Master Vocabulary (The Reading Compass)
Words spoken aloud between characters in a text, typically enclosed in quotation marks.
What is dialogue?
The Latin root VID / VIS (found in words like evidence and vision) translates to this physical action.
What is to see?
The skeptical citizens of Venice gave Marco Polo this mocking nickname because they believed his stories were gross exaggerations.
What is "Marco Millions"?
The primary, overarching message or point that an author wants readers to understand about a topic.
What is the central idea?
What is the name of the most viewed video on YouTube?
Baby Shark by Pinkfong(17 Billion+ Views)
Clues, facts, data, and direct quotes that we can physically find on the printed page to prove an answer.
What is textual evidence?
The Latin root POPUL (found in words like populous and population) translates to this noun.
What is people (or people of the state)?
The physical location where Marco Polo met the romance writer Rustichello to dictate his oral travel log into a written manuscript.
What is a Genoese prison (jail cell)?
In a 2-part Evidence-Based Selected Response (EBSR) question, Part B always requires you to select this.
In a 2-part Evidence-Based Selected Response (EBSR) question, Part B always requires you to select this.
What very popular movie from this summer (2026) broke the Top 5 Highest Grossing Movies of All Time?
1st- Avatar
2nd- Avengers: Endgame
3rd- Avatar: The Way of Water
4th- ____________________
5th- Titanic
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
Visual and formatting elements outside the main body paragraphs, such as headings, maps, sidebars, and captions.
What are text features?
The Latin root CRED (found in words like credible and incredible) translates to this concept.
What is to believe or trust?
Marco Polo described the Chinese using this lightweight everyday item in place of gold and silver coins, which Europeans found completely unbelievable.
What is paper money?
A fertile, water-rich stopping point in the desert where trade caravans along the Silk Road rested and resupplied.
What is an oasis?
What PBS Kids show stars a nonhuman main character, and on the first episode, the main character loses a kite.
Hint: His adoptive "dad" wears a yellow hat
Curious George
Specific descriptions, facts, and examples that uphold, prove, and develop an author’s central claim.
What are supporting details?
If a medieval traveler or storyteller is described as garrulous, it means they possess this personality trait.
What is excessively talkative / gossipy?
Why were the citizens of Venice making fun of Marco Polo when he returned from his journey?
What is "People could not believe what Marco Polo recorded in his account of his journey. They found the things he saw to be fictitious because of their narrowminded viewpoint."
f an author removes all supporting details and factual evidence from an informational essay, this happens to their central idea.
What is it collapses into an unproven opinion or rumor?
Please name 3 Taylor Swift Songs
NO POINTS IF YOU CANNOT GIVE ME 3
Blank Space
Cruel Summer (from Lover, 2019)
Blank Space (from 1989, 2014)
Anti-Hero (from Midnights, 2022)
Love Story (from Fearless, 2008)
cardigan (from folklore, 2020)
Shake It Off (from 1989, 2014) [1, 2, 3]
Wildest Dreams
The overarching organizational framework an author uses to arrange their information (such as chronological order, cause/effect, or compare/contrast).
What is text structure?
The Latin root DICT (found in words like dictate and dictionary) translates to this spoken action.
What is to speak, say, or tell?
On his deathbed, Marco Polo famously refused to retract his stories to save his soul, stoutly declaring this final sentence.
What is "I have not told half of what I saw"?
An organizational structure that sequences historical events or travel logs in the exact time order in which they occurred.
What is chronological order (or sequence)?
Which famous country singer sings a song about a "White Horse" off of his recent 2023 album "Higher"? This artist is one of the most decorated country artists of all time. He typically wears a cowboy hat on stage and has long hair.
Chris Stapleton