Terms to Remember for Semester Exam!

Summarizing

Only include important events (or parts), no minor details.

Author’s purpose

Remember this is WHY the author wrote. Main ones are persuade, inform, and entertain.

Making inferences about characters

Think about the character’s actions, words, appearance & make a guess!

Symbolism

When something represents or mirrors something else. They are usually similar objects.

Theme

Moral of the story or lesson that you or a character learned!

Personification

Giving living qualities to non-living things (the wind whispered in my ear).

Author’s argument

What is the author trying to convince you of? That’s their “argument”

Alliteration

When 2 or more words start with the same letter (ex: Sally sells seashells)

Rhyme Pattern (Scheme)

Look at the ending words of each line. Mark the first line with “A” always, then look at the next line. If the next line rhymes with the first, then mark it “A” too, if it doesn’t, mark it as “B”. Continue this until you’ve marked all lines. Ex:

I could lift you up (A)

I could show you what you wanna see (B)

And take you where you wanna be (B)

You could be my luck (A)

Even if the sky is falling down (C)

I know that we’ll be safe and sound (C)

Comparing themes of two poems

Think about lessons from each poem you learned, are there any similarities?

Making inferences about the author’s beliefs based on what they wrote

What do you think the author believes after reading what he/she wrote. This is similar to author’s purpose & tone.

Similes

A comparison using like or as. Ex: “He was as fast as a cheetah”

Comparing two settings

You must identify the two settings and then think of how they are alike/different

Purpose of including graphics, pictures, etc.

Ask yourself “Why is this picture or chart included? Would the passage be the same without it?”

Summarizing paragraphs

Only include important parts of the paragraphs. If it isn’t necessary or just extra information, don’t include it.

Claims

Remember, first you make a claim, then it is an assumption, until you give a fact or some kind of evidence.

Vocabulary

USE A DICTIONARY ON ANY VOCABULARY QUESTIONS! PLEASE!

Poetry!

Sorry for not updating for a while! Here's what we've learned so far about poetry. So, if you missed any day last week, you can catch up really quick!

Ballads: A story poem, usually meant to be sung. The classic ballad stanza has 4 lines, with the lines alternating between eight syllables and six syllables. The 2nd and 4th lines must rhyme.

Example

"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I’m found,

Was blind, but now I see."

—Free Verse Poetry:  a style of poetry written without using strict rules, structure or rhyme.

Sonnets: very structured type of poetry. Must be 14 rhyming lines (3 four line stanzas, 1 two line couplet). The rhyme scheme is: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

Example:

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
  

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Rhyme Scheme: —the pattern of rhyme between lines of a poem or song. It is shown with letters (indicating which lines rhyme together). For each word that doesn’t rhyme with a word before it, label it with a new letter (alphabetical order). See example below...

Safe & Sound by Capital Cities

—I could lift you up (A)

—I could show you what you wanna see (B)

—And take you where you wanna be (B)

—

—You could be my luck (A)

—Even if the sky is falling down (C)

—I know that we’ll be safe and sound (C))