Textual Intelligence
To solve a mystery, an agent needs Textual Evidence. According to the GMAS rubric, this is the only way to prove your "claims" are actually true.
What is Citing (or quoting the text)?
You are writing a letter to a Martian. If you write, "You are a weirdo," you are using a Pronoun. But if you write, "Zork is a weirdo," you are using this specific type of noun.
What is a Proper Noun?
ou post an original meme and it gets 10 likes. Someone steals it, reposts it, and gets 1 million likes. This "Rage Bait" sin—copying an author’s exact work without credit—is known in ELA as this.
What is Plagiarism?
You are writing about sixty-seven aliens. If you just write "sixty seven" with a space, you've left them separated. To "glue" these two words together into one number, you need this tiny mark (I will not accept "dash").
What is a Hyphen?
In the context of the village's tradition, identify the specific symbolic purpose of the box's physical color.
What is Death (or Evil/Endings)?
An author might use Irony when the opposite of what you expect happens. Like a fire station burning down, or a professional "Grammar Police" officer misspelling a word.
What is Situational Irony?
You find a Martian word: Glarp. The text says, "He ate the glarp because he was hungry and it tasted like pizza." Using Context Clues, you know glarp is this part of speech.
What is a Noun (or Food)?
A meme caption says: "POV: You just landed on Mars," but the picture is of someone else landing. This is "Rage Bait" because a true Point of View shows the world through the character's own ______.
What are Eyes (or Perspective)?
You write a massive sentence that is 67 words long without a single period. You just keep saying "and" or "then." This "Rage Bait" error makes your reader run out of breath.
What is a Run-on Sentence?
The lottery is conducted by Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves. Explain the irony found in the names of these two specific characters.
One name sounds happy/life-giving, while the other represents death/the end.
If you see the Greek root "GRAPH," found in biography, autograph, and paragraph, you know the text involves this specific action.
What is Drawing/Writing?
In the sentence, "The astronaut floated, but the alien stayed on the ground," the word "but" is used to do this—a common task on the GMAS.
What is Contrast?
You see a meme that says: "This is the most Antiseptic meme ever." If the root "ANTI" means against and the stem "SEPT" refers to rot/germs, this meme is claiming to be extremely ______.
What is Clean (or Germ-free)?
You’re texting your Martian bestie: "I'm to tired to walk 67 miles." This is Rage Bait because you used the version of "to" that means direction, instead of the one that means extra or also.
What is Too (T-O-O)?
The villagers refuse to repair the box despite its splinters and fading. Explain what this physical condition represents regarding their Tradition.
What is Refusal to change (or Blindly following the past)?
Authors often use Allusions—which are indirect references to famous movies, books, or history. If a character is called a "Romeo," the author is referencing this famous playwright.
Who is William Shakespeare?
You see an image of a Mars Rover with labels pointing to the wheels, the camera, and the laser. In a non-fiction text, this "weird" picture is called a ______.
What is a Diagram?
A Martian’s rocket engine explodes, his oxygen tank leaks, and his space-dog runs away. He looks directly at his 1 million followers and captions the video: "Exactly how I planned my morning." To identify the author's Tone, you must name this specific device.
What is Verbal Irony?
You write a story about 67 aliens but you don't use a single comma. Your reader has to read the whole thing in one giant breath and passes out. This "Rage Bait" happens because you forgot that commas tell the reader to do this.
What is pause (or breathe)?
Usually, a "Lottery" is something people want to win. Explain the Situational Irony of the prize in this specific story.
The "winner" is killed/stoned (the prize is death).
When writing a "Summary" for the GMAS, you must remain Objective. This means you cannot include your own ______ or feelings about the story.
What are Opinions?
A Martian says, "I am literally starving," even though he just ate a space-protein bar five minutes ago. Because he is exaggerating and doesn't actually mean he is dying, he is using this "F" word instead of "Literally."
What is Figuratively?
The word "Meme" comes from the Greek root "MIM." If a Martian starts "Mimicking" your behavior to make fun of you, he is using that root to perform this action.
What is copying (or imitating).
You write: "The, aliens, from, Mars, are, here." This is "Rage Bait" because you’re acting like a "Comma Sprinkler," just throwing them everywhere. In a normal sentence, you should never put a comma between a Subject and its ______.
What is a Verb (or Action)?
From the opening scene with the children to the name of the official carrying the stool, name the literary device that connects these elements to the ending.
What is Foreshadowing?