Author's Purpose
Formal/Informal
Effect of Word Choice
Purpose of Word Choice
Relationship of Words
100
"The Burnell children could hardly walk to school fast enough the next morning. They burned to tell everybody . . . about their doll's house before the school bell rang." Which words or phrases let you know how badly the children want to share their news? How could you achieve the opposite effect?
"hardly walk to school fast enough" and "Burned" "The Burnell children trudged to school the next morning. They hesitated to tell their friends about the doll's house."
100
"The hook at the side was struck fast. Pat pried it open with his penknife, and the whole house front swung back . . ." How does the word "pried" effect your understanding of the text? What is a neutral word you could replace it with?
Pried implies that he had to force the door open because it was stuck. Pat "opened it with his penknife."
100
"The Kelvey's were shunned by everybody. Even the teacher had a special voice for them, and a special smile for the other children when Lil Kelvey came up to her desk with a bunch of dreadfully common-looking flowers." Which words let the reader know how different the children were treated?
Shunned; everybody; EVEN the teacher. . . Special Voice and Special Smile
100
"She was a tiny wishbone of a child, with cropped hair and enormous solemn eyes--a little white owl." Which literary device is at work here? Why does the author make this comparison to describe Else?
Metaphor -- the author makes this comparison to describe Else in a sympathetic way. The OWL comparison could be symbolic.
200
". . . it had been arranged that while the doll's house stood in the courtyard they might ask the girls at school, two at a time, to come and look. Not to stay to tea, of course, or to come traipsing through the house. But just to stand quietly in the courtyard. . ." What can you infer about how the Burnell adults felt about children based on the connotation of the word "traipsing"?
Children are loud and careless. The Burnell's think they should be quiet and careful. It's a negative connotation.
200
"The father and the mother dolls, who sprawled very stiff as though they had fainted in the drawing room, were really too big for the doll's house. They didn't look as though they belonged." How does the word "sprawled" affect the sentence?
It gives you a visual image of the dolls; it emphasizes that they don't look like real people and therefore don't belong in the realistic house.
200
"Now they hovered at the edge; you couldn't stop them listening. When the little girls turned round and sneered, Lil, as usual, gave her silly, shamefaced smile, but our Else only looked." What is the effect of "hovered"? What is the effect of "sneered"?
These words demonstrate how separated the girls were from the others. It also demonstrates the others' cruelty.
200
"The little girls sat under the pines, eating their thick mutton sandwiches and big slabs of johnny cake spread with butter. While always, as near as they could get, sat the Kelveys, our Else holding on to Lil, listening too, while they chewed their jam sandwiches out of a newspaper soaked with large red blobs. . . ." What does "thick" and "big" connote?
It highlights how MUCH the other girls had and how little the Kelveys had.
300
"They walked past the Kelvey's wit their heads in the air. . ." What is the author's purpose here?
To demonstrate how the Burnells and other families thought they were better than the Kelvey's; the Kelvey's were treated badly.
400
Why does the narrator keep calling Else "our Else"? What effect does this achieve for author's purpose?
The second person pronoun implies possession. The audience sympathies with Else. How does the author create sympathy for "Lil Kelvey"?
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