Vocab
The main idea or message of a story or poem.
What is the theme of a story or poem?
We cross out any obviously wrong answers to narrow down our options.
What is elimination?
When reading a text, we read the title first to guess what the passage might be about.
What is a prediction?
A grammatical structure in which an apostrophe comes after the final 's' of the word.
These are specific details from a passage, often in quotation form, that support your main claim.
A literal definition of a word that comes directly from the dictionary.
What is denotation?
After we read the title of a passage, we read and highlight the questions so that we can implement this practice when we read the passage for the first time.
What is intentional reading?
As we read a passage, we write the main idea and the tone of each paragraph. Doing this reading strategy helps us better understand the passage and find answers to questions more effectively.
What is annotating?
This punctuation mark indicates the beginning of a list or explanation, all within a single sentence.
What is a colon?
This way of using words goes beyond the literal meaning in order to create a certain effect.
What is figurative language?
This is the author's main idea with their point of view.
What is a claim?
(I will also accept thesis.)
This formula of three sentences fully answers short-answer questions.
What is answer, evidence, and explanation?
This step of writing (and re-writing) involves changing and modifying what is already written in order to improve clarity and style.
What is revision?
Often misused, this punctuation mark connects two independent clauses (each of which could be a complete sentence on their own) into a single sentence, indicating that the two clauses are linked.
What is a semi-colon?
This fundamental component of fiction includes the time, place, and environment of a story.
What is setting?
The implied meaning of a word based on context.
What is connotation?
Many questions ask for this type of educated guess or conclusion is based on evidence from the passage, background information, and logical reasoning.
What is an inference?
By identifying this literary element for each paragraph, we can track the author, narrator, or character's attitude develops over the course of the passage.
What is tone?
What is an elipses?
These vivid descriptions that help readers visualize details often contain figurative language, such as metaphor or simile.
What is imagery?
The argumentative strategy where an author partially agrees with an opposing viewpoint in order to better convince their intended audience.
What is a concession?
This pre-writing strategy helps us get all our ideas and thoughts about an essay question on scrap paper so that we can focus on writing effectively on the test.
What is free-writing?
After you have finished reading a passage and noted the major ideas, it's a good idea to write a short overview of what the passage is about, also know as this.
What is a summary?
A common grammatical error when multiple clauses are separated by commas within a single sentence without any conjunctions to connect these clauses.
What is a comma splice?
Stories often develop their themes and moods through recurring elements (such as weather or food), also known as this.
What is a motif?