English 9A Glossary - Vocabulary Words
First, let's review some key features of central ideas:
They express a main point.
They drive the author's message.
They are often not stated directly.
There can be more than one in a text.
To find the central idea of a text, readers can rely on text features, summarizing, and vocabulary strategies.
As you read, be sure to
look at the text's title and subtitles. Subtitles can indicate the key ideas of a text.
summarize parts of the text using key details. Key details can develop the central idea of a text.
note key vocabulary that is related to the topic of the text.
Remember, key ideas are:
the most important ideas of a text and support the central idea.
explained and supported by other details in text.
introduced and developed within individual paragraphs or sections of text.
When you summarize a paragraph or section of a text, your summary should relate the key idea in your own words.
When you read a text written by an expert, key vocabulary may include technical and unfamiliar words. It is important not to ignore or skip over unfamiliar vocabulary because you might miss important ideas related to the text's central idea. Instead, when you come across an unfamiliar word, you can:
look it up in a dictionary.
use context clues to infer its meaning.
use word parts you know to predict its meaning.
Use information or context in text near the word to make an informed guess about what the word means.
For example: Some consider their success in the backcountry a reflection of superior outdoor skills although most have never been tested in crisis.
In this sentence, superior outdoor skills are connected to success. Notice the word although which indicates a contrasting idea. Also notice the word tested and its connection to the word crisis indicating a situation that might be the opposite of success. Based on these clues, the word crisis means a challenge or difficult situation.
Break up the word into smaller parts some of which you might know. Then infer the word's meanings from the parts. Think about root words and affixes.
For example: "Thoughts from a Retired Mountaineer"
Notice the parts of the word. Mountain is the root word and a noun. The suffix, -eer, which means "one who is an expert in processes and skills." When the parts come together, a mountaineer is an expert in climbing or exploring mountains.
Words, depending on the ending, can change function or part of speech. Pay attention to the meaning and function of the root word as these patterns show up.
For example: Alaska has long been regarded as the last frontier offering some of the most remote and rugged mountains in the world. Most accidents are caused by bad judgment compounded by Alaska's severe weather and remoteness.
Notice how the word remote is used in the first sentence and how the pattern of the word changes in the second sentence. In the first sentence, the word remote functions as an adjective describing the mountains of Alaska as far away from civilization or secluded. In the second sentence, remote has changed to remoteness. The word is no longer describing anything, but now functions as a noun. In this sentence, remoteness means the state of being remote or far away.
Look for words and related concepts that the author repeats.
When reading, highlight related concepts to see how the author repeats them throughout the text.
This includes synonyms (words that mean similar things) used to describe the same idea.
Then, you can look back at how the author uses these repeated words and concepts to draw connections between his ideas.
Cohesion means that your ideas connect and flow clearly for the reader.
An independent clause
is a group of words that contains a subject and verb.
expresses a complete thought.
is a complete sentence.
A dependent clause
is a group of words that contains a subject and verb.
does not express a complete thought.
is not a complete sentence.
For more info on this, including written examples, please see our "Grammar Stuff" page!
Authors explore underlying meanings in literature to convey a message to the reader. This is called theme.
Themes in literature:
reflect the lessons or messages of a text.
are universal statements that can be applied outside of specific texts.
are not often explicitly stated.
extend beyond the elements of a story such as plot, setting, or characters.
Some works of literature may have more than one theme.
To determine the themes in a text, consider the following strategies as you read:
Summarize what is happening in the plot. Notice major conflicts and how those conflicts are resolved.
Determine the setting of the text. Think about how the setting impacts the characters and overall plot.
Identify changes in characters. Pay close attention to any lessons characters learn over the course of the text.
A summary presents an objective overview of a text capturing the central or main idea. Summarizing helps capture big ideas that reveal theme. A summary answers these questions:
What is the subject of the text?
What does the author want the readers to know about the subject?
What details or key points does the author provide to learn about the subject?
In an informational article, an author might use
headings and subheadings to divide text into sections.
sentences to build connections between the topic, key ideas, and supporting details.
paragraphs to introduce the topic and support key ideas with increasingly precise detail.
Identify the topic of the text.
This is what the text is mainly about. You can do this by reading the title, glancing at the first paragraph of the text, and by looking at the source of the article (for example, a scientific magazine or history website). These will all provide you clues about the topic of the text.
Identifying the topic of the text will help you to begin thinking about what ideas the author is conveying about that topic.
Look for headings and subheadings. (A good example are the large headers of each of these drop down sections,) They will typically stand out and be bolded, underlined, or on a separate line of the text. These headings and subheadings will give you an idea about what information follows.
You can also look for a progression of ideas by looking at all the headings together. You might notice how one section provides more details on, concludes, or introduces an idea related to the section that precedes it.
Determine the meanings of unfamiliar words and phrases to comprehend the author's ideas. Take time to use context and reference materials to determine what words mean, especially when reading highly technical texts. Make a note of synonyms or definitions to help you understand the author's ideas.
Determining the meaning of unfamiliar words will help you to comprehend the author's ideas and to think critically about how the author is conveying those ideas.
Summarize the text after reading a paragraph or section to make sure you understand the author's ideas. Consider these questions:
What was that part about?
What did you learn in that section?
Pausing to summarize smaller chunks of a text can help you notice how the author is building on previous ideas.
Sequence is the order in which information is delivered. Determine how each sentence, paragraph, or section builds on what came before it. This will help you determine how the author sequences ideas.
Consider whether the author is
providing insight on a previous idea.
going into further detail about an idea.
introducing a new idea or a different perspective.
Determining this connection will help you better understand how the author develops and refines ideas.
To really analyze how the authors develop and refine their ideas, you'll need to look at how these smaller parts fit and contribute to ideas in the whole text. Examining how the authors develop and refine ideas in multiple smaller parts of this text will help you to analyze how the authors are developing their overall ideas.
As you encounter technical words and phrases, use these guiding questions to help determine the meaning and comprehend the author's ideas:
What is the meaning of the technical language?
How does this meaning help you understand the sentence or paragraph?
How can you summarize the information based on this meaning?
How does this meaning help you determine the author's key ideas or central idea?
Do not hesitate to use reference materials (a dictionary, a glossary) to clear up your understanding of technical words or phrases.
Any type of writing that is meant to explain or provide deep information on a topic.
You can use intentional strategies to develop your topic and explain any technical language to your audience, such as including
relevant and sufficient facts.
extended definitions.
concrete details.
quotations.
other information and examples.
An author may introduce the topic in the first paragraph, explain a central problem of the topic in the following section, then conclude with examples of solutions to the problem. Each of these ideas connect to the other ideas and work together to convey an overall central idea.
Look for words or concepts that are repeated and impactful in the text.
What words or phrases does the author use to make a point about the topic? Does the author repetitively mention the importance of something? For example, in a text about moving away from the city, you may notice a phrase like natural living being repeated.
Ask questions about the purpose of specific words, phrases, and details. Specifically, ask yourself why the author includes that word, phrase, or detail.
An author chooses details that help explain a concept or prove a point. For example, an author writing about natural living may include details that explain what that concept means and how they feel about it.
Identify the key idea in each paragraph. What is the main point or message the author wants the reader to understand after reading that paragraph? The key idea could reflect an explanation of a topic or the author's point of view on the topic.
If you can identify key ideas in each paragraph of the text, you can begin to draw connections between them. Consider how the key ideas are related or build on each other.
For example, in a text about natural living, one paragraph might discuss edible plant species, with the next paragraph discussing how to live off of the land. A reader can draw the connection between these key ideas to determine that the author is expressing ideas that relate to living independently and naturally.
Determine how key ideas in paragraphs connect to the central, or overarching, idea of the text. How do all the pieces fit together?
If you have determined key ideas in individual parts or paragraphs, and you have identified some connections between these key ideas, consider how all of these ideas are important to the author's main idea or message. Based on these paragraphs, what is the overall idea the author is presenting?
For example, the overarching idea may be a point of view, such as "We need to live naturally," or information on a subject, such as "These are the steps to living naturally."
Definition: a way of saying one thing and meaning something else; figures of speech are unlike literal speech, which means exactly what it says.
Authors may use figures of speech to emphasize and clarify their ideas. These are often examples of impactful language. Some figures of speech that you'll notice in this text are simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole.
Not only will you want to determine the nonliteral meaning of figures of speech, but you'll also need to analyze their role in unfolding and connecting the author's ideas.
simile: a figure of speech that makes a comparison using the words like or as. Example: He's as happy as a clam.
metaphor: a figure of speech that compares two different things by suggesting one is similar to the other. Example: He was a diamond in the rough.
personification: a figure of speech that gives human qualities to nonhuman things. Example: The trees danced in the wind.
hyperbole: an exaggerated statement. Example: It would take one thousand years to explain all the reasons I love you.
allusion: an indirect reference to something else. Example: He's a real Scrooge with his money.
sensory language: words and phrases that are meant to appeal to a reader's five senses. Example: They could feel the heat of the pavement through the soles of their sneakers.
(For more info, please see this video or scroll up to the top to open the Glossary.)
Point of view is the way an author or speaker (the person whose voice is featured in the piece of writing; sometimes that's a character, sometimes it's the author themselves) views an event or idea. It refers to their opinion toward a topic or how they see and understand a situation.
Here are some strategies for determining point of view in a text:
Use questions to identify the author's or speaker's argument (e.g., What are they for or against? What do they agree or disagree with?).
Look for opinion words, such as believe, feel, or think.
Examine the author or speaker's use of rhetoric.
Rhetoric is used by authors and speakers to persuade their audience to agree with their point of view. Rhetorical language techniques draw the audience into agreement.
To analyze how an author or speaker uses rhetoric to advance that point of view, you'll examine
repeated words, phrases, ideas, and imagery;
appeals to logic, ethics, or emotions; and
figures of speech. (see above)
Examining these devices will help you identify when an author or speaker is using rhetorical devices (a written technique that an author or speaker uses to convey meaning to persuade someone to consider their perspective).
Logos is an appeal to logic. It is a way of persuading an audience by appealing to their sense of reason. The use of facts, statistics, graphs, and logical arguments can be interpreted as examples of logos.
Ethos is an appeal to ethics. It's a way of persuading an audience by demonstrating credibility and building the audience's trust. Quotes from experts or descriptions of the speaker's qualifications can be interpreted as ethos.
Pathos is an appeal to emotion. It is a way of persuading an audience by creating a specific feeling. Language and anecdotes that make the audience feel sadness, anger, joy, or other emotions can be interpreted as pathos.
The bandwagon appeal is a way of persuading an audience by suggesting that most people agree with the speaker. This implies that the audience will be on the correct side by agreeing with the speaker's point of view.
Parallelism is when a speaker uses repeated patterns of words within a sentence or section of a speech to show that two ideas have equal importance. This can advance the point of view by emphasizing key ideas and persuading the audience to agree with the message.
Your expository response should
introduce the topic by providing the background information needed for understanding the remainder of the paragraph.
develop the topic with relevant and sufficient evidence from the text, such as facts, details, quotations, and examples.
use varied transitions to create cohesion (see above) and clarify relationships among ideas.
Use the following steps when incorporating transitions into your writing:
1. Make sure your ideas are ordered and organized logically.
Transitions cannot create cohesion in writing if the ideas are in a confusing order. Your first step is to make sure that you have included all the ideas you want and that they are being introduced in an order that is appropriate for your writing purpose.
2. Consider the relationships among your ideas.
Here are some indicators of relationships among ideas: these ideas are the same; these ideas are different; these ideas are in chronological order; one idea is an example of another; one idea shows the cause and the other shows the effect; one idea emphasizes the other.
3. Add transition words and phrases that demonstrate these relationships.
Common transition words and phrases include therefore, similarly, also, for example, finally, on the other hand, and additionally. In an expository paragraph, you might use the word similarly to connect two ideas that are the same, or related. You might use the word additionally to add on to an idea you're conveying.
Definitions
Sometimes, unknown words are defined in the text. Look for language that might introduce a definition, such as "…which means" and "This is."
Definitions may also be found in appositives (see the grammar page for more details), as seen in this example: Applied linguistics, a field devoted to language-related issues in the real word, is becoming increasingly popular among students.
Synonyms
Writers often use words with similar meanings in neighboring sentences.
Consider the following example: She was an exceptional violinist. Her prodigious talent won her the respect of many concertgoers.
Knowing what one of these words means may be enough to help you understand the other.
Antonyms
Writers may also use words with opposite meanings in neighboring sentences.
Look for transition words that signal difference or contrast, such as however, but, or although, as in the following example: Everyone assumed he relished being the center of attention, but he actually hated it.
Examples
Writers may choose to include examples that illustrate the meaning of an unknown word.
Consider this example: There are many vocations one might pursue, such as being a doctor, teacher, community leader, or business owner.
Don't forget that you can go back and look at notes from the other Units!