Techniques
The author's central message about life or human nature, often determined by the interplay between the craft and the purpose.
What is theme?
Checking an author's background, professional affiliation, and credentials determines the source's reliability or this key evaluation factor.
What is credibility?
The device where an inanimate object or idea is given human qualities or abilities, often used to create a whimsical or dynamic mood.
What is personification?
This term refers to the objective, dictionary definition of a word.
What is denotation?
This is the use of the same pattern of words (like all verbs, all nouns, or all "-ing" words) to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance.
What is parallel structure?
If an author's purpose is to show the inevitability of a character's failure, they might choose this structural technique to reveal clues about the ending early on.
What is foreshadowing?
The author's preconceived opinion or position that unfairly influences the presentation of facts.
What is author’s bias?
The implied feeling—positive or negative—associated with a word, which heavily contributes to the text's mood.
What is connotation?
An author using a word with a negative connotation is attempting to create this type of mood or atmosphere for the reader.
What is negative mood?
Fix the Sentence: The runner was sweating, panting, and tired.
What is tired?
This plot structure element is often the author's most important tool for achieving the purpose of surprising or shocking the reader.
What is climax (turning point)?
According to the infographic, this is the largest religion.
What is Christianity?
This rhetorical appeal is used when an author cites data, scientific facts, or logical reasoning to develop a reasonable meaning.
What is logos?
This is the surrounding text or situation that helps a reader determine a word's intended meaning.
What is context?
Spot the Problem: "My goals for the year are to read more books, start a new hobby, and to save money.
What is start a new hobby?
In the text, “A Wife’s Story” the narrator has to reconcile the difference with who she thinks her husband is and what she actually sees.
What is conflict?
In the essay “Coming to Our Senses” the author states, “What, if anything, lies beyond our senses? Does there exist a way of knowing that transcends our biological interfaces with the environment?” This would be an example of the overall idea of the text, also known as this word.
What is thesis? (or central idea)
In the poem mirror the author uses this type of figurative language, “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately.”
What is personification?
Read the following sentence from the text, “My Life as a Bat”:
Even the vampire bat will target a hairless extremity—by choice a toe, resembling as it does the teat of a cow.
Now, read the following dictionary entry for extremity.
1. the greatest degree or nature of something 2. an extraordinary measure 3. the most distant segment of a territory 4. a limb or appendage of the body
This is the correct definition of the word, as it’s used in the sentence.
What is a limb or appendage of the body (Definition 4)?
Add the Match: She decided to spend her weekend studying for the test, visiting her grandmother, and ______
What is answer can be any action ending in -ing
In the text, “Night Face Up” the narrator weaves between two settings throughout the story. This is an example of this structure.
What is parallel plot structure?
In the Texas vs. Johnson, the author says, “To paraphrase Justice Holmes, we submit that nobody can suppose that this one gesture of an unknown man will change our Nation’s attitude towards its flag [Abrams v. United States].” His use of a court case is an example of this type of rhetorical appeal.
What is ethos?
In Texas vs. Johnson the author states, “The way to preserve the flag’s special role is not to punish those who feel differently about these matters. It is to persuade them that they are wrong.” This quote is an example of this rhetorical appeal.
What is pathos?
Read the following sentence from the text “Joyas Voladoras”: "Consider for a moment those hummingbirds who did not open their eyes again today, this very day, in the Americas . . . each the most amazing thing you have never seen, each thunderous wild heart the size of an infant’s fingernail, each mad heart silent, a brilliant music stilled."
Now, read the following dictionary entry for thunderous.
1. relating to or giving warning of thunder 2. Very loud 3. Very powerful or intense 4. Producing sound of great volume
This is the correct definition of the word, as it’s used in the sentence.
What is very powerful or intense (Definition 3)?
Identify the Error Type: In the sentence "We talked about her background, her career, and what she hopes to do in the future," the error is that the last item is a ______ while the first two are single nouns.
What is phrase/clause?