Writing Mechanics
This grammatical error is when you say something like "a fiction novel" (when all novels are fiction) or an "over-exaggeration (when "exaggeration" means overstatement; so "over-exaggeration" literally means "over-overstatement")
What is redundancy (repetition of a concept)?
It's a statement, quote, or question, written at the beginning of an essay, meant to grab the reader's attention.
What's a hook?
It was a system of segregation, slavery, and displacement (removal from their land) that colonizers existed in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s.
What is/was apartheid?
They were the two strongest but warring groups of South African natives when Trevor was growing up?
Who were the Txosa and Zulu tribes?
True or False: You should read its multiple choice questions and answers to get an idea of what you're looking for, before you read the a text with reading comprehension questions at the end.
False
What is "false"?
The correct answer is:
boys' rescue
(not boy's rescue or boys rescue)
How do you describe the rescue of multiple boys with a possessive adjective that shows plurality (for plural boys)? Where do you put the apostrophe?
They form the acronym TAGS, which you should incorporate into your topic sentence when writing a claim paragraph, or into your introduction when writing an essay, based on literature.
What is: title, author, genre, and subject (matter)?
He was imprisoned from 1964 to 1990, mostly on Robben Island, and became the first black president of South Africa just four years after his release from prison?
Who was Nelson Mandela?
It was the law that prohibited sexual relations between blacks and whites in South Africa, thereby making Trevor "born a crime."
What was the Immorality Act (of 1927)?
This is the name of the strategy when you cross out multiple choice answers that you know are clearly wrong, so that you can just focus on a couple of possible answers.
What is "process of elimination"?
You should write "it's" not "its" in this case"?
("Its" is the one case when you use a possessive adjective without an apostrophe.)
When you want to shorten "it is" to a contraction, how do you write it, with an apostrophe or without an apostrophe?
It's a special number in writing because it's the number of examples you should usually use to show your serious about your argument and it's also the maximum number of lines your sentence should be before you break it up for being too long.
Why is the number 3 special in writing?
This movie, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, is about the South African rugby team's World Cup victory as Mandela was celebrating his first year in office in the apartheid-free country.
What is Invictus? What is Invictus about?
It's a language that evolved primarily from Dutch and is spoken mainly by European descendants and colored people in South Africa. Trevor speaks it fluently.
What is Afrikaans?
True or false: watch out for words in multiple choice answers that seem a little off, because they seem too soft or understated, too harsh or overstated, too generalized, etc.
True.
What is "true"?
Examples are:
"Because he was angry at Patricia."
or
"Laughing my head off."
(We use these a lot in text writing.)
What is a sentence fragment?
Answer this question in your essay's conclusion.
Who was Stephen (Steve) Biko?
The largest and most international city of South Africa (though not its capital), this is where Trevor's father, Trevor Noah, had a restaurant that served both blacks and whites.
What is Johannesburg?
Examples include:
using wording straight from the text but applying it in a different context that does not mean the same thing OR confusing readers with statements that we know everyone agrees with or understands as true (but that weren't mentioned in the text) are examples of these.
What are "dirty tricks" that test-makers use in reading comprehension tests?
An example of this type of error would be:
Trevor was scared of Abel, everyone knew that Abel had a gun.
(Either change the comma to a semicolon, change it to a period and create a second sentence, or add a conjunction to link both ideas together, like "because" or "and.")
What is a comma splice / run-on sentence?
These five ideas spell out S.T.E.A.L., the elements of characterization that writers use to flush out their characters.
What are speech, thoughts, effects on others, actions, and looks?
He was the first black archbishop of South Africa and a major anti-apartheid civil rights leader from the 1960s-1990s.
Who was Desmond Tutu?
Trevor explains the difference this way:
The first is where a person goes while they wait for a court hearing, and it's not great but it's relatively comfortable. The second place is much worse, where you go after trial if found guilty, and where inmates are routinely beaten, raped, and stripped of their humanity.
What's the difference between jail and prison?
These are references to history, art, religion, pop-culture, etc. that occur in writings to add depth (complex ideas) or layers of meaning. Look out for them all the time in literature!
What are allusions?