Key Details & Themes
What is a theme in a literary text?
A theme is a central message, lesson, or insight that a literary text conveys, often about life or human nature.
What is an author’s purpose?
It’s the reason the author wrote the text—usually to inform, entertain, persuade, or explain.
What is a central idea in an informational text?
The central idea is the most important point or message the author wants to convey/inform/teach in the text.
If you don’t know a word in a sentence, what should you do first?
Use context clues from the sentence or paragraph to guess its meaning.
What is dramatic irony?
It’s when the audience knows something that the characters do not, creating tension or humor.
An author’s argument is the same as their topic.
A. True
B. False
False
"After being betrayed by his best friend, Marcus learns to rely on himself and starts keeping a journal to reflect on his choices."
What theme might this detail support?
A. Holding grudges leads to revenge
B. Trust and betrayal affect personal growth
C. Being popular is more important than being honest
B. Trust and betrayal affect personal growth
How can rhetorical questions help an author persuade the reader?
They make the reader think and emphasize a point without expecting an answer.
"In recent years, sea levels have risen significantly due to melting glaciers and warming oceans. This trend is causing increased flooding in coastal cities."
How does this detail support a central idea about climate change?
It shows how climate change affects the environment by giving specific evidence/examples of its impact on sea levels and flooding.
The word charged appears in a sentence about a courtroom and in another about a battery.
What kind of word is this?
It’s a multiple-meaning word (homonym)
How does a first-person narrator affect the reader’s understanding of the story?
The reader only sees the story from that character’s perspective, which may be limited or biased.
What is the main purpose of a rhetorical appeal in an informational text?
A. To make the text longer
B. To persuade the audience
C. To add more jokes to the writing
B. To persuade the audience
"In both The Outsiders and Of Mice and Men, characters struggle with feeling like they don’t belong. In both stories, the outsiders form bonds that give them a sense of family."
What is one theme that connects both texts?
A. People need to feel as if they belong
B. The importance of rules and order
C. Everyone wants to be rich and powerful
A. People need to feel as if they belong
"Shouldn’t every student have access to quality education? Isn’t it time we invested in our future?"
What is the author’s purpose, and how do they use language to support it?
The author wants to persuade readers to support education reform. The rhetorical questions create urgency and emotionally appeal to their values.
"Teens often use social media to stay connected with friends, but it can also affect their sleep and self-esteem. A recent study found that teens who spend more than three hours a day on social platforms report lower happiness levels."
Identify two central ideas and one supporting detail that connects them.
Central Idea 1: Social media helps teens stay connected.
Central Idea 2: Social media can have negative effects on teens such as impacting their sleep and/or self-esteem.
Supporting Detail: A study links time spent on social media to lower happiness.
"New technologies are constantly emerging to solve modern problems, creating a more efficient and connected world."
Use context clues to define the word emerging.
"Emerging" means appearing, coming into view, or developing.
In a horror story, the reader knows the monster is hiding in the basement, but the main character keeps walking toward it, unaware.
What effect(s) does this create?
It creates suspense and tension because the audience knows something the character does not.
An appeal to logic uses facts and statistics to support an author’s point.
A. True
B. False
A. True
“She stood alone on the playground again, pretending not to care. Every day, they picked teams without her.”
What theme is suggested by this detail?
A. Fitting in is easy for some people even when school is challenging
B. Exclusion and imagination go hand in hand
C. Isolation and resilience both form through adversity
C. Isolation and resilience both form through adversity
"We deserve better. We deserve better classrooms, better supplies, and better support. We deserve better, and we won't stop asking for it until real change happens. Our students are worth it, and our teachers are, too."
Identify two rhetorical strategies in the speech and explain how they support the author’s perspective or purpose
Teacher discretion (if correct, give them points as long as BOTH answers are correct)
True or False: A single supporting detail can contribute to more than one central idea in a text.
True. A single detail, such as a statistic or fact, can support multiple central ideas if it relates to both.
You come across the word arduous. You’ve never seen it before. On a daily basis (not SC Ready) what reference tools and strategies can you use to figure out its meaning? (HINT*There are three ways)
Use a dictionary, thesaurus, or online reference; break the word into parts (prefix/root); or look at how it’s used in the sentence.
Compare how a third-person limited and a third-person omniscient narrator could affect suspense in a mystery story. (HINT*one of these would increase suspense and one would decrease it--EXPLAIN WHY)
A third-person limited narrator increases suspense by only revealing one character’s thoughts. A third-person omniscient narrator can reduce suspense by showing all characters’ thoughts.
“More than 70% of schools that started later saw an improvement in student test scores and attendance.”
What type of reasoning is the author using here?
A. Emotional reasoning
B. Logical reasoning
C. Credibility
B. Logical reasoning
"Though the village mocked her inventions, Alina kept building in her father’s old workshop. The day her mechanical water filter saved the crops during the drought, the same people came to her door with tears in their eyes."
Which two themes are best supported by this excerpt?
A. Creativity leads to unpredictable outcomes, and humor can lighten serious moments.
B. Perseverance in the face of doubt can lead to eventual recognition and respect.
C. Inventions are sometimes dangerous and fear can prevent progress.
B. Perseverance in the face of doubt can lead to eventual recognition and respect.
Text A (Pro-Uniforms):
"Implementing school uniforms has led to decreased bullying and improved focus in the classroom. When students wear the same outfit, they concentrate more on learning and less on social pressures. Uniforms create a sense of equality and reduce distractions."
Text B (Anti-Uniforms):
"When I put on that uniform, I felt like I lost part of myself. I couldn’t express my creativity or feel comfortable. For students like me, clothing is more than fabric—it’s our identity."
How do the authors of these two texts use different rhetorical strategies to support their purposes?
Text A: Uses logical appeals (logos)—facts about reduced bullying and improved focus to persuade the reader rationally.
Text B: Uses emotional appeal (pathos)—a personal story that highlights how uniforms negatively affect student identity.
Purpose: Each author uses these strategies to persuade the reader to either support or oppose school uniforms.
Also...teacher discretion as long as students answer BOTH parts of the question.
Passage 1: "The Mars rover has found evidence of ancient water channels, suggesting the planet may have once supported life."
Passage 2: "NASA’s new technologies have made it possible to explore deeper into space, collecting data never before possible."
Identify one central idea from each and explain how a supporting detail helps develop each.
Passage 1: Central Idea – Mars may have supported life. Supporting Detail – Evidence of ancient water channels.
Passage 2: Central Idea – Space exploration is advancing. Supporting Detail – New technologies allow deeper exploration and better data collection.
Define the word precipitate in two different contexts:
(a) "The scientist watched the substance precipitate in the solution."
(b) "His reckless comment could precipitate an argument."
(a) In science, "precipitate" means to cause a solid to form in a solution.
(b) In everyday use, it means to cause something (often negative) to happen suddenly.
"I knew my brother was up to something. He kept glancing at the clock and smiling nervously, but when I asked, he just shrugged. I didn’t realize he was planning a surprise party."
How does this point of view create dramatic irony for the reader?
The reader may suspect the surprise before the narrator does, which builds anxiety (anticipation for what will happen next).
“When I was in middle school, I struggled to stay awake in first period. That’s why I believe schools should start later—for students like I once was.”
What type of rhetorical appeal is the author using?
A. Appeal to fear
B. Appeal to personal experience
C. Appeal to expert opinion
B. Appeal to personal experience