Central Idea & Theme
How is the central idea of a text?
What the text is mostly about.
What does it mean to make an inference?
Use clues from the text to understand something not said.
What is tone?
The author's attitude toward the subject.
What is the most reliable way to determine a word's meaning in a passage?
Use context clues from the surrounding text.
What are the two essential components of a complete sentence?
A subject and a verb.
What is a theme?
A message or lesson about life.
What clues helps you infer a character's feelings?
The characters actions, thoughts, or dialogue.
What figurative language example is a reference to a well-known person, place, event, work of literature, or art?
Allusion
Why might a familiar word a different meaning in a literary text?
Authors use figurative or connotative meanings.
Identify where the hyphen should be located in the following sentence?
"Barring any last minute edits, the magazine is ready to go to print!"
Between last & minute (last-minute)
Where does the central idea usually come from?
Important details repeated in the text.
If an author includes mostly facts and statistics, what is the likely purpose?
To inform
How does figurative language affect the tone?
It adds emotion or imagery that shape how readers feel.
"With the effects of their tremors mitigated in this way, Parkinson's patients are able to feed themselves with greater ease."
Using context clues, what does mitigated likely mean?
Reduced or made less severe
To control pacing and emphasize ideas.
Why is a detail not the same as a central idea?
A detail is only one part of the text.
How does word choice help reveal the author's attitude toward a topic?
Positive or negative language shows author's approval or criticism.
Identify the device used in the bolded section:
Mr. Wolfsheim, forgetting the more sentimental atmosphere of the old Metropole, began to eat with ferocious delicacy. -F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Oxymoron
"As hundreds of male spadefoot toads call for a mate, the normal stillness and silence of the desert is broken by the cacophony of their quack-like calls."
Using context clues what is the most likely meaning of cacophony?
Chaotic noises
Identify all possessive/plural errors in the following sentence:
The Oakdale geeses' food supply has been dwindling recently, so they've been forced to find new home's.
geese's / homes
By looking at characters' actions and outcomes.
What is the effect of combining inferences with multiple details?
More evidence makes the conclusion stronger and more accurate.
Identify the device used and its effect on the tone.
Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the roadway till we passed as through a tunnel; and again great frowning rocks guarded us boldly on either side.
Personification / It creates a suspenseful and ominous tone
The denotation of effigy is something that resembles or bears the likeness of someone. What is the connotation of this word?
Negative: relating to ridicule
Place all the necessary punctuation in the following sentence:
The Star of India sapphire a gem weighing 536 carats was stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in 1964 it was later recovered in a Miami bus station.
The Star of India sapphire, a gem weighing 536 carats, was stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in 1964; it was later recovered in a Miami bus station.