of communication or a way to get information across.

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Some mediums are:

● Text
○ Text is written words.
● Audio
○ Audio is a sound recording.
● Video
○ Video is a recording of moving imagines
● Multimedia
○ Multimedia is a combination of photos, video, sound, text, etc.

Importance of Different Mediums

How information is presented can change its meaning and it’s impact.

● When you read something, the way it sounds is different that it will sound in someone
else’s head.
● When you read something aloud or it is read aloud to you, different parts of the text can
be emphasized than how they were when read silently.
● Different meanings, feelings, and information can be learned from different mediums.

Comparing and Contrasting

Comparing and contrasting two different mediums of a text can help you to figure out the
meaning and understand the information better.

● Certain points may be emphasized in different mediums.

We will be comparing the written version to the audio or video version of a text.

Steps of Comparing and Contrasting

Remember, when comparing and contrasting to follow the correct steps.

1. Identify what you are comparing and contrasting.

2. Identify why you are comparing and contrasting them.
3. Describe the things to be compared.
4. Use a graphic organizer to write down the differences and the similarities.
5. Draw conclusions based on the why and the similarities and differences.

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Comparing and Contrasting Informational Text
Author's Purpose
We know that the author’s purpose can be to persuade, inform, or to entertain, but we need to
look deeper to determine the focus.

● If the author’s purpose is to persuade, what are they trying to persuade you to do or
think?
● If the authors purpose is to inform, why do they want to tell you about it? What do they
want to focus on?

- Ex: Two different students write an informative essay on pollution. One focuses on the
causes of pollution and the other focuses on what pollution does to the environment.

● If the author’s purpose is to entertain, are they trying to get you to laugh or cry?

Same Subject, Different Authors

When you read information about the same subject, but that is by different authors, you have the
opportunity to learn something new because you are seeing it from a different perspective.

● You might see something from a different perspective that you wouldn’t have other wise
learned.
● Or the way a different author wrote it may help you to understand it better than another
author.

Point of View
The author’s may have used a different point of view.

One author may have written the article from 1st person point of view, which is also known as a
first hand account.

● First hand account means that means that they participated in what was happening.

The other author may have written their article from a 3rd person point of view, which is also
know as a second hand account.

● Second hand account means that means they observed what was happening.

The point of view can change the meaning of the topic because a first hand account is usually
more passionate than a second hand account.

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Things to Look for
When comparing and contrasting two texts on the same topic there are a few things to look for
other than perspective, point of view, and purpose:

● Differences
● Similarities
● Emphasis on certain ideas and facts

The facts that they choose to emphasize will help develop the main idea and direction of the
text.

● Facts vs feelings
● Interpretation of facts and evidence

How one author interprets a fact may be different from how another interprets it.

Done until further notice. Lol imagine Doing work after School. Could Never

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