Course Reading Skills

This Reading Skills course provides tips and techniques to make you a
better reader. You can collect important information from your reading
by previewing and scanning reading material. You’ll build your
vocabulary by learning to recognize multiple-meaning words and find
context clues. By dissecting the individual paragraphs of what you read,
you can find central ideas and supporting details. You’ll study the
various ways authors organize writing, such as compare/contrast,
examples/explanations, chronological order, and cause/effect. You’ll
learn to make inferences, draw conclusions, and identify key details in a
reading. You’ll also explore the imagery used in poetry, along with the
fictional elements of characterization, setting, plot, conflict, and theme.

Course Objectives

Interpret a text by previewing and scanning

Create effective writing
Interpret works of fiction and poetry

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Reading Skills : The Printed Word

Lesson 1 Overview

The purpose of this lesson is

to help you become better at
reading. It will help you learn
how to preview written
material and how to scan an
ad, an online article, or even
a book. When you scan
something, you pick up
important ideas without reading every word. This lesson will also help
you learn different ways to determine what words mean by analyzing the
way they’re used in a sentence or a passage. Finally, you’ll learn how
dictionaries are helpful for readers.

1.1 Identify central ideas in writing

Previewing
READING ASSIGNMENT

What Catches Your Attention?

Watch this short introduction video.

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Sherlock Holmes notes that the window is open, letting in the cold
winter air. The drapes are closed, yet there’s an odor of roast lamb
lingering in the air.

[Magnifying Glass and Book]

“Ah ha!” Holmes exclaims. “As we see, my good Watson, our Mr.
Chestnutt left hurriedly, probably without his dinner. Further, there must
yet be someone in this house.”

“But Holmes,” Watson puzzles, “why do you say so?”

Holmes looks nearly smug. “Elementary, my dear Watson. The drapes

cannot be closed from the outside. Chestnutt didn’t want us to realize
that he was gone. Therefore, someone must have closed the drapes
after he went out the window.”

Holmes was looking for clues in a criminal case. You’re probably not a
detective, but you should look for clues as you read. For example, when

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you look at an ad, you quickly see what it’s about. You’ll see if it’s for a
car, a kitchen appliance, or a new snack item. You’re looking for clues
when you glance at an ad, pick up a book, go online, or leaf through an
article in a magazine.

The term article refers to a complete piece of writing in a magazine,

website, journal, or newspaper.

Learning to pick up clues about written matter is called previewing.

When you preview, you use the information you already know to guess
what information is likely to follow. You can preview information in
classified ads, commercial messages, books, magazines, newspapers,
websites, and other kinds of written material. You can then make
predictions based on that information. For example, if the classified ad
you’re looking at is under “Used Cars,” you know you’re looking at an ad
for a used car.

Imagine you’re in the market for a car. Skim the words in the ads in the
figure below. As you do, try to pick up the main ideas and the most
important facts.

Southport Ford

Looking for top-of-the-line in used cars? We have what you’re looking

for. Stop by Southport Ford and test-drive top-of-the-line foreign and
domestic models. We offer you great savings on dream cars priced from
$18,000 to $29,000.

Save thousands and drive away in style.

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Gary’s Used Cars

Want ‘em used but not abused? Check out our new stock of two-and
four-door sedans. We have clean and mean low-mileage cars starting
as low as $4500! You won’t believe the savings!

When you want specific information, you can go to special sources. For
example, to find out about the weather, instead of a generic news
source, you can check a weather app, weather website, or weather TV
channel. To find out if your home team won or lost their game, you can
check their social media posts or check your favorite sports news
website.

The word specific refers to anything of a particular kind. For example,

you could look at editorials on a political news website when you’re
looking for opinions on current political events.

Previewing Printed and Online Magazines

Titles

Magazines usually make previewing easy. The titles generally give you
a good clue as to what the magazines contain. Consider these
magazine titles:

Reader’s Digest
Good Housekeeping

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 Sports Illustrated
TV Guide
Entertainment Weekly
Cooking Light
Newsweek
Better Homes and Gardens

As you can see, the titles of magazines give you a good idea of the
general subject matter in the magazine. The title of a magazine is a
good place to start when you want to know about its contents.

Table of Contents

To learn more specific information about what a magazine contains, you

can also look at its table of contents, which is usually printed on one of
the first few pages of any magazine. Below is an example of a possible
table of contents for a photography magazine. You can look over this list
to determine the types of articles the magazine carries. You can also
refer to the table of contents to find the specific page on which an article
begins. For example, if you’re interested in taking pictures of your family
dog, you might turn to the article on page 16, “Close-Up on Pet
Photography.” If you’re interested in buying a used camera, you might
turn to page 32.

Table of Contents

Letters to the editor … pg 8

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Photographing the seasons … pg 12

Close-up on pet photography … pg 16

An Interview with News Photographer Lem Frost … pg 25

Pros and Cons for Used-Camera Buyers … pg 32

Do You Need a Telephoto Lens? … pg 42

Marketplace: Selling Your Photos to Newspapers … pg 57

Previewing Fiction

The term fiction refers to a story that’s the product of the author’s
imagination, rather than an account of factual information. The term
novel refers to a long work of fiction. Before you begin to read a novel,
you generally want to know what it’s about. Here are three ways you can
preview a work of fiction:

1. Study the title.

2. Read the back cover or inside book flap.
3. Look at the list of chapter titles, if there are any.

Title

You can often learn a lot from the title of a novel. For example, if the title
is Who Shot Will Robin?, you can be pretty sure the book is a mystery.
However, a title like A Silent Trumpet doesn’t give you much of a hint as
to what it’s about. You’ll have to look further to get more information.

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Below you'll see more examples of the titles and subject matter of real
novels. Study them carefully to see how you can sometimes predict
what a novel is about simply by reading its title.

Novel Title: The Time Machine — Subject: Science Fiction

Novel Title: Mutiny on the Bounty — Subject: Adventure on the Sea

Novel Title: The Haunting of Hill House — Subject: Horror

Novel Title: Showdown at Yellow Butte — Subject: Western

Novel Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — Subject: Fantasy

Back Cover or Inside Book Flap

To find information on the subject of a novel, you can also refer to the
back cover of a paperback novel or the inside book flap in a hardback
book. In either place, you’ll often find a summary of the book’s main
ideas or plot, as well as quotes about the book and the author. Read the
following quotes that might appear on the back of a novel. What do they
tell you?

“One of Lillian Thompson’s finest books so far”

“She makes the Old South come alive.”
“One of the best historical novels of the Civil War ever written”

You can also preview the opening sentences of a piece of fiction to see
what the story is about and whether you would enjoy reading it.

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From these brief quotes, you learn that the novel is about the Old South
during the Civil War. If this type of novel interests you, you may consider
purchasing it or borrowing it from the library. Inside the book’s back flap,
you’ll often find a short biography about the author, which provides
information about the author’s personal background. Knowing a little
about the author of a novel may also help you determine whether it’s a
book you might like to read.

Chapter Titles

Although most modern novels don’t have a table of contents, classic

books were often divided into chapters with titles. These titles are listed
in the front of the novel, along with the page number on which each
chapter begins. The titles below are the first several chapters from Mark
Twain’s novel Life on the Mississippi. As you read these titles, try to
determine if this is a book you would like to read.

[Chapter_Titles]

1. The River and Its History

2. The River and Its Explorers

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 3. Frescoes from the Past
4. The Boys’ Ambition
5. I Want to be a Cub-Pilot
6. A Cub-Pilot’s Experience
7. A Daring Deed
8. Perplexing Lessons

Can you see how the chapter titles may help you to determine the
subject matter of a novel?

Previewing Nonfiction

Nonfiction is writing about real events and facts. You can preview
nonfiction in the same way as you preview fiction. Begin with the title, as
it will often tell you a great deal about its contents.

Consider these titles:

American History during the Civil War

The Life of Abraham Lincoln
Computer Programming for Beginners

As you can see, the titles are quite descriptive regarding the books’
contents.

Nonfiction books almost always have a table of contents. The

example table of contents below is from a book entitled Interior Home
Design for Beginners. The table of contents gives you a good idea of
what topics you’ll find in the book.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Tools You’ll Need to Get Started … pg 6

Chapter 2: The Spaces of Your Home … pg 14

Chapter 3: Choosing Your Preferences … pg 30

Chapter 4: Kitchens: Practical or Family Focused? … pg 48

Chapter 5: Dining Areas: Formal or Not Formal? … pg 63

Chapter 6: Living Spaces: Where Do You Really Live? … pg 74

Chapter 7: Bedrooms: Light and Airy vs. Cozy … pg 90

Chapter 8: Bathrooms: Luxury in Small Spaces … pg 113

The table of contents suggests what the book is about. However, you
can specifically predict what’s in a chapter by previewing the opening
sentences. The figure below presents an excerpt from Chapter 4 of
Interior Home Design for Beginners. As you can see, the first part of the
chapter on kitchens presents a good idea of what you’ll be reading in
that chapter. For example, you may find yourself asking if the kitchen in
your home is a place for the family to gather or simply a place to store
and prepare food.

Kitchens: Practical or Family Focused?

Marcia Prim, a master of home design, once told me, “A kitchen is what
a kitchen does.” I’ve never forgotten that comment. The fact is, a kitchen

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is more than appliances, cabinets, and working space. In farm families,
the kitchen table was often the family gathering space. In modern
suburbia, the kitchen breakfast nook can be a cheerful place for starting
a new day. For a busy working single, the kitchen may be little more
than a fridge, a microwave, and a place to toss the groceries.

In this chapter, we’ll begin where you should begin. If you’re thinking
about remodeling your kitchen or designing a new one, your first task is
thinking about Marcia Prim’s observation. What do you want from your
kitchen? What place will it play in your life and in the daily routines of
your family?

Watch this short review video.

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Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

Previewing is the process of picking up clues from written material.

Previewing magazines involves scanning their titles and tables of
contents.
Fictional material is the product of an author’s imagination, not a
factual account.
A novel is a long work of fiction.
Previewing a work of fiction involves studying the title, reading the

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 back cover or inside book flap, and looking at the chapter titles (if
the book has them).
Nonfiction is material that describes real events and facts.
Nonfiction books can be previewed in the same way as fiction
books.

Links

SQ3R (www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Gic5lU-5g)
Improving High School Reading Skills (www.ehow.com/video_4790
952_improving-high-school-reading-skills.html)
How to Improve Reading Comprehension (www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=aK2JscwKkHA)
The Keys to Remembering What You Read (www.monkeysee.com/
play/21906-the-keys-to-remembering-what-you-read)
How to Read a Poem (www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMAt0ixlM8c)

Exercise: Previewing Content

Based on what you've read, answer the following questions.

Use the following table of contents to answer questions 1 and 2.

Contents

Chapter 1. The Invention of Golf

Chapter 2. Getting Started: Golf Clubs for Beginners

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Chapter 3. The Art of the Swing

Chapter 4. Tee-Shots and Drivers

Chapter 5. Fairway Shots: Which Club?

Chapter 6. Your Short Game: Chipping and Putting

Chapter 7. Working with a Golf Pro

Chapter 8. The Game You Can Never Win, Only Play

1. If you want to understand how to use a driver on a tee, which

chapter should you read?

2. What do you think would be included in Chapter 3?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Previewing Content

1. Read Chapter 4, Tee-Shots and Drivers, to understand how to use

a driver on a tee.
2. Chapter 3 probably includes information on different types of golf
swings.

1.2 Scan written material for detailed information

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Scanning
READING ASSIGNMENT

The Process of Scanning

Watch this short introduction video.

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The world around us is filled with words in print. They appear on

billboards, on television screens, on websites, on subway posters, and
on signs posted along interstate highways. We glimpse brightly colored
titles and captions on magazines as we pass the corner newsstand.
Standing on our front porch in our robe and slippers, we look down at
the Sunday newspaper and we scan the headlines. Going online to our
favorite national news site, we scan the list of top stories while we wait
for our coffee to finish brewing. Scanning is a way to get the information
you’re looking for without reading every word.

The process of scanning involves running your eyes quickly over lines of
print, looking for specific information.

A passage is a part of an article or a portion of a book. A passage can

be a sentence, a few sentences, or one or more paragraphs.

There are more printed words around us than anyone could ever read.
We seldom have the time to read every word in a printed ad or every
paragraph in an article. That’s when the process of scanning comes in

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handy. When you scan the front page of a newspaper, you often check
the headlines. You’re looking for words that catch your attention. You
don’t have to read every word. If you know what information you’re
looking for, scanning is like searching for clues.

For example, let’s say you’re in the market for a used car. Scanning the
classified section of the newspaper, you look for the make of car you like
and a price you can afford. Let’s say you’re looking for a used American-
made sedan for $13,500 or less. You want it to be easy to maintain and
dependable. To give you an idea of how to look for clues in the
classifieds, check out the example ads below.

CLASSIFIED ADS - AUTOMOBILES

SHARP, CLEAN ‘18 Sonata. Loaded. Low mileage. $15,500 or best

offer. Call 555-1254 after 5 PM. Ask for Jeeter.

MUST SELL. ‘14 Nissan Altima, 4-dr. Clean. A/C, Very low mileage.
One Owner. Will finance. $12,775. Work: 555-6933. Home: 555-2987

LOOKING for that second car? Clean, 17’ Chevy Cruze. Only 40,000
miles. 5-speed. New tires. Low maintenance. $13,250 negotiable. Call
333-8743.

ONE- OWNER. ‘16 Toyota Camry. 4-dr. Loaded. Leather seats. V-6.
39,000 miles. All but maintenance-free. Price reduced to $16,000

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CLASSIC 74 Mustang fastback. Restored. Rebuilt engine. New seals
and fittings. New paint. Radial tires. Four on the floor and runs like a
dream. $9,950 or best offer. Call anytime: 333- 8396.

To see if there are any cars you would be interested in, you might first
scan through the ads and look at the prices, eliminating those that are
out of your price range. Or you may decide to quickly scan the ads and
eliminate all foreign cars. Whatever method you choose, you’ll be
scanning—not reading every word—to find what you’re looking for.

Scanning for Specific Information

Now take some time to practice scanning. Read the following questions.
Then, scan—don’t read—the passage below to find the answers to the
questions.

1. True or False? Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War.
2. Who was defeated at Gettysburg?
3. What did President Lincoln dedicate at Gettysburg?

GETTYSBURG AND THE CIVIL WAR

Most of us who have studied the American Civil War remember little
about the great battles. The exception may be three days that included
July 3, 1863. Why? Because those terrible days were associated with a
small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg. Today, hundreds of tourists
wander around the museum at the Gettysburg Memorial Park and peer
out over the green fields where so many died. Many of us remember
that Gettysburg was the site of the famous and ill-fated charge of

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Pickett’s brigade. We yet speak of Pickett’s charge. Historically,
Gettysburg is remembered as a turning point in the Civil War. It was a
terrible battle. More Americans died in those three days than would lay
down their lives during the entire Vietnam War. At last, Robert E. Lee’s
Confederate forces were defeated and the remains of his army had to
retreat. Never again would a Confederate arm cross into a Union state
to threaten the nation’s capital. While many a terrible battle yet lay
ahead, the final outcome of the war was now all but certain.

But we remember Gettysburg for another reason. It was at that place,

weeks later, that a man we remember as “Honest Abe” came to
dedicate a cemetery for the many thousands who fell. It was ay
Gettysburg that President Abraham Lincoln spoke words that echo over
the years. Those words offered us a hope and a challenge. His hope
was that “government of the people, by the people, and for the people
shall not perish from the earth.” His challenge, for those present and for
generations yet unborn, was that we must be ever dedicated to that
great hope.

How well did you do in answering the questions? Here are the answers
so you can check yourself:

1. True
2. Robert E. Lee and his forces were defeated at Gettysburg.
3. President Lincoln dedicated a cemetery at Gettysburg.

When you scanned the paragraphs about Gettysburg, you probably

found that some words stood out. Words like Gettysburg, Civil War, and

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Lincoln are more likely to get your attention than other words. That’s
because they begin with capital letters since they’re proper nouns.

The term proper nouns refers to the names of specific persons, places,
and things. Some examples are Ohio, Elvis Presley, and Dead Sea.
Proper nouns are usually capitalized.

In addition to capital letters, numbers also stand out in paragraphs. Look

again at the paragraphs in the figure above. Did you notice how the date
July 3, 1863, stood out in the first paragraph? Remember that, and
when you have to scan material for a particular date (or any other
number), you can concentrate on scanning the material for numbers.

Try a scanning exercise. Before reading the passage below, study

these questions:

1. Who is the article about?

2. What is the criticism of the person’s films?
3. What does this person do in the film business?

Try to answer these three questions without reading the entire passage
from the article.

RON HOWARD AND THE MOVIES

Ron Howard has heard the criticism. His films are “too commercial”,
sometimes “bordering on sentimentality”. However, it doesn’t matter to
Ron, and apparently, it doesn’t matter to the audiences that flock to see

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his movies. Count the hits: A Beautiful Mind, Ransom, and Apollo 13
stand out. Yes, he has been the director of some disappointments, such
as EdTV, a film about a cable channel devoted to the life of an ordinary
man, and Far and Away, a film about Irish immigrants in the early
twentieth century.

“I want everybody to love everything I do, but by the same token, if you
let that be your guiding principle, creatively you’d be paralyzed from the
set”, Howard said during an interview. “You do have to make choices
that are personal.”

— Excerpted and modified from “Ron Howard Doesn’t Play for

Popularity”, by George M. Thomas, Akron Beacon Journal, 2003.

How did you do? Chances are you learned who the article was about in
the very first sentence: Ron Howard has heard the criticism. The second
sentence explains this criticism: His films are too commercial. It may
have taken you longer to learn what Ron Howard does in the film
business—unless you already knew. If you didn’t know, you would have
had to scan down to the last sentence of the second paragraph to learn
that Ron Howard is a director. Does that mean you would have had to
read every word in the article? No. A lot of the article lists the names of
some of Ron Howard’s most popular movies. You can get this
information from scanning the material.

Tips on Taking Tests

Taking tests is just part of education, and using scanning and predicting

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skills can actually improve your test-taking skills. Since many tests are
based on multiple-choice questions, we’ll use these as an example. A
multiple-choice test item gives you several different choices; you’re
supposed to select the correct one. To answer this type of question, you
may have to read a few passages in a text. For example, scan these
two paragraphs to find the answers to the questions below:

The body is made up of different organs that do a variety of jobs. The

lungs take in oxygen when we inhale. The lungs also allow us to exhale
waste air made up of carbon dioxide. The heart pumps blood throughout
our body. It carries oxygen from the lungs to all the body’s billions of
cells. Just as we breathe in oxygen, so do our cells. The heart also
pumps blood back to the lungs after all the cells have been “fed”. This
time it’s carrying carbon dioxide. We exhale that from our body.

All of our organs have their jobs to do, but the most amazing organ in
the human body is the brain. It allows us to laugh and run and jump. It
does all of the work we do with our minds. It’s hard to imagine how
complex the brain is. Think of all the stars in the sky, including the
millions and millions of stars we can’t see even on the darkest night.
Every second, your brain works with more bits of information than all of
those stars!

1. What do we inhale into our lungs that cells need to live?

a. Carbon dioxide
b. Nutrients
c. Oxygen

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d. Waste air

The answer is c: oxygen. You can answer this question by scanning the
passage. You can look for the words inhale and lungs. For that matter,
you can look for words that begin with l or i. Often, you can answer a
question like this, even if you aren’t exactly sure what the words carbon
dioxide and nutrients actually mean.

Here’s another question based on the same paragraphs:

2. The most complex organ in the human body is the

a. lungs.
b. heart.
c. intestines.
d. brain.

The answer is d: brain. Once again, you can pick up on that answer by
scanning for—or remembering—the word complex.

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Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

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 Scanning is a way to get the information you’re looking for without
reading every word.
The process of scanning involves running your eyes quickly over
lines of print, looking for specific information.
Numbers and words that are capitalized usually stand out in a
paragraph or passage.
Scanning a passage can often be helpful during a test.

Links

Skimming and Scanning (www.42explore.com/skim.htm)

Scanning Text for the Information You Need (www.dummies.com/h
ow-to/content/scanning-text-for-the-information-you-need.html)
Using Context Clues (lessons.pennfoster.com/modules/hsread/Usi
ng_Context_Clues.pdf)

Exercise: Scanning

Scan the paragraphs below. Then answer the following questions.

For years, women’s professional golf was all but ignored. Women’s
tournaments received very little attention in the sports pages, but all that
is changing. Golfers like Michelle Wie are becoming almost as well-
known as Jordan Spieth. The ESPN television channel covers major
women’s tournaments. Most impressive of all, the winnings on the
women’s tour are getting downright hefty. Top money for the recent
Founders Cup in Phoenix, Arizona,was $225,000.

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 1. Who is Michelle Wie?
2. What does the word hefty refer to?

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for
Loudon and Augusta counties beginning at 7:00 P.M., EST, Friday,
December 12, through 3:00 A.M., EST, Sunday, December 14. Snowfall
of between 4 and 8 inches is predicted. School closings will be
announced on Channel 10 through the evening.

1. How much snow is the storm likely to produce?

2. What do you think EST stands for?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Scanning

1. Michelle Wie is a professional golfer.

2. You can infer that hefty means a great deal, as in a lot of money for
winning a golf tournament.
3. The storm is likely to produce 4 to 8 inches of snow.
4. EST stands for Eastern Standard Time.

Exercise: Predicting

Read the following sentences from the first paragraph of a

newspaper article and answer the questions that follow.

The news is out! Lee Forest announced Tuesday that Seattle native
Leila Croft will be the new chief of production at Forest Home Appliance
beginning March 1.

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 1. What do you think the article is about?
2. What do you learn from the first sentence?

Read the lead sentences of the following online magazine article.

Two witnesses have identified a Trenton man in connection with a

Grand Forks robbery. Police Chief Charlie Knotts refused to comment
about the situation.

1. What is this article about?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Predicting

1. The article is about the promotion of Leila Croft.

2. A news item has just been released.
3. The article is about two witnesses who have identified a robbery
suspect.

1.3 Use context clues and dictionaries to define words

and phrases
Working With Words
READING ASSIGNMENT

Let's study how to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. One way
is to look up the word in a dictionary. Another is to get a clue about the

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meaning of the word from the way it’s used. Sometimes you might have
to figure out the intended meaning when a word has more than one
meaning.

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Word Meanings

When you’re reading, it isn’t unusual to come across words that you
don’t understand or words you don’t know the meaning of. There are
five main reasons that can happen:

1. An author may use a word incorrectly. For example, one might

write, “His contract aloud him to work 40 hours a week if
necessary.” You may recognize that the word aloud should be
allowed. However, sometimes the meaning isn’t as clear, especially
if you’re dealing with a word you’re unfamiliar with.
2. A word may be totally new to you—a word you’ve never seen
before. You see it and have no idea what it means. For example,
suppose someone said your friend looks “resplendent in her new
dress.” If you don’t know the meaning of resplendent, you might
wonder if this statement is a compliment or an insult. (The word
means dazzling or magnificent—so it’s definitely a compliment!)
3. You’ve seen a word before, but you’ve never been sure of its
meaning. That’s often the case because you’ve skipped over it
before and not looked up its definition. An example might be the
word toxic in a sentence like this: John didn’t realize that some

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 kinds of toadstools are toxic. (In this sentence, toxic means
poisonous.)
4. You once knew the meaning of the word, but you’ve forgotten it.
That happens when you go a long time without reading or using a
word. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.
5. Words have more than one meaning. That is, they have multiple
meanings. For example, the word face has many meanings. It may
be a noun that refers to a person’s face or the face of a cliff, or it
may be a verb that means to meet in a face-to-face situation.

When words have more than one meaning, they have multiple
meanings.

Using A Dictionary or Thesaurus

The best and most reliable way to find out the meaning of any word is to
look it up in a dictionary. A dictionary is a practical and user-friendly
reference work that’s readily available at a reasonable cost—or even
free online. Whenever you encounter an unfamiliar word, whether in a
science lesson, a social studies assignment, a newspaper, a magazine,
a book, or a website, make it a habit to look up that word in a dictionary.
Doing so will improve both your vocabulary and your reading
comprehension.

As one of our students, you have access to several online dictionaries in

the Penn Foster library. You can access this library from your
homepage. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the dictionaries
available to you through this library.

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Most dictionaries include the following information:

Instructions on the best way to use the dictionary

History of the English language
Guide to pronunciation
Abbreviations
Foreign words and phrases and their definitions
Biographical names
Geographical names
Signs and symbols
Handbook of style (helpful for writing assignments)

Let’s look up the word organize and examine its entry in a dictionary.
The definition for organize shows

1. The pronunciation of the word. To understand the pronunciation

marks, refer to the front of your dictionary where you’ll find a key to
these markings.
2. The part of speech. In this case, the word organize is a verb (vb).
Generally, the part of speech for a dictionary entry is indicated by
an abbreviation: noun (n), pronoun (pron), verb (vb or v), adjective
(adj), adverb (adv), preposition (prep), conjunction (conj), and
interjection (interj).
3. Other tenses. If the word is a verb, the dictionary will show how to
form other tenses of the verb. In this case, the dictionary shows the
endings for the past participle (organized) and the present participle
(organizing).

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 4. The definition. The dictionary definition gives the exact meaning of
the word. If the word has multiple meanings, the definitions are
numbered, as they are for organize in the figure below.
5. Synonyms and antonyms. At the end of an entry, a dictionary
may give one or more synonyms and antonyms for a word.

[Organize Dictionary Entry]

This dictionary entry for the word organize shows (1) the pronunciation,
(2) the part of speech, (3) other tenses, (4) the definitions, and (5) a
synonym and antonym.

A synonym is a word with the same or similar meaning as another word.

For example, huge is a synonym for enormous.

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An antonym is a word with the opposite meaning of another word. For
example, the word small is an antonym for huge.

A thesaurus provides both synonyms and antonyms

for words.

Some dictionaries also show the history and language origin of a word.

Get to know your dictionary and use it often. A dictionary is much more
than a place to look up the meanings of unfamiliar words. It’s one of
your most important study and reference tools.

To find more synonyms and antonyms for a word, you can use a
different reference called a thesaurus. These are also available both in
book form and online. A thesaurus is helpful to understand the message
an author is trying to get across with a word.

Context Clues

You can often understand what a word means from its context, that is,
the setting or placement of something. We could say, for example, that
calling out “Fire!” in the context of a crowded theater is a bad idea. We
could also say that a rusted old car looks unsightly in the context of a
schoolyard.

In reading, the term context refers to the way a word is used along with
other words.

When you figure out the meaning of a word from the way it’s used in a

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sentence or paragraph, you’re using the context of the word.

You may be surprised at how much the context of a word can help you
to understand its meaning. Consider this example. If someone were to
ask you, “What does loquacious mean?” you might not know the
answer. However, if you were able to read the word loquacious in a
sentence or a paragraph (that is, in context), you may be able to
determine what it means. Clues from these sentences about the
meaning of a word are called context clues. Read the following sentence
and see if you can determine the meaning of the word loquacious.

Someone told me Carol was a loquacious individual, but I found her to

be rather quiet.

Based on this sentence, you can probably figure out that loquacious
means the opposite of quiet. Therefore, it must mean talkative.

When you see a dash (—) or a comma ( , ) in a sentence, it often

means that more information follows. Look for these kinds of marks
when you’re working with context clues.

Now, let’s say you come across a word written on a slip of paper. The
word is ambivalent. By itself, you may not be sure what that word
means. You don’t know if it refers to a strange disease, to an emotional
disorder, or to something you wouldn’t want to find under your bed.
However, when you see the word used in a sentence, you have an
advantage. The paragraphs in the passage below contain the word
ambivalent. Read them carefully. As you read, try to determine what

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ambivalent means.

When Ham Fisher called and offered Jolene a chance to perform at the
Starlight Bar and Grill, she was ecstatic. As she came bouncing down
the stairs, her mother stepped out of the kitchen and gave her a little
smile.

“Who was that on the phone?” she asked. Immediately, Jolene realized
that she might have a problem. For one thing, Jolene had just turned 18
and the Starlight had a reputation for attracting unruly customers. “It was
Ham Fisher,” Jolene said in a calm and even voice. “He wants me to
perform on Wednesday night.”

Jolene’s mother looked down at her feet and then back at her daughter.
She was no longer smiling. “I hope you told him no,” she said. Jolene
signed. She loved her mom, but she also loved playing her guitar and
singing. “Mom, I’m 18 now. This could be a break for me. I said yes.”

For a long moment, mother and daughter stared at each other. Jolene
was ambivalent. She didn’t want to hurt her mother, but she wanted the
opportunity to perform for a real audience. At the same time, although
Jolene didn’t know, her mom also felt ambivalent. She wanted her
daughter to fulfill her dreams. On the other hand, she was worried about
the atmosphere at the Starlight Bar and Grill. Finally, with a shrug,
Jolene’s mom smiled and said, “Well, I guess you’re old enough to
make your own decisions.”

People are ambivalent when they have mixed feelings. They want

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something, but at the same time, they have reservations and doubts
about what they want. In this case, both Jolene and her mother
experienced ambivalence.

Go back over the paragraphs in the figure above. Look for other words
you might not be familiar with. Does their context help you understand
them? For example, can you see that the word ecstatic means very
happy and excited? Can you determine that the word unruly means
poorly behaved?

You see? You can often know what words mean from their context.

Multiple Meanings

Some words have more than one meaning. For example, consider the
rather simple word hard. Think about what it means; then read the
following sentences:

The wooden chair was hard and uncomfortable.

I think studying English is fun, but studying math is hard.

In the first sentence, the word hard refers to something that’s firm or
solid. The second sentence uses the word hard as a synonym for
difficult. When you need to determine the meaning of a word that has
more than one definition, you can often get it from the context of the
passage or sentence. At other times you should check the word in a
dictionary.

When you look up a word in a dictionary and you find that it has more

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than one meaning, make sure you select the correct definition—that is,
the one that fits the context of the word.

As an example of a word with multiple meanings, study the paragraph in

the figure below.

Jason and Millie searched the empty farmhouse for clues. One key on
the piano in the parlor was missing, but the piano itself provided no
clues. Both amateur detectives were thrilled to find an old shed in the
back yard, but equally disappointed when they saw it was padlocked.
Jason was sure the key to solving the mystery would be found in the
broken piano key. Millie was just as sure the mystery would be solved by
finding the key to the shed door.

In the paragraph above, the word key is used in three different ways.

1. “One key on the piano in the parlor was missing.” In this sentence,
the word key is used to refer to that part of a piano that is pushed
down to make a musical sound.
2. “Jason was sure the key to solving the mystery would be found in
the broken piano key.” In other words, Jason thought the broken
piano was a clue.
3. “Millie was just as sure the mystery would be solved by finding the
key to the shed.” Millie, on the other hand, thought an object, a key
that unlocked the shed, might solve the mystery.

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8cc3-c469249176a5_default/index.html?videoId=6217468566001

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Key Points and Links
READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

The best and most reliable way to find out the meaning of any word
is to look it up in a dictionary.
A synonym is a word with the same or similar meaning as another
word.
An antonym is a word with the opposite meaning of another word.
You can often determine the meaning of a word by the way it’s
used in a sentence or paragraph. When you figure out the meaning
of a word in this way, you’re using the context of the word.
When you look up a word in a dictionary and you find that it has
more than one meaning, make sure you select the correct definition
—that is, the one that fits the context of the word.

Links

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus (www.m-w.com/)

Merriam-Webster’s Visual Dictionary (visual.merriam-webster.com/)
VocabAhead (www.vocabahead.com/)
My Vocabulary (www.myvocabulary.com/)

Exercise: Context Clues

Based on what you've read, answer the following questions.

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Mark and Susie decided to have a yard sale. Whatever didn't sell, they
would donate to their favorite charity.

1. What does the word charity mean here?

2. What word in the sentence provides a context clue to the meaning
of the word?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Context Clues

1. Charity means a place that takes donations.

2. The clue word is donate.

Exercise: Words with Multiple Meanings

Based on what you've read, answer the following questions.

Study the following dictionary meanings for the word strike.

1. strike (str ī k) v. To hit something or somebody

2. strike v. To cancel something out, as in striking a sentence from a
paragraph
3. strike n. An organized work stoppage by employees, generally
members of a trade union
4. strike v. To move out or away in some direction or toward some
goal
5. strike n. In baseball, a pitch missed by a batter

In the following paragraph, the word strike is used in three ways.

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Indicate which dictionary definition is appropriate for each one.

Deciding to strike (1) out on his own, Judd left Missouri and hitchhiked to
Tacoma, Washington. After two days of walking the streets, he got a job
in a plywood factory. The job was hard and dangerous. The factory floor
was dimly lit, and the noise from the chipping machines was terrible. By
lunchtime, he was exhausted, but not too tired to overhear workers at
the next table. They were talking about going out on strike (2). Hearing
enough to learn that the strike was planned for the next day, Judd
realized he might be out of a job by the next morning. Poor Judd. That
afternoon, after work, he bought a newspaper. Standing on a street
corner, he searched the classified ads. It was beginning to rain. Pulling
up the collar of his overcoat, Judd muttered to himself, “That’s life.
Sometimes you get a base hit, and sometimes you strike (3) out.”

1. Strike (1) ___________________

2. Strike (2) ___________________
3. Strike (3) ___________________

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Words with Multiple Meanings

1. strike definition 4

2. strike definition 3

3. strike definition 5

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Lesson 1 Review

Self-Check
1. If you want to plant a garden in your backyard, which one of these
books would be most helpful?
a. Home and Garden in Colonial Delaware
b. Horticulture and Commerce in America
c. Gardening around the Home
d. Health Benefits of Organic Vegetables
2. Which one of these newspaper articles would you be most likely to
read if you were interested in the positions that politicians are taking on
creating new jobs?
a. “Mayor Goode Seeks End to City Transit Strike”
b. “Representative Cranwell Targets Brite-Mart for Low Wages”
c. “Senator Lowell Proposes New Sales Tax”
d. “New Bill Would Encourage Illegal Immigration”
3. Which of the following articles would you be likely to read if you were
concerned with fair employment practices?
a. “Representative Cranwell Targets Brite-Mart for Low Wages” and
“Mayor Goode Seeks End to City Transit Strike”
b. “Representative Cranwell Targets Brite-Mart for Low Wages” and
“Senator Lowell Proposes New Sales Tax”
c. “New Bill Would Encourage Illegal Immigration” and “Mayor Goode

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Seeks End to City Transit Strike”
d. “Senator Lowell Proposes New Sales Tax” and “New Bill Would
Encourage Illegal Immigration”
4. Suppose you want to know how harmful pesticides may be to pets.
Which one of the following articles would be least helpful?
a. “Triton Insecticide Recalled in 12 States”
b. “New Studies Show the Long-Term Effects of Pesticide Powders”
c. “FDA Calls for Biodegradable Pesticide Research”
d. “Is Your Back Yard a Hazard to Your Pets?”
5. Which of the following is an antonym of angry?
a. Grumpy
b. Sad
c. Pleased
d. Quiet
6. Which of the following is a synonym of heavy?
a. Light
b. Weighty
c. Little
d. Weight
7. "When you encounter an unfamiliar word in your reading, you can
often figure out its meaning by its context." What does context mean in
this sentence?
a. Where the word appears in the sentence
b. The main idea of the sentence
c. The dictionary definition of the word
d. How the word is used in the piece of writing

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8. "Although planets resemble stars as one observes the night sky, the
planets change position from night to night in relation to the stars. Like
the sun, the planets appear to rise in the east and set in the west. When
a planet travels westward in relation to the stars, its motion is called
retrograde." Based on the preceding paragraph, what does the word
retrograde mean?
a. Forwards
b. Decrease
c. Increase
d. Backwards
9. Using a dictionary, choose the best definition of the term effluent.
a. The direction of flow of a river
b. Acid rain
c. Turbulence in a flowing system
d. Waste material discharged into the environment
10. Read the following paragraph and answer the question. Making
ethical decisions in the health care setting can be confusing. Ethical
dilemmas are found in almost every aspect of the health care delivery
system. The word ethics comes from the Greek ethos, meaning custom,
usage, or character. Ethical study is related to philosophy, the pursuit of
wisdom. Ethical theories attempt to systemize, defend, and recommend
concepts of right and wrong behavior. We all have opinions and beliefs
about ethics, even if we’re not fully conscious of them. Based on the
paragraph, what does ethical mean?
a. Restricted to sale only based on a doctor's prescription
b. Being in accordance with accepted principles of right and wrong

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that govern the conduct of a profession
c. Of, relating to, or based on philosophy
d. Knowledge of what's proper or reasonable; using good sense or
judgment in a professional setting

Self-Check Answer Key

1. Gardening around the Home

Explanation: Gardening around the Home is a general gardening
title, whereas the others are more specific and not related to
backyard gardening.
Reference: Section 1.1

2. “Representative Cranwell Targets Brite-Mart for Low Wages”

Explanation: If Representative Cranwell is targeting Brite-Mart for
low wages, she must be interested in jobs that pay well.
Reference: Section 1.1

3. “Representative Cranwell Targets Brite-Mart for Low Wages” and

“Mayor Goode Seeks End to City Transit Strike”
Explanation: The Cranwell and Goode articles are both about fair
employment—specifically, wages and unions. The sales tax and
immigration articles aren’t really relevant to employment.
Reference: Section 1.1

4. “Is Your Back Yard a Hazard to Your Pets?”

Explanation: The backyard article may or may not have anything to

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 do with harmful pesticides.
Reference: Section 1.1

5. Pleased
Explanation: An antonym is a word with the opposite meaning
of another word.
Reference: Section 1.3

6. Weighty
Explanation: A synonym is a word that means basically the same
thing as another word.
Reference: Section 1.3

7. How the word is used in the piece of writing

Explanation: In reading, the term context refers to the way a word is
used along with other words. Context also means the setting or
placement of something.
Reference: Section 1.3

8. Backwards
Explanation: If the planets appear to rise in the east and set in the
west, and a planet travels westward in relation to the stars, its
motion is backwards.
Reference: Section 1.3

9. Waste material discharged into the environment

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 Explanation: The dictionary definition is liquid waste or sewage
discharged into a river or the sea.
Reference: Section 1.3

10. Being in accordance with accepted principles of right and wrong

that govern the conduct of a profession
Explanation: Ethical theories attempt to systemize, defend, and
recommend concepts of right and wrong behavior; in the context of
the paragraph, ethics is discussed in relationship to the health care
profession.
Reference: Section 1.3

Flash Cards
1. Term: Article
Definition: A complete piece of writing in a newspaper or magazine

2. Term: Specific
Definition: Anything of a particular kind

3. Term: Scanning
Definition: A process that involves running your eyes quickly over lines,
looking for specific information

4. Term: Passage
Definition: A part of an article or a portion of a book

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5. Term: Proper nouns
Definition: The names of specific persons, places, and things

6. Term: Multiple meanings

Definition: When words have more than one meaning

7. Term: Synonym
Definition: A word with the same or similar meaning as another word

8. Term: Antonym
Definition: A word with the opposite meaning of another word

9. Term: Thesaurus
Definition: A reference that provides both synonyms and antonyms for
words

10. Term: Context

Definition: The way a word is used in a sentence or paragraph

11. Term: Previewing

Definition: Using information you already know to guess what
information is likely to follow

12. Term: Fiction

Definition: A story that's the product of the author's imagination rather
than factual information

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13. Term: Nonfiction
Definition: Writing that refers to real events and factual information

14. Term: Elements that commonly stand out when scanning

Definition:

1. Proper nouns
2. Capital letters
3. Numbers

Exercise
1. Review Exercise: Scanning

The questions below are based on the following instructions for a

Homeside fire extinguisher.

Homeside Extinguisher

To Use

1. Remove the yellow pin, and hold the extinguisher upright.

2. Stand back 6 feet, and aim at the base of the fire.
3. Press the top button, and sweep the extinguisher from side to side.

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Safety Instructions

Keep product away from children.

Do not store at high temperatures (above 120°F) or under extreme
cold (less than −40°F).
Avoid inhaling the dry chemical agent.
Do not incinerate the container.
Do not spray toward a person’s face.

Do Not Test

Testing the extinguisher reduces its pressure.

Use the product only in case of fire.

First Aid

The chemical agent inside the extinguisher isn’t toxic. However, it may
cause skin irritation. If your skin comes in contact with the agent, flush
the area with cool water. If the irritation persists, contact a physician
immediately.

Homeside Products
306 North Sherman Drive
Lamar, SD 30453
Made in USA

1. If you have a problem with your extinguisher, where would you

write to make a complaint?
2. Before using your fire extinguisher, which words would you look for

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 to learn how far to stand back from the fire?
3. In using your fire extinguisher, your dog got some spray on his
back. What section of the label should have the information you
need for this situation?

Exercise Answer Key:

Review Exercise: Scanning

1. You would write to Homeside Products, 306 North Sherman Drive,

Lamar, SD 30453.
2. Scan the label for the Safety Instructions.
3. The First Aid section should contain the information needed to deal
with your dog getting spray on his back.

2. Review Exercise: Words with Multiple Meanings

Answer the questions based on the following paragraph.

He was born Alexander, son of King Phillip II of Macedonia, in July of

356 B.C. As a child, he showed his skill in riding and in the use of arms.
His mother, Olympias, was very ambitious and encouraged him to learn.
He was taught to think deeply and seriously by his teacher, the famous
Greek philosopher Aristotle.

As Alexander matured, Macedonia, the northernmost of the Greek

states, was gaining power. At only 18, Alexander was given command
of a legion of cavalry at a famous battle. His brilliance in that battle led
to a smashing victory over the combined armies of Thebes and Athens.

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Thereafter, Macedonia was the dominant power of all Greece. Then,
under suspicious circumstances, Alexander’s father died suddenly.
Alexander, now 20, became king of Macedonia.

That was just the beginning of Alexander’s incredible career. He

gathered an army and marched to the east, toward Persia (modern-day
Iraq and Iran). He and his forces conquered Persia and then most of
near Asia—right up to the borders of India. After conquering Egypt, he
founded the city of Alexandria, which still bears his name today.

In the year 323 B.C., at the age of 33, Alexander died of a fever. By
then, he had conquered much of the known world through cruel and
brutal conquests. Entire populations of men, women, and children were
slaughtered. Yet, Alexander also brought Greek art and education to
parts of the world. Whatever we may think of this historical figure, we
can understand why some still refer to him as Alexander the Great.

1. What does it mean if you're suspicious?

2. What does the word incredible mean?

3. What does the word brutal mean?

4. Which sentence in the last paragraph provides a clue to the

meaning of the word slaughtered?

Exercise Answer Key:

Review Exercise: Words with Multiple Meanings

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1. If you're suspicious, you think something may be wrong.

2. The word incredible means unbelievable.

3. The word brutal means terribly violent.

4. "By then, he had conquered much of the known world through cruel
and brutal conquests."

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Reading Skills : Main Ideas

Lesson 2 Overview

Paragraphs are all around—

in newspapers and
magazines, in books and
instruction manuals, in emails
and websites, and just about
anywhere else. Paragraphs
help to break up lengthy
printed material into smaller
pieces so that readers can understand the written material more easily.

The word paragraph doesn’t refer to a random bunch of sentences.

Good writers know how to organize the sentences in their paragraphs so
that their readers get the most out of the information they present.

In this lesson, you’ll learn what a paragraph is and how to identify its
topic. Next, you’ll examine the ways in which writers include details in
their paragraphs to help support their main ideas or to support their
point. Finally, you’ll learn various ways paragraphs are organized, from
compare and contrast and cause and effect to chronological order and

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more.

2.1 Explain the structure and purpose of a paragraph

Paragraphs
READING ASSIGNMENT

The Essay

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8cc3-c469249176a5_default/index.html?videoId=6221758289001

In this lesson, you’ll learn about paragraphs and how they function in
different types of writing. An essay is a common type of writing. A
standard essay consists of an introduction, body paragraphs, and a
conclusion.

In the first paragraph, the introduction, an author presents the main

idea of the essay. This paragraph, which tells readers what they’re
going to read about, is designed to grab their attention.
The body of an essay follows the introduction. Paragraphs in the
body of the essay are made up of a variety of supporting details to
prove the main idea. These details include elements such as
statistics, stories, research studies, quotations, and whatever else
the author wants to use to support his or her main idea.
An essay ends with the conclusion, the author summarizes what he
or she has demonstrated or discussed in the essay.

Here’s a simple way to remember the makeup of an essay:

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 Introduction: Tell your readers what you’re going to tell them.
Body: Tell them.
Conclusion: Tell them what you told them.

Now that you have an idea of how a standard essay is structured, let’s
look closer at what a paragraph is.

What Is a Paragraph?

Articles in newspapers and magazines are broken up into paragraphs. A

paragraph is a group of sentences that relate to a central or main topic.
The statement within a paragraph that provides that central idea is
called a topic sentence. The other sentences provide details about the
topic.

Details are small facts that present information about a topic.

For example, imagine you’re reading a paragraph about comic book

collecting. The topic sentence might be “Collecting comic books is a
popular hobby for many people.” The rest of the sentences should then
present details to support that idea.

While all paragraphs have a main topic, not all of them have clear or
obvious topic sentences. Some don’t have a topic sentence at all.
Instead, as a reader, you must read the entire paragraph and determine
what it’s about. Later in this study lesson, you’ll learn more about
paragraphs that have no clear topic sentence.

To help you understand how paragraphs are constructed, read the short

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article about American government in the following passage:

In the United States, the central government is called the federal

government. It’s divided into three branches - the executive branch, the
legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The responsibilities of these
three branches are set forth in the Constitution of the United States.

The executive branch includes the president, the vice-president, and a

cabinet. The cabinet members include, among others, the secretary of
state, the secretary of labor, and the secretary of agriculture. A cabinet
secretary heads a government department with many public servants.
For example, the secretary of agriculture heads the Department of
Agriculture. The president, vice president, the cabinet departments, and
other agencies - like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
make up the executive branch.

The Legislative branch is called Congress. It’s made up of the House of

Representatives and the Senate. Both of these lawmaking bodies work
in or near the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The House of
Representatives has 435 members. Each representative is elected by
the people of a congressional district. States with larger populations
have more representatives because they have a larger number of
congressional districts. For all of the 50 states and the U.S. territories,
there are 435 congressional districts. On the other hand, the Senate has
only 100 members. Two senators are elected by all of the voters of a
state. Since there are 50 states, and each state has two senators, there
are 100 senators.

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The judicial branch is different from the other two branches. Whereas
Congress passes laws and the executive branch puts laws into effect,
the judicial branch decides if laws are constitutional. The Constitution is
the final law of the land. No law should be passed that violates the
Constitution. If citizens feel that a law is unconstitutional, they can get
the help of lawyers to bring a case before a federal court and challenge
the law. The highest court is the Supreme Court. It’s made up of nine
justices who serve for life. There are also lower federal courts called
district courts and courts of appeals. These are divided among different
parts of the United States and its territories. All of these courts are part
of the judicial branch.

These three branches of government are equal. That is, no one branch
has more authority than the other two. In that way, they work together.
Each branch has its own responsibilities, and each can keep a check on
the others.

In the above passage, the first paragraph introduces the subject: the
three divisions of the federal government in the United States. Each of
the sentences introduces these three divisions. Then, each of the
remaining paragraphs explains one of these divisions in turn. The
second paragraph is about the executive branch. The third paragraph is
about the legislative branch. The fourth paragraph is about the judicial
branch. In each of these paragraphs, the topic sentence is easy to find.
The final paragraph summarizes the main idea.

Note the difference between a main idea and a topic sentence. The

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main idea is what the entire piece is about. In this case, it’s about the
three branches of the American government. The topic sentence is the
statement in each paragraph that tells you what will be discussed in that
particular paragraph. Topic sentences should always support the overall
main idea.

Indenting Paragraphs

Notice that each paragraph in the article in the figure is indented. The
first line of a paragraph is indented to show that a new paragraph is
beginning. Therefore, you’ll find five indented lines in the article—one for
each of the five paragraphs.

Of course, paragraphs aren’t always indented. For example, look at the

excerpt from an email in the next figure. Instead of indenting each
paragraph, the author has added an extra line space between them.
This is known as block style. It’s important to know which style you’ve
been instructed to use for each assignment.

[Paragraph with Breaks Insstead of Indents]

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 Instead of indenting the first line of each paragraph, the writer of this
email chose to separate the paragraphs with an extra space.

The simplest way to indent a paragraph is with the Tab key on your
keyboard. When you wish to begin a new paragraph, hit the Enter or
Return key to finish the current one. Then, before adding any more text,
press the Tab key. This will automatically indent your new paragraph.

Remember: a topic sentence describes the main idea of a particular

paragraph. All of your topic sentences contribute toward the main idea of
your essay.

Location of Topic Sentences

A topic sentence may be the first or last sentence in a paragraph, or it

may occur somewhere in the middle.

Topic Sentence at the Beginning

Sometimes the topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph, as

shown in the following example. The topic sentence is printed in bold.
When the topic sentence is at the beginning of a paragraph, it’s usually
easy to identify.

The first sentence tells the reader that Springdale needs a new high
school. The remainder of the sentences provide evidence to support the
topic sentence.

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 [Washington High School]

There’s no doubt that Springdale needs a new high school. The old
Washington High School building on Main Street is in disrepair. It will
cost tens of thousands of dollars to make it a safe place for students and
teachers. Yet, even if all that money is spent, the building will remain
cramped and overcrowded. The better course is to invest our money in a
new, modern building. Several sites have been suggested. For the sake
of our young people—and our teachers—let’s give this matter our
serious attention.

Topic Sentence in the Middle

A topic sentence may also occur in the middle of a paragraph, as in the

following example. Again, the topic sentence is printed in bold.

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 [Photographer]

Do you enjoy looking at flowers? Do you ever wish you could keep a
record of family events? Do you go out of your way to study an old barn
or marvel at a beautiful sunset? If you answered “yes” to any of these
questions, you might want to consider buying a camera. Millions of
Americans have found that photography is an ideal hobby. In part,
that’s because cameras are getting better, and they’re becoming easier
to operate. They’re also available at a good price. You can purchase a
good used digital camera from almost any online retailer. If you think you
might be interested in photography, consider getting some tips from a
book on the subject or go online to the many helpful websites and
videos.

When a topic sentence appears in the middle of a paragraph, it often

separates two kinds of details. In the preceding paragraph, the first four
sentences serve as the introduction. They’re meant to get the readers’
interest so that readers are more likely to keep reading. After these
introductory sentences comes the topic sentence: “Millions of Americans
have found that photography is an ideal hobby.” After the topic
sentence, you find details about purchasing a camera and about how to
find information to help with taking pictures.

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Placing the topic sentence in the middle of a paragraph is the least
common method for locating the topic.

Topic Sentence at the End

Sometimes the topic sentence is placed at the end of a paragraph. In

such cases, the writer wants to build up to the main idea. Read the
following paragraph for an example. The topic sentence is again shown
in bold.

[Graduates]

Young people may not realize that they will spend the majority of their
waking hours at work. For that reason alone, young folks should
carefully think about preparing for a job they’ll enjoy. Many people
believe the key to preparing for a good job is education. According to a
number of studies, getting a job that pays well can be difficult without at
least a high school diploma. For these reasons, young people should
be encouraged to stay in school until they graduate.

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This paragraph gives you a lot to think about. You learn that people
spend a lot of time on the job. You learn that it makes sense to find a job
you like. Then you get a big hint: “Many people believe the key to
preparing for a good job is education.” The sentences that follow this
statement give you some details about why education is so important to
finding a job you like. At last, the final sentence—the topic sentence—
tells you why the writer wrote all of the other sentences. In the topic
sentence, the writer asks readers to encourage young people to stay in
school and get their diplomas.

Stated and Implied Topics

Each piece of writing should have a main idea, but that doesn’t mean
that every paragraph is going to have a topic sentence. In the
paragraphs you’ve studied so far in this lesson, the topic sentences have
changed position within their paragraphs, but they have always been
clear, or stated.

An idea is stated when the writer says specifically what he or

she means. An idea is implied when the writer hints at what he or she
means.

In other paragraphs, the topic sentences may be implied. That is, they
aren’t stated outright. For example, consider this sentence: “The winter
winds blew and the snow drifted against the barn.” This statement
implies that it’s cold and most likely wintertime, but it doesn’t state it
directly. When you read a paragraph that contains no topic sentence,
you must infer what the topic is. To infer, or to make an inference, means

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to derive a conclusion from facts. When you see smoke, you can infer
that there’s a fire. When the sky is clear, with no clouds, you can infer
that it’s not going to rain.

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Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

A standard essay consists of an introduction, body paragraphs, and

a conclusion.
A paragraph is a group of sentences that relate to a central or main
topic.
A topic sentence is a statement that presents the main idea of a
paragraph.
The first line of a paragraph can be indented to indicate that a new
paragraph is beginning.
A topic sentence can be placed at the beginning, in the middle, or at
the end of a paragraph.
An idea is stated when the writer says specifically what he or she
means. An idea is implied when the writer hints at what he or she
means.

Links

Improving Reading Comprehension—Worksheets (www.rhlschool.c

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 om/reading.htm)
Identifying Main Ideas and Details (lessons.pennfoster.com/module
s/hsread/Identifying_Main_Ideas_and_Details.pdf)

Exercise: Say What?

Study the sentences below. The information looks like a paragraph,

but it’s not. Can you figure out why?

An Italian named Marconi invented the radio. The first radio was called a
wireless. During World War II, most people got their news from listening
to a radio. Today, people often listen to radio programs in their cars. Cell
phones have changed the way people live. Everywhere you go these
days, you see people talking on cell phones. Some people think cell
phones make life more dangerous. They can cause accidents. People
shouldn’t talk on their cell phones while driving a car. Watching
television can be a waste of time. Many people spend many hours every
day watching television. It would be better if people would talk to each
other. That would be a good idea. Some of us might discover that our
neighbor is more interesting than our favorite television series.

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Say What?
Can you see why this isn’t a paragraph? If you answered that it contains
more than one topic, you’re right. In fact, it contains a number of topics
—Marconi, the wireless, news on radio, car radios, cell phones, the
dangers of cell phones, watching television, and talking with neighbors.

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Wow! What a list for one “paragraph”! A real paragraph has only one
main topic. The topic sentence, which contains the main idea of a
paragraph, should help tie all of the other sentences together with the
topic. Exercise: Implied Topics

Following are some examples of paragraphs that have no stated

topic sentence. Instead, the topic is implied. Read each paragraph
carefully and then answer the questions that follow them.

Maria had been raised in the flat farmland of Indiana. Her new job in
New York City was great, but there were lots of things she had to get
used to. The first thing she had to deal with was noise. The sound of
traffic never ceased. Sirens wailed suddenly at all hours. Garbage
trucks backed into the alley beneath her apartment and made a
terrible noise. They always seemed to arrive at 5:00 in the morning.
The second thing she had to deal with was getting to work. The crush
of the crowded sidewalks made her feel as if she was being swept by
a tide of people. Everyone seemed to know where they were going
and they walked fast. Maria felt that she had to walk fast too, just to
keep from getting lost in the crowd. Soon after beginning her new job
in downtown Manhattan, Maria had to deal with a third thing. Walking
on concrete and standing on the subway were hard on her feet. Soon,
she learned to imitate her fellow workers. She came to work in
sneakers, carrying her dress shoes in her tote bag.

Once you’ve read this paragraph, look over the following ideas to see
which one best describes its topic.

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 a. Maria was raised in Indiana.

b. Maria had to get used to living in New York City.

c. New York is noisy and crowded.

d. Maria soon learned to imitate her fellow workers.

My first time on horseback was embarrassing. I had never been on a

horse in my life, but I was afraid to admit it. That’s probably where my
trouble started. When I lifted my foot to put it into the stirrup, my friend
Sally laughed. “Use the other foot, silly,” she said. Blushing beet red, I
laughed too. I used the other foot. Then it took me about 10 minutes to
swing up into the saddle. The horse kept moving and I scampered along
on one foot while Sally giggled. Finally mounted, I looked down. I felt as
if I were sitting on a mountain! Fortunately, Sally had chosen a gentle
mare for me. I realize now she wasn’t fooled. She knew I didn’t know the
first thing about riding. She really is a good friend. After a while, I
learned to relax a little. I was actually riding a horse and it was fun. I
even learned how to use the reins to guide the horse to the left and to
the right.

1. What is the topic sentence?

2. Why did the narrator of the story state that Sally was a good friend?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Implied Topics

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While there’s no topic sentence in Maria’s story, the main idea isn’t hard
to figure out. As you probably guessed, the main idea is b, Maria had to
get used to living in New York City. That’s the implied topic of the
paragraph.

1. My first time on horseback was embarrassing.

2. He realized that Sally wasn’t fooled. She knew he had no

experience with horses and chose a gentle mare for him.

2.2 Analyze supporting details in a paragraph

Filling in the Details
READING ASSIGNMENT

Supporting Details

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You’ve already learned a lot about finding the main idea and topic
sentence in a paragraph. In this assignment, you’ll begin to look for the
supporting details in paragraphs. Supporting details are bits of
information that elaborate on the main topic and make reading far more
interesting.

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 [Antarctica]

This photograph may help you

develop some supporting
details for the paragraph on
Antarctica.

Suppose you want to write a paragraph about what it’s like in Antarctica.
One of your sentences may be about the harsh winds. Another may be
about how dry the air is when it’s 30 degrees below zero. Still another
sentence may talk about how the sunlight looks as it shines on the fields
of snow. Each sentence in your paragraph should add supporting details
to your description.

Look at the figure. What other details could you add to the paragraph on
Antarctica?

Sometimes, you’ll have other purposes for your writing. In addition to

describing something, you might want to outline how to make something
or explain or argue for your point of view on an issue. Each one of these

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papers has a different purpose and needs different support.

Purpose of Supporting Details

Depending on the purpose of a paragraph, supporting details may serve

different functions. Here are three examples:

1. Details can describe something.

2. Details can explain how to do or make something.
3. Details can explain or support a point of view or opinion about a
topic. Let’s examine each of these factors individually.

Details That Describe

In his short story “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky,” Stephen Crane
presents this description:

A newly married pair had boarded this coach at San Antonio. The man’s
face was reddened from many days in the wind and sun, and a direct
result of his new black clothes was that his brick-colored hands were
constantly performing in a most conscious fashion. From time to time he
looked down respectfully at his attire. He sat with a hand on each knee,
like a man waiting in a barber’s shop. The glances he devoted to other
passengers were furtive and shy.

The bride was not pretty, nor was she very young. She wore a dress of
blue cashmere, with small reservations of velvet here and there, and
with steel buttons abounding. She continually twisted her head to regard
her puff sleeves, very stiff, straight, and high. They embarrassed her. It

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was quite apparent that she had cooked, and that she expected to cook,
dutifully.

Furtive means secretive or sly.

Can you picture these two characters in your mind because of these
details? Here are some of the supporting details Crane uses to describe
the couple:

The Husband

Red face
New black clothes
Brick-colored hands
Aware of his new clothes
Possibly nervous (because of the way he sits)
Awkward (because of the way he’s glancing around)

The Bride

Not pretty
Not young
Dressed in blue cashmere
Embarrassed by her puffy sleeves
Possibly submissive (because she expects to cook dutifully)

Details That Explain How to Do Something

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The following paragraph explains how to move from one apartment to
another.

Moving can be exhausting, but you can

make it easier by careful planning. First,
gather various sizes of sturdy
cardboard boxes. You can often find
them at your local grocery store, and
moving companies have many sizes
available for sale. Next, as you pack
your belongings, make sure you label
[Woman Moving]
each box with the contents and the
room where it should be placed in the new apartment. Finally, pack up
one room at a time and stack those boxes together. When you start
unpacking on the other end, you’ll be grateful you took the time to do so.

This paragraph focuses on how to make moving easier. The sentences

provide ideas to support this main idea. Some of the supporting ideas
are found in sentences that begin with words like first, next, and finally.
Read the paragraph again to see where you find those words. Also,
think about the information contained in the paragraph. List the three
steps it suggests.

Details That Prove a Point

Supporting ideas tell the reader about the main idea of a paragraph. In
some cases, they provide information to prove a point. For example, if
you wanted to argue that sci-fi movies are more popular than

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action/adventure movies, you would have to provide evidence (details)
to prove your point. The following paragraph attempts to prove a point.
As you read it, try to identify the main topic. Also, think about the
information provided to support the main idea.

[Vegetables]

Today, many people are eating more grains, fruit, and vegetables. Some
have even decided to become vegetarians and eat no meat at all. There
are several reasons that many people believe it is a good idea to eat
less meat. First, the human population is getting larger. There are 7.8
billion people on the earth today. By 2050, there will probably be close
to 10 billion. Many feel that the earth’s resources won’t be able to
support that many people. Second, the earth is running out of good farm
soil. As more people depend on less soil, forests are being cut or burned
to make room for farming. Often, newly cleared soils are not good for
planting crops. For example, tropical forest soil is thin and is easily
washed away by rain. Meanwhile, older farmlands are getting worn out
and being replaced by desert. Third, eating meat uses up good

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farmland. Cattle and hogs require enormous amounts of grain and
grasses. If people consume grains directly, it takes much less land. In
other words, more people can be fed if we feed fewer animals. As more
humans go hungry, the time may come when nearly all of us will choose
to eat less meat. When that time comes, there may also be a lot of
vegetarians.

Think about this last paragraph. The writer is arguing in favor of eating
less meat. When you read the paragraph, what supporting ideas did you
find? Look it over again to see if you found that it’s a good idea to eat
less meat because of the following reasons:

Our planet is running out of good soil for farming because the
human population is large and getting larger.
Newly cleared forestlands may not provide good soil for farming.
Some older farmlands are being worn out and are turning into
deserts.
It takes far more land to feed beef cattle and hogs than to feed
people directly.
We may be forced to eat less meat in the future to keep many
people from starving.

Consider the Source

Think again about the paragraph on vegetarianism. Do you agree with

the supporting ideas presented by the writer? Before you accept what
any writer has to say, you should question the ideas to see if they’re
facts. Writers should support their details with evidence. In a good

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argument, the main kind of supporting idea should be evidence based
on facts, rather than opinions or guesses.

A fact is information that can be proved to be either true

or false. An opinion is simply what someone believes or thinks. An
opinion can’t be proved.

If you read anything that’s intended to prove an idea, you should think
about the supporting ideas. Are they facts? Are they just opinions?
Sometimes it takes a lot of research and reading to find out.

One way to get a clue about an argument meant to prove something is

to consider the source. Quite often, authors can be biased and tend to
present only one side of an argument, or they may manipulate facts to
better support their point of view. Whenever you’re reading material
about a controversial topic, look closely to see who wrote it and how his
or her background might affect the argument.

In reading and writing, a source is the person or group making a claim or

a statement. That is, a source is the person or group supplying
information.

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Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

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 Supporting details are bits of information that clarify the main point
of a paragraph.
Supporting details can describe something, explain how to do or
make something, or support a point of view or opinion.
A fact is information that can be proved to be either true or false. An
opinion is simply what someone believes or thinks. An opinion can’t
be proved.
In any written material, a source is the person or group supplying
information.

Links

Telescopic Text (basseq.com/fun/telescopictext/)

Exercise: Finding the Details

Questions 1–3 are based on the following paragraph.

When we read about prehistoric people, most of it is about cave men.

There isn’t much about cave women. Most of us think of prehistoric
women from cartoons, many of which show men dragging women by
their hair. In other words, we get the idea that men were the dominant
gender of ancient times.

Science tells a very different story. Evidence from prehistoric statues

and cave art tells us that women were probably held in high regard and
probably invented many things necessary to human societies. For

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example, it seems likely that women, not men, invented gardening, as
well as created the first baskets and pottery. This makes sense for two
reasons. First, women had to care for young children, so they remained
close to the camp or cave. Men were often away somewhere hunting for
game. Women were also the ones who had the time to weave baskets,
make clay pots, and help feed the people by tending to gardens.

1. Use your own words to explain the main idea in the paragraph.

2. List two details that support the main idea.

3. List two details that give information about why women probably
were the ones to invent pottery, baskets, and gardening.

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Finding the Details

1. Here’s a sample sentence that gives the main idea. Your answer
will be different. “In the light of scientific evidence, the place of
women in prehistoric times has been misunderstood.”

2. Statues and cave art show that women were valued. Women
probably invented pottery and baskets, and they probably started
the business of gardening.

3. Women had to care for children, so they stayed near home. They
had time to do things like make pots and tend to gardens.

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2.3 Organize paragraphs for comparison and contrast and
examples and explanation
Organizing Ideas
READING ASSIGNMENT

Why Organize?

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Ideas in sentences that form a paragraph are easier to read if they’re

organized—that is, if they’re arranged in a certain way to make them
easier to read and understand. Study the two paragraphs in the figure
below to see how important organization is.

In the desert, it can be hot enough to fry an egg on a rock during the
day. At night, you can feel as if you’re freezing. I learned that during my
first night in the Mojave Desert. As the sun set, the air rapidly grew
colder. I climbed into my sleeping bag and tried to keep warm. I had
learned a lesson about living in the desert.

I had learned a lesson about living in the desert. I climbed into my

sleeping bag and tried to keep warm. As the sun set, the air rapidly grew
colder. In the desert, it can be hot enough to fry an egg on a rock during
the day. At night, you can feel as if you’re freezing. I learned that during

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my first night in the Mojave Desert.

Both paragraphs explain that the desert can be very hot during the day
and cold at night. That’s the main idea. But which paragraph is easier to
read? You’ll probably agree that it’s the first one. Can you see why? It
begins by explaining that the desert can be hot during the day and cold
at night. That should get your interest. It goes on to say that as the sun
was setting, the writer climbed into his sleeping bag to get warm. The
last sentence of the paragraph states a general idea: “I had learned a
lesson about living in the desert.”

A general idea is one that can be applied to other more specific ideas. In
this paragraph, the general idea is that the writer learned a lesson about
being in the desert. The other sentences in the paragraph explain what
that lesson was.

The second paragraph uses all of the same sentences, but it isn’t well
organized. The sentence with the general idea comes first, and is
followed by a sentence about climbing into a sleeping bag to get warm.
That idea doesn’t follow very well from the idea in the first sentence.
Also, the sentence about the air getting colder as the sun sets makes
more sense if it comes before the sentence about climbing into a
sleeping bag to get warm.

The order in which events are presented in a paragraph is important.

Readers need to know what happens first, second, and so on. The way
the sentences are arranged in the second paragraph in Figure above
makes them hard to follow. Readers would expect that the sun would

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set before the writer climbs into a sleeping bag to get warm. Finally, the
last sentence of the second paragraph—about “my first night in the
Mojave Desert”—tells us something we should have learned earlier.

The organization of sentences in a paragraph makes a difference for

readers. Here are three ways in which readers benefit from organized
paragraphs:

1. They can make comparisons and contrasts. (To contrast two things
means to show how they’re different, while to compare means to
show how they’re the same or similar.) For example, the well-
organized paragraph about the Mojave Desert allows readers to
clearly contrast nighttime and daytime temperatures.
2. The readers can see the time order of events. For example, first the
sun goes down, and then the air gets colder.
3. The readers can see how one thing causes another thing to
happen. Because the sun goes down, the air gets colder.

Comparisons and Contrasts

A comparison is a method used to show how things are alike. For

example, look at the following paragraph. Since it explains how moths
and butterflies are alike, the paragraph is a comparison.

Moths and butterflies are similar in many ways. Both are insects. Both
are born from eggs as some kind of caterpillar. After a time of feeding on
plant leaves as caterpillars, both moths and butterflies form cocoons.
Finally, both types of insects emerge from a cocoon as creatures with

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wings.

To compare things is to show how they’re alike.

Now read the paragraph below. It explains three types of rocks and how
they’re different. That is, it contrasts the rocks.

Where volcanoes have erupted, we find different kinds of rocks. They

include lava rocks, obsidian, and pumice. Despite having the same
source, all of these rocks look very different. Lava rock is rough and
hard. Pumice is light and full of little holes. It looks like a sponge made
of rock. Obsidian looks like black glass. In fact, it’s often called volcanic
glass.

To contrast things is to show how they’re different.

Finally, here is an example of how you can combine comparison and

contrast in the same paragraph:

Apples and oranges have similar shapes, but oranges tend to be more
ball-shaped than apples. Both types of fruit grow on trees; however
orange trees and apple trees grow in different climates. Ripe apples
come in many different colors. Some are green, some are yellow, and
some are bright red. Ripe oranges, on the other hand, are always some
shade of orange. Finally, both oranges and apples taste good, but they
have very different tastes.

Writers often use clue words when they compare or contrast. Here are
some sample clue words, but there are many more:

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Clues for Comparing

alike
also
and
both
like
similar
too

Clues for Contrasting

but
different
unlike
however
instead of
less
on the other hand
less like (or) more like

The paragraph about apples and oranges is shown again below. This
time the clue words that show how apples and oranges are alike are in
boldface. Those words are called comparison clues. The clue words
indicating contrast are italicized. They’re in sentences that show the
contrast between the two kinds of fruits. Notice that the last sentence in
the paragraph shows both a similarity and a difference.

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Apples and oranges have similar shapes, but oranges tend to be more
ball-shaped than apples. Both types of fruit grow on trees; however
orange trees and apple trees grow in different climates. Ripe apples
come in many different colors. Some are green, some are yellow, and
some are bright red. Ripe oranges, on the other hand, are always some
shade of orange. Finally, both oranges and apples taste good, but they
have very different tastes.

Listing the ways the paragraph shows them to be different and alike is a
way to summarize the information. They are different because their
shapes are not exactly the same, they grow in different climates, and
have different colors and tastes. They are alike because they have
similar shapes, grow on trees, and taste good.

Explaining Ideas with Examples

No matter what topic you write about, you should generally support your
main idea with examples. For instance, if you’re going to write an essay
about animals that live in marshes and wetlands, you might list turtles,
frogs, water snakes, red-winged blackbirds, and other creatures.

On the other hand, if you were going to write an essay about vitamin C
and how it’s used by the body, you would most likely include examples
of foods that are high in that vitamin. Read the following paragraph.
What examples does the author include?

Vitamin C is one of the more important vitamins. People need to get

enough of it in their diets to stay healthy and avoid disease. Vitamin C is

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found in different fruits and vegetables. For example, oranges,
grapefruits, and lemons are good sources of vitamin C. People who
don’t get enough vitamin C may develop a disease called scurvy. In the
early days of sailing ships, sailors who didn’t get enough of this vitamin
developed weakness and bleeding gums, which are common symptoms
of scurvy. To avoid this problem, captains of sailing ships learned to
make sure there was a good supply of oranges and lemons on board
before beginning a long voyage.

The writer of the paragraph above provides support for the main idea by
including examples of oranges, grapefruits, and lemons. These
examples help readers understand more about the main idea. In
addition, to illustrate the importance of vitamin C, the writer gave an
example of what happens when a person doesn’t get enough of that
vitamin:

1. People who don’t get enough vitamin C may develop a disease

called scurvy.
2. In the early days of sailing ships, sailors who didn’t get enough of
this vitamin developed weakness and bleeding gums, which are
common symptoms of scurvy.

Explaining Ideas with Explanations

Another way that writers explain ideas is by providing explanations,

which provide information on why and how. For example, suppose the
instructions for using a hair dryer include these statements: “Do not pull
on the cord to remove the plug from the electrical outlet. Doing so may

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damage both the cord and the plug.” In these instructions, the second
statement is an explanation for the first sentence. In other words, it tells
why you should not pull on the cord.

Writers add explanations to make their writing clearer and to give more
complete information to their readers. As you read, ask yourself
questions and then look for explanations.

Combining Examples and Explanations

The paragraph below illustrates how writers can use a combination of

examples and explanations to get their points across. In this paragraph,
sentences that provide explanations are printed in italics. Sentences
with examples are in bold.

Many people have trouble managing money. They spend more money
than they have, and they don’t worry about putting money aside for a
rainy day. In this uncertain world, sound money management is common
sense. The first step in money management is keeping track of all your
expenses for at least one month. You’ll need that information to use the
most important tool in money management - a budget. Budgets can be
made for a week, a month, or even for an entire year. However, a
monthly budget is best for most people. A good budget contains four
main parts. Part one is an honest statement of your income for the
budget period. If your budget is for a month, write down your expected
income for one month. Part two is a list of all your necessary expenses.
This part might include rent, electricity, groceries, and your
children’s school supplies. In other words, it includes all of the things

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that have to come first when you spend your money. Part three of a
budget is a fair estimate of how much money you’ll have for
discretionary spending. Discretionary spending may be for gifts,
entertainment, and other things you want but don’t always need.
Finally, part four of a good budget is some amount set aside for savings.

https://players.brightcove.net/1642697353001/3bc42260-cdb6-423b-
8cc3-c469249176a5_default/index.html?videoId=6220436984001

Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

The order in which events are presented in a paragraph is

important. Readers need to know what happens first, second, and
so on.
Paragraphs that compare show how things are the same;
paragraphs that contrast show how things are different.
Paragraphs that explain something can use examples,
explanations, or both.

Links

Organizing Ideas: Principles of Organization (grammar.ccc.commne

t.edu/grammar/composition/organization.htm)

Exercise: Compare and Contrast

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Based on what you read below, answer the questions that follow.

The main thing that makes a German Shepherd Dog and a Maltese
similar is that they’re both dogs. Also, like many breeds of dogs, both
can be wonderful pets and great companions. Beyond that, the
differences are great. German Shepherd Dogs were bred as work dogs.
They’re big, strong, smart, and fiercely loyal to their masters. German
Shepherd Dogs have been trained to be guard dogs, attack dogs, illegal
drug detectors, and guide dogs for the blind. They’ve been used by
firefighters, law enforcement officers, rescue teams, and special units of
the military. When we think of trustworthy, brave, and loyal, we can think
of the German Shepherd Dog. On the other hand, the Maltese is a tiny
breed. In fact, it’s considered a toy breed. While the German Shepherd
Dog is multicolored in white, brown, and black, the Maltese looks like a
white fluff ball. Its coat is like fine, curly wool, and unlike German
Shepherd Dogs, Maltese have no undercoat. They were bred for warm
weather and are often happy to stay indoors in the winter. Also, they’re
definitely not for hard work, other than fetching balls. Maltese owners,
however, have nothing but praise and affection for these tiny, white
animals. With their bright button eyes and lively manner, they can be
amusing friends and great pets for small children.

1. What word or words in the paragraph give a clue that a sentence

is showing comparison?

2. List the words in the paragraph that give a clue that the sentence
is showing contrast.

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 3. The paragraph _______ (compares, contrasts) Maltese with
German Shepherd Dogs to show how they’re alike.

4. One _______ (similarity, difference) between a Maltese and a

German shepherd is their size.

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Compare and Contrast

1. The clue words are similar and both.

2. The contrast clue words are differences, on the other hand, while,
and unlike.

3. The paragraph compares Maltese with German Shepherd Dogs to

show how they’re alike.

4. One difference between a Maltese and a German shepherd is their

size.

Exercise: Examples and Explanations

Questions 1 and 2 are based on the following paragraph.

One very large family of insects has thin, membrane-like wings. The
wings are translucent, which means that light can shine through them.
When you hear which insects belong to this family, it may surprise you.

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The family includes thousands of species of ants, bees, wasps, hornets,
and termites.

1. To explain the word translucent, the author

a. lists the species with this type of wing.
b. compares these wings with others.
c. provides a definition of the word.
d. gives examples of similar words.

2. In this paragraph, the author lists the different species that

a. belong to the same insect family.
b. act in surprising behavior.
c. have stingers that hurt humans.
d. are the most well-known insects.

Question 3 is based on the following paragraph.

It’s often said that people are alike in some ways and different in others.
Most people are alike in that they want to be loved and valued by others.
On the other hand, people are different in many ways. As most people
are aware, each individual has unique fingerprints. In addition, people
have very different personalities. Some are happy to spend time with
others; some prefer to be alone most of the time. Some people are
cheerful and outgoing; others are gloomy and grumpy. Some
psychologists believe that the mix and match of personality
characteristics is unique. Every personality is a little different from the

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next one.

3. What two examples does the writer give to show how people are
different?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Examples and Explanations
1. c. provides a definition of the word. 2. a. belong to the same insect
family. 3. The paragraph tells that people are different in two main ways:
They have different fingerprints and different personalities.

2.4 Organize paragraphs for chronological and cause and

effect order
Time Order and Cause and Effect
READING ASSIGNMENT

Have you ever followed a recipe in a cookbook? If so, you know how
important it is to complete each step in order. If you don’t, you may end
up with a disaster instead of dinner. It can be the same with writing.
Sentences need to be arranged in a logical order, or sequence.
Otherwise, readers may become confused and may not even
understand the main point of what they’re reading.

Chronological Order

One way to organize your writing is through chronological order, which

arranges sentences or ideas in the order in which they occurred—for

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example, what happened first, second, third, and so on. The paragraph
below is arranged in chronological order. Read it carefully; then study
the explanation that follows.

After I decided to learn the craft of acting, I went to a meeting of the local
community theater. I discovered that many of the people there had a
great deal of acting experience. Two of the members belonged to Actor’s
Equity. They had worked as professionals and actually been paid for
their work. At the end of the meeting, I also learned that the company
would soon be casting parts for its next play - a mystery drama called
Endgame. I immediately got hold of a copy of the playbook and began to
study it. Two weeks later, I went to the casting audition. I wanted the
supporting role of a detective named Alec Flair. I asked to read for that
part. The trouble was, I was very nervous. When it came time for me to
read with another actor, I didn’t do very well. Even so, I got cast as the
butler. Six weeks later, on opening night, the curtain rose, and the first
line in the play was mine — “Dinner is served”.

The sentences in the paragraph above are about an aspiring actor.

They’re arranged in chronological order. The writer tells what happened
first, second, third, and so on to the end of the paragraph. Here is the
order of events in that paragraph:

1. The local community theater held a meeting.

2. At the meeting, the writer learns things about members of the
theater company.
3. At the end of the meeting, he learns that a play is to be cast.

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 4. He obtains a copy of the playbook.
5. He auditioned for one part, but was given another one.
6. The play opened and he has the first line.

When a paragraph is arranged in clear chronological order, readers

should have no problem understanding how and when events occurred.

A Different Kind of Time Order

In some paragraphs, the logical order of sentences shows time order in

a different way. For example, study the paragraph below. Note that the
word clues about time order are in bold.

AFTER THE NATIVE AMERICANS, WHO GOT HERE FIRST?

Some people think Columbus and his crew were the first Europeans to
arrive in the New World, in 1492, but that is not true. Long before
Columbus, other peoples from Europe had already visited North
America. Vikings, the people of Scandinavia, established a settlement in
present-day Canada centuries before Columbus. They crossed the
Atlantic in their famous longships. Some Americans also believe that the
Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower and started the
Plymouth colony in 1620, were the first Europeans to arrive in what we
now call the United States. In fact, the Pilgrims were not even
the original English colonists in America. The first permanent English
colony was begun in 1605 at Jamestown in what is present-day Virginia.
The earliest European settlement in the United States was actually a

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Spanish mission at St. Augustine, Florida, which was established in
1565.

The paragraph above is all about the time order of people exploring and
settling the New World. However, it actually talks about two time orders
—one for Europeans in the New World and one specifically for
Europeans who settled in what is now the United States. The writer
combined both time orders to make the paragraph more interesting.

Cause and Effect

A cause is something that makes something else happen. The effect is

the thing that happens as a result of a cause. In other words, an effect is
the result or outcome of some cause.

A cause is why something happens. An effect is what happens.

Cause and effect is a common method that authors use to organize their
writing. The purpose of many cause and effect texts is often to explain
why something happened—that is, what caused the event to occur.

Consider this example of cause and effect. Imagine that you heard that
the local auditorium roof collapsed last winter. The collapsed roof was
the effect. What was the cause? Most likely the five feet of snow piled on
the roof. In other words, too much snow on the roof was the probable
cause of a terrible effect. The roof collapsed.

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 [Police Officer Writing a Ticket]

Often, writers organize a paragraph to show that one thing caused

something else. For example, consider this statement: The driver’s
excessive speed resulted in the police officer issuing a ticket. What
happened first? The driver was speeding. What happened because of
that? The police officer issued a ticket. The speeding was the cause of
getting a ticket, and getting the ticket was the effect.

Now, consider this statement: Hanford Creek flooded and damaged a

mobile home. What happened first? What happened next because of
that? First, the creek flooded, and then the mobile home was damaged.
The flood was the cause and the damage to the mobile home was the
effect.

Let’s see if you can apply the idea of cause and effect to what you’ve
been studying. First, read the following paragraph. As you do, ask
yourself why anyone would call Egypt “a gift of the Nile.” Think about it
in terms of cause and effect, and then read on for the solution.

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We can’t imagine the ancient civilization of Egypt without the great Nile
River. Some even say that Egypt was the gift of the Nile. The Nile, the
world’s longest river, flows from deep in central Africa to the Nile River
Delta on the Mediterranean Sea. It has the habit of flooding over its
banks once a year. When this happens, rich silt is deposited along the
riverbanks. As a result, the soil of the Nile Valley is excellent for farming.
Without the Nile floods, it’s unlikely that ancient Egypt would have lasted
for thousands of years.

Let’s analyze the paragraph. Egypt is considered to be the gift of the

Nile because it floods just about every year. What effect does this
flooding have? It leaves behind rich deposits of silt, which makes the soil
excellent for farming. The Nile floods cause the soil near the river to be
good for farming.

Is that the only reason Egypt is considered to be a gift of the Nile? No,
the rich soil probably allowed Egyptian civilization to last for a very long
time. Egypt’s long existence was, in part, an effect of good soil near the
Nile. The good soil, in turn, was an effect of the annual Nile floods. So,
the floods caused the good soil, and the good soil caused excellent
farming and a long life for Egypt.

Clue Words

Certain clue words help to identify cause and effect writing. When you’re
reading, look for these words; when you’re writing, use them to help
guide your readers through your paragraphs. The clue words for cause
and effect include if, because, since, then, when, so, and as a result.

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In the previous paragraph about Egypt, look for the word when and the
phrase as a result. Both of these are clues to the reader that the author
is using cause and effect. The box below provides some examples of
how clue words for cause and effect are used. Notice that some of the
words and phrases are at the beginning of the sentences, while others
are in the middle.

Cause and Effect Clues

Word or phrase Example sentence

As a result As a result of the heat, the plants wilted

As soon as As soon as the sun rose, the bats returned to their cave.

Because Because of the dry weather, the corn crop was poor.

Cause Unemployment is one cause of poverty.

Consequently Business was bad; consequently, employees were laid off.

Depend What you can make with your hands depends on your skill.

Effect The collapse of the house was an effect of termites at work.

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For that Reason For that reason, we find few large trees in McKinley Park.

If If you don’t take safety measures, you may be injured.

Produce Unfair conditions produce unhappy workers.

Reason The reason Bill failed was that he didn’t try to succeed.

Result The result of hard work is good performance.

Result from Stunted growth can result from bad nutrition.

Soon Soon after the collapse of Rome, roads in Europe began to fall apart.

Therefore The troops were unprepared; therefore, the battle was lost.

When When the bridge collapsed, the bus plunged into the river.

Indirect Causes

Certain writing will also suggest an indirect cause—that is, a cause that
produces an effect, which in turn causes another effect. For example,
aerobic exercise results in using oxygen more efficiently. Using oxygen
more efficiently gives you more endurance for running and various kinds

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of work. In the real world, many causes create effects that become
causes in a very long chain of causes and effects.

Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

Paragraphs can be organized in chronological order—that is, in the

order in which events occurred.
Paragraphs can be organized to illustrate how one thing (a cause)
causes another (an effect).
Clue words can help readers understand the approach a writer is
taking.

Links

Cause and Effect: Explanation and Paragraph Organization (www.s

lideshare.net/gulerek/cause-effect-paragraph)

Exercise: Clue Words

Questions 1–2 are based on the following paragraphs.

While some artists paint with watercolors, others prefer oil. The two
types of paints are similar in some ways. Both are used for creating
beautiful paintings, and both use similar pigments (a pigment is a
powdered substance that gives paint its color). For example, the powder
from an iron mineral called ocher is used to make yellow ocher. A metal

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called cadmium produces a bright red pigment.

While artists sometimes use both kinds of paints, there are important
differences between oils and watercolors. First, they use a different
medium. Watercolor pigments come in tubes and are mixed with purified
water. However, the colors can also be found in small pads of dry
pigment to which water must be added. Oil paint is made by mixing
pigments with linseed oil, made from plants. Second, watercolors dry
very quickly on paper, while oil paint dries very slowly. Third, watercolors
can be made stronger or weaker by the amount of water added, while oil
paints are altered by adding either linseed oil or turpentine.

1. List the different clue words in these paragraphs that indicate that
a comparison is being made. If a clue word is repeated in the
paragraphs, include it only once in your list.

2. List the different clue words in these paragraphs that indicate that
a contrast is being made. If a clue word is repeated in the
paragraphs, include it only once in your list.

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Clue Words

1. The clue words that indicate comparison are similar and both.

2. The clue words that indicate contrast are differences, different,

while, and however.

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Exercise: Cause and Effect

Questions 1 and 2 are based on the following paragraph.

Plants produce oxygen and animals and humans use oxygen. About 21
percent of Earth’s atmosphere is oxygen, enough for all living creatures.
For many years, plants and animals have kept a bargain. Animals
breathe the oxygen produced by plants. At the same time, plants use the
carbon dioxide that animals exhale. They mix it with water and sunlight
to produce a sugar called glucose. As it turns out, glucose is the basic
energy source for both plants and animals. The waste produced by this
process is oxygen. The bargain between plants and animals has been in
the right balance for many millions of years. If we humans are smart
enough not to upset that balance too much, all life on Earth will benefit
from it for millions of years to come.

1. Plants are able to use water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to

produce glucose plus oxygen. What's the effect of this for
animals?

2. What might be a cause that would break the bargain between

plants and animals?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Cause and Effect

1. Animals need the oxygen to breathe, and glucose is the basic

energy source for animals.

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 2. If humans or animals destroy too many plants, there may not be
enough oxygen for animals.

Lesson 2 Review

Self-Check
1. A _______ is a group of sentences that relate to a central or main
topic.
a. topic
b. story
c. phrase
d. paragraph
2. The statement within a paragraph that provides the central idea is
called a/an
a. body.
b. diatribe.
c. introduction.
d. topic sentence.
3. To infer means to
a. think.
b. improve.
c. derive a conclusion from facts.
d. prove the truth of a statement.

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4. What is the purpose of details in a paragraph?
a. They argue for a particular point of view.
b. They support the main topic and make the paragraph more
interesting.
c. They make the main idea more difficult to determine.
d. They distract from the writer's message.
5. (1) When you see a Monarch butterfly, you may marvel at its beauty.
(2) They are larger than many other kinds of butterflies. (3) Also, their
orange wings and black trim make them easy to spot. (4) Yet, beyond
their beauty, there’s something else amazing about these handsome
butterflies. (5) Scientists have discovered that Monarchs migrate
thousands of miles each year. (6) In the early spring, they’re found in
great clusters in southern Mexico. (7) By summer, the migrating
Monarchs have appeared in the United States. (8) They’re even found
as far north as Canada. (9) As fall leaves begin to turn, however, these
great travelers gather for the trip back south. (10) You can often mark
the end of summer by the absence of Monarch butterflies. What is the
topic sentence of this paragraph?
a. Sentence 1
b. Sentence 4
c. Sentence 5
d. Sentence 10
6. When Bear Who Stands came of age, his grandfather came to him.
The youth didn’t need to ask what he was about to hear. He had heard
his mother and his aunts speaking quietly around the cooking fire. He
had heard them speak of the vision quest. While they talked, he heard

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his aunt, called Coyote Woman, whisper his name. So, when his
grandfather came to him, Bear Who Stands listened respectfully. He
nodded in agreement when his grandfather told him it was time for him
to go up on the mountain. He felt ready to learn of his gifts from the
Great Spirit, for that is the purpose of a vision quest. He also knew that
it would be hard. He knew he would be expected to be all alone for
several nights and days. There would be only a little water to drink and
nothing at all to eat. While alone on the mountain, he would chant his
prayer to the four directions and listen for an inner voice. If he did this
well, he might even see a vision. He hoped he would. For then he could
speak from his heart, knowing his place in the world. He might even be
able to tell his people of things that lie in the future. What is the
significance of the sentence “There would be only a little water to drink
and nothing at all to eat”?
a. It describes the purpose of a vision quest.
b. It is an explanation for why the youth was afraid of Coyote Woman.
c. It gives us supporting ideas or details about a vision quest.
d. It explains why vision quests are important.
7. When Bear Who Stands came of age, his grandfather came to him.
The youth didn’t need to ask what he was about to hear. He had heard
his mother and his aunts speaking quietly around the cooking fire. He
had heard them speak of the vision quest. While they talked, he heard
his aunt, called Coyote Woman, whisper his name. So, when his
grandfather came to him, Bear Who Stands listened respectfully. He
nodded in agreement when his grandfather told him it was time for him
to go up on the mountain. He felt ready to learn of his gifts from the

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Great Spirit, for that is the purpose of a vision quest. He also knew that
it would be hard. He knew he would be expected to be all alone for
several nights and days. There would be only a little water to drink and
nothing at all to eat. While alone on the mountain, he would chant his
prayer to the four directions and listen for an inner voice. If he did this
well, he might even see a vision. He hoped he would. For then he could
speak from his heart, knowing his place in the world. He might even be
able to tell his people of things that lie in the future. Which one of the
following sentences best describes the main idea in this paragraph?
a. A vision quest is hard, but it’s necessary.
b. Bear Who Stands respected his grandfather.
c. The Great Spirit may send a vision that foretells the future.
d. Bear Who Stands was ready to learn of his place in the world.
8. When Bear Who Stands came of age, his grandfather came to him.
The youth didn’t need to ask what he was about to hear. He had heard
his mother and his aunts speaking quietly around the cooking fire. He
had heard them speak of the vision quest. While they talked, he heard
his aunt, called Coyote Woman, whisper his name. So, when his
grandfather came to him, Bear Who Stands listened respectfully. He
nodded in agreement when his grandfather told him it was time for him
to go up on the mountain. He felt ready to learn of his gifts from the
Great Spirit, for that is the purpose of a vision quest. He also knew that
it would be hard. He knew he would be expected to be all alone for
several nights and days. There would be only a little water to drink and
nothing at all to eat. While alone on the mountain, he would chant his
prayer to the four directions and listen for an inner voice. If he did this

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well, he might even see a vision. He hoped he would. For then he could
speak from his heart, knowing his place in the world. He might even be
able to tell his people of things that lie in the future. What supporting
detail tells you that Bear Who Stands knew it was time to go on a vision
quest?
a. He already wished to learn of his gifts from the Great Spirit.
b. He knew all youth had to go on one.
c. He was told it was time by his grandfather.
d. He overheard his mother and aunts around the cooking fire.
9. Which of the following would be a clue word indicating a comparison?
a. But
b. Instead of
c. Then
d. Also
10. Which of the following would be a clue word indicating a contrast?
a. Like
b. Also
c. Neither
d. Greater
11. Which of the following sentences is arranged in chronological order?
a. John had already finished his homework when he realized he read
the wrong chapter.
b. A good sense of humor is important for success in many jobs.
c. Don’t forget to add the soap before you start the washing machine.
d. Maria built the top of the picnic table first, then attached the legs,
then painted it.

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12. Which of the following sentences is an example of cause and effect?
a. Mix the dry ingredients before adding the eggs.
b. Many Americans love sports, especially football, which is more
popular than soccer.
c. It’s never too late to learn a new language.
d. The strong winds fanned the flames, making the wildfire spread
quickly.

Self-Check Answer Key

1. paragraph
Explanation: A paragraph is a group of sentences that relate to a
central or main topic.
Reference: Section 2.1

2. topic sentence.
Explanation: The statement within a paragraph that provides that
central idea is called a topic sentence.
Reference: Section 2.1

3. derive a conclusion from facts.

Explanation: When you read a paragraph that contains no topic
sentence, you must infer what the topic is. To infer, or to make an
inference, means to derive a conclusion from facts.
Reference: Section 2.1

4. They support the main topic and make the paragraph more

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 interesting.
Explanation: Paragraphs in the body of an essay are made up of a
variety of supporting details to prove the main idea.
Reference: Section 2.2

5. Sentence 5
Explanation: Most of the paragraph is about the migration of the
butterfly. The beginning sentences (1-4) are just details that
introduce the topic.
Reference: Section 2.2
Section 2.1

6. It gives us supporting ideas or details about a vision quest.

Explanation: The presence of food and water on the quest isn’t
related to why the quest is important or what its purpose is. Nor
does it have any relation to Coyote Woman—in fact, there’s no
information that implies the youth is afraid of her.
Reference: Section 2.2

7. Bear Who Stands was ready to learn of his place in the world.
Explanation: The paragraph is about Bear Who Stands being
prepared for the vision quest and feeling ready.
Reference: Section 2.2

8. He overheard his mother and aunts around the cooking fire.

Explanation: “The youth didn’t need to ask what he was about to

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 hear” means that he already knew. And he knew because he had
heard his mother and his aunts speaking quietly around the cooking
fire.
Reference: Section 2.2

9. Also
Explanation: A comparison is a method used to show how things
are alike. The word also is one of the clue words for indicating a
comparison.
Reference: Section 2.3

10. Greater
Explanation: To contrast things is to show how they're different. The
word greater is one of the clue words for indicating a contrast.
Reference: Section 2.3

11. Maria built the top of the picnic table first, then attached the legs,
then painted it.
Explanation: One way to organize your writing is
through chronological order, which arranges sentences or ideas in
the order in which they occurred—for example, what happened first,
second, and third.
Reference: Section 2.4

12. The strong winds fanned the flames, making the wildfire spread
quickly.

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 Explanation: A cause is something that makes something else
happen. The effect is the thing that happens as a result of a cause.
In other words, an effect is the result or outcome of some cause.
Reference: Section 2.4

Flash Cards
1. Term: Details
Definition: Small facts that present information about a topic

2. Term: Topic Sentence

Definition: The main idea of a particular paragraph

3. Term: Stated Idea

Definition: When the writer says specifically what he or she means

4. Term: Implied Idea

Definition: When the writer hints at what he or she means

5. Term: Furtive
Definition: Secretive or sly

6. Term: Fact
Definition: Information that can be proved to be either true or false

7. Term: Opinion
Definition: What someone believes or thinks that can’t be proved

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8. Term: Source
Definition: The person or group making a claim or a statement

9. Term: Compare
Definition: To show how things are alike

10. Term: Contrast

Definition: To show how things are different

11. Term: Cause

Definition: Why something happens

12. Term: Effect

Definition: What happens as a result of a cause

13. Term: Clue Words

Definition: Words that help the reader spot comparisons and contrasts

14. Term: Introduction

Definition: The first paragraph of an essay, where the author presents
the main idea of the essay

15. Term: Body

Definition: The second, third, and fourth paragraphs of an essay, where
the author discusses supporting details to prove the main idea

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16. Term: Conclusion
Definition: The last paragraph of an essay, where the author
summarizes the idea and details of the essay

17. Term: Paragraph

Definition: A group of sentences that relate to the central or main topic

18. Term: Supporting Details

Definition: Bits of information that elaborate on the main topic

19. Term: General Idea

Definition: An idea that can be applied to other more specific ideas

20. Term: 3 Ways Readers Benefit from Organized Paragraphs

Definition:

1. They can compare and contrast.

2. They can see the order of events.

3. They can see cause and effect.

21. Term: Sentence Organization

Definition: When ideas in a sentence are arranged in a way that makes

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them easier to understand and read

22. Term: Explanation

Definition: Tells you why something is happening in a sentence

23. Term: Chronological Order

Definition: A way to organize your writing; tells events or ideas in the
order in which they occured

24. Term: Indirect Causes

Definition: A cause that produces an effect, which causes another
effect

Exercise
1. Review Exercise: Paragraphs

Review Discover More: Paragraphs

Read each paragraph carefully and then answer the questions that
follow them.

Karen would travel anywhere, anytime to get to a Gordon Harrison

concert. She had read everything she could find about her favorite rock
star. She truly loved every one of his songs. One day, Karen was
amazed to see Harrison sitting alone in the back of the restaurant where
she worked as a server. Karen took a deep breath and then went over,

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introduced herself, and asked for the star’s autograph. To her surprise,
Harrison asked her to join him. They had an interesting conversation.
The celebrity told Karen all about his life and his music. Karen was
thrilled, but also shocked to discover that almost everything she had
ever read about him was wrong. As Harrison said, the stories had been
made up to sell magazines and promote his concerts. Karen learned an
important lesson that day: what you may think you are sure of, you may
find out is not actually true.

1. Which statement is accurate about this paragraph?

a. There’s no topic sentence in this paragraph.
b. The first sentence is the topic sentence.
c. The last sentence is the topic sentence.
d. The topic sentence is implied with details.

Questions 2 and 3 are based on the following paragraph.

(1) You may never have thought about it, but life on a farm is very
different from life in the city. (2) I know that because I was raised on a
farm. (3) Then, later on in life, I ended up living in New York City. (4)
First of all, life on a farm means taking care of living things. (5) Cows
and chickens don’t take holidays. (6) They have to be fed every day. (7)
There are always chores to do on a farm as well. (8) Second, farm life is
based on the seasons. (9) During the spring, it’s time for planting. (10) In
the fall, it’s time for harvest. (11) These seasons are exhausting. (12) It’s
different in the winter. (13) There are always chores, but you have plenty
of time to sit by a fire or read a book. (14) On the other hand, life in the

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city is noisy and fast-paced. (15) People talk faster and walk faster. (16)
Everyone seems to be in a hurry or trying to succeed at something. (18)
Also, there are things to do 24 hours a day in New York City.

2. In which sentence do you find a clue that two things are being
contrasted?

a. Sentence 1
b. Sentence 2
c. Sentence 3
d. Sentence 4

3. Which word or phrase gives you a clue that life in the city is now
being discussed?

a. Also
b. On the other hand

c. First of all

d. Second

Exercise Answer Key:

Review Exercise: Paragraphs

1. c. The last sentence is the topic sentence.

2. a. Sentence 1

3. b. On the other hand

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Reading Skills : Interpreting What You Read

Lesson 3 Overview

In this lesson, you’ll study

ways to interpret what you
read. To interpret means to
make sense of something or
figure out what it’s about.
There are four important
skills in interpreting what you
read. First, learn to make
inferences because the information in what you read may not always be
directly stated. For example, an article might tell you the streets were
crowded with runners wearing numbers. From this information, you
might infer that a city is having a marathon.

Second, separate facts from opinions. Facts stand out because they can
be proven or disproven through evidence. Opinions, however, are based
on the way people view a topic. While opinions may be based on fact,
many times they add an element of emotion or even misinformation. For
example, the statement that there are approximately 1.8 million children
being homeschooled in the United States is a fact. The statement that

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homeschooling is a great choice to make for kids is an opinion.

Third, detect bias. The term bias refers to a tendency to believe that one
viewpoint or belief is better than another. Many opinions reveal a bias
toward or against something. For example, a statement about
homeschooling made by a homeschooling parent might reflect an
entirely different viewpoint from a statement made by a teacher.

Finally, draw conclusions. Conclusions are what you decide based on

the information you’re given. Conclusions may be useful or not useful,
depending on whether they’re based on facts or opinions.

This lesson will also introduce you to the art of poetry and fiction. It’s
fitting that this part of your course comes last. It’s very challenging to
learn to interpret fine poems and good fiction. That’s partly because
poetry and fiction depend on a clever use of words to reveal ideas that
come from people’s imaginations. Poetry and fiction are special since
they allow readers to explore unknown worlds and new ideas, plus they
can help people understand their lives and the lives of others in deeper
and more insightful ways.

3.1 Interpret passages to make inferences, detect bias,

and draw conclusions
Important Reading Skills
READING ASSIGNMENT

Making Inferences

When you make an inference, you come to a conclusion based on what

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you know. For example, if you see a large cloud of smoke off in the
distance, you can infer (draw a conclusion) that there’s a fire
somewhere. If you see dark clouds when you wake up in the morning,
you can infer that it’s going to rain.

When you read, you must learn to make inferences about the
information you’re reading. Writers don’t always say things directly.
Instead, they give you information and you must make inferences based
on what they tell you.

For example, carefully read each of the following sentences. What can
you infer from each one?

1. Unlike her classmates, Lucille has good taste in clothes.

2. Martha slammed the door after she got off the phone with Brian.
3. Years ago, Nathan and Caroline had been friends.

From the first sentence, you can infer that Lucille’s classmates don’t
have good taste in clothes. They are unlike Lucille, who supposedly
does have good taste. If you read between the words in the second
sentence, you’ll probably infer that Martha and Brian argued on the
phone. Martha showed her frustration by slamming the door. In the third
sentence, the inference is that Nathan and Caroline used to be friends,
but aren’t any longer.

Now let’s take inference beyond the sentence level to a paragraph. As

you read the following paragraph, think about what you can infer from
the words.

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 [Farmhouse]

Paint was peeling from the siding of the farmhouse. Several of the
windows were broken, and the shutters that weren’t missing looked as if
they were ready to fall off. The boards of the porch groaned and
creaked as Jake Wolfe stepped onto them. Looking left and right, Jake
noticed several things immediately. The front screen door was hanging
open, drifting back and forth in the breeze. There were deep scratches
in the wood around the latch, and the door was slightly ajar. One thing
was clear. If there was someone inside, whoever it was had probably
not been welcome. Wolfe reached into his jacket and pulled his revolver
from its holster. Slowly, with one foot, he pushed the front door open
and peered into the gloom.

What can you infer about the farmhouse? Clearly, it’s old and not well
cared for. Chances are it may be deserted. That inference makes sense
because it’s based on the details provided.

What else can you infer about the farmhouse? The condition at the front
door gives you some clues. The screen door is open. The front door

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latch may have been forced open since there are deep scratches
around it. Also, the front door is open, which means there may be
someone inside who has broken into the place. The evidence (the open
screen door and the scratches around the lock) helps you to draw a
conclusion (that someone may be inside).

Finally, what can you infer about Jake Wolfe? That’s less clear. Since
he’s carrying a revolver, he may be a police officer or a private detective
with a permit to carry a weapon. He may even be a criminal or perhaps
the owner of the property. As you can tell from studying this paragraph,
sometimes you can make clear inferences, and other times you may
have to guess about information until you learn more.

Evidence is information that supports a conclusion. A conclusion is what

you decide based on evidence or opinion.

Here’s another paragraph to study. Pay close attention to the details it

provides.

If you want to make sure you do a horrible job when you take tests, go
ahead and panic. The more negatively you think, the more negatively
you are likely to perform. The more your blood and energy goes to
preparing to bolt from the room, the less is available for your brain—the
part that knows the answers to the test questions. In other words, the
more you worry about something happening (failing the test), the more
likely you are to achieve it (failing the test).

Based on the preceding paragraph, try to determine what words are

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missing in the following paragraph.

One of the worst things students can do when faced with a test is to
_______. If a person is upset and worried, the _______ goes to their
extremities to help them get ready to run, instead of to their _______
where it’s needed most.

Did you have trouble filling in the blanks? If you did, reread the
paragraph. You probably filled in the first and third blank spaces easily
(panic and brain). But did you notice that the second blank space could
be filled with either blood or energy? When you make inferences, you
often have to be much more creative. Making inferences requires
reading between the lines and then drawing conclusions from clues or
evidence that implies something not said directly.

Separating Fact from Opinion

A fact is information that can be proved with evidence.An opinion is what

someone thinks or believes about something.

Another skill to use as you read is separating fact from opinion. A fact is
information that can be proved or disproved based on evidence. If
someone tells you that a diving board is 10 feet above the water, you
can check that with a tape measure. If your friend tells you that the
weekday hours at the library are 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., you can check
that by calling the library or by reading the hours as they’re posted on
the library door. The stated library hours are a fact. If you hear on the
radio news that an auto accident occurred at the corner of Orchard and

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Vine on Tuesday, you can check. If the facts check out, you can say that
the accident really happened.

Not all facts are that easy to prove, of course. For example, you might
learn in a science course that the Sun is 93,000,000 miles from Earth.
You might also learn that Earth orbits the Sun once a year. While you
can’t check these facts personally, you can learn how scientists have
learned these facts. Therefore, you can accept them as facts until you
find real evidence to the contrary. The main point is that a fact is
something that can be proved.

By contrast, an opinion is not a fact. Rather, an opinion is based on the

way people view or feel about a topic. Opinions may be based on fact,
but they may also be based on false information or simply on a person’s
emotions or preferences. For example, suppose Maryann tells you that
grape jam tastes terrible. That’s her opinion. It’s not a fact, because
some people like grape jam and think it’s delicious. When you read,
whether you read a newspaper, a magazine, an email, a report, or
anything else, don’t assume you’re reading facts. Writers often insert
their own opinions into their writing in order to convince their readers of
something.

Here are several examples that illustrate the difference between fact
and opinion:

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 [American Flag]

Fact: The American flag is red, white, and blue.

Opinion: More Americans should display the American flag on their

homes.

From observation and experience, you know that the American flag is
red, white, and blue. However, whether more Americans should display
the flag on their homes is an opinion. Some people may disagree with
that idea.

Fact: Teddy bears are stuffed toys that look like small bears.

Opinion: Teddy bears are cuddly and cute.

Both sentences are statements. However, the first statement is a fact

and the second is an opinion. Can you see why? The first sentence
states facts (things that can be checked) about teddy bears. The second
statement, however, tells how someone feels about teddy bears, so it’s
an opinion.

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Fact: The car she bought is a blue 2015 Ford Mustang.

Opinion: Ford Mustangs are the best cars on the road.

Fact: The bridesmaid wore a light pink satin dress with dark pink trim.

Opinion: The bridesmaid’s dress was much too expensive.

Fact: Carolyn is entering ninth grade this year.

Opinion: Carolyn spends too much time at the gym.

Read and compare the two paragraphs in the box below. The first
paragraph states only facts, while the second paragraph is mainly
opinion. In the second paragraph, sentences that are opinions are
italicized. In addition, clue words or phrases that signal an opinion are
underlined.

VERSION 1

At their Wednesday meeting on May 14, the town council passed an

ordinance that requires the public swimming pool in the Town
Recreation Center to be closed on Sunday. The vote was four to three in
favor of the ordinance. Several town residents attending the meeting
expressed opposition to the ordinance. Grace Forrester argued that the
only day many people have off is Sunday and that they should be able
to use the pool. Several of those present agreed with her. Other citizens
expressed support for the ordinance. James Crocker was one of those.

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He argued that public employees shouldn’t have to work on Sunday. Mr.
Crocker’s opinion was supported by the council’s final vote.

VERSION 2

I attended the Wednesday night meeting of the town council on May

14. To my dismay, the council passed an unnecessary ordinance
requiring the public swimming pool in the Town Recreation Center to be
closed on Sunday. The vote was close. It was four to three in favor of
the ordinance. In my view the vote didn’t express the will of the majority
of citizens. As Grace Forester pointed out, Sunday may be the only day
that many people have off. They should be able to use the pool. It
seems to me that James Crocker supported the ordinance because his
sister works at the Recreation Center. Also, I feel Mr. Crocker’s
argument was selfish. Recreation Center employees who work
weekends currently get Monday and Wednesday off.

Detecting Bias

Bias refers to a strong emotional preference for one viewpoint or

another. Many opinions reveal a bias. A bias chooses one point of view
and opposes other possible viewpoints. As you read, you must learn to
separate fact from bias.

Bias and opinions are very much alike, but opinions tend to include
words and phrases such as I believe, I feel, or should. Bias, on the other
hand, is typically presented as fact. It presents ideas with prejudice in

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order to convince others. Identifying bias requires careful reading,
thinking, and sometimes even research.

Speakers often try to convince you of something they feel strongly

about. Often these speakers are biased toward their position on an
issue and may therefore present their case in a skewed manner.
Listeners must attempt to remove the biases from the information they
receive.

[Women Talking]

Everyone has opinions—and that’s okay! For example, some people

feel that mixing mayonnaise and peanut butter to make a sandwich
sounds disgusting—while others claim it’s delicious. Some people feel
it’s wrong to drive large pickup trucks. They say these vehicles burn too
much gasoline and pollute the air. Others love these vehicles and
believe it’s fine to drive them. Each one of these examples represents
an opinion. When these opinions are presented as fact rather than as
personal beliefs, problems may result.

A bias, like any opinion, is based on the way a person interprets

information. Suppose I show you a picture of a man in an overcoat. The

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man is walking out of a restaurant. He’s slumped forward a bit and has
his hat pulled down to hide his face. You might feel the man in the
picture looks like a bad guy. You might even suggest he’s a mobster.
Someone else might look at the same picture and decide the man is
troubled about something. Maybe he just lost his job. Still another
person might decide that the man is walking with his head down
because it’s cold and windy. How people look at anything—or anybody
—depends on their perspectives.

Here are two questions to ask yourself to help detect bias in material
that you read:

(1) Are the statements logically related?

One way to detect bias is to determine if one statement logically follows

from the one before it. If it doesn’t, the two statements are most likely
not logically related. This could indicate that the author has jumped to
conclusions based on bias. Here’s an example: The old elementary
school is in need of repairs. Therefore, we need to raise taxes.

Can you figure out why these two statements aren’t logically related?
Well, there may already be money available for making repairs to the
elementary school. It doesn’t necessarily follow that because the school
needs repairs that taxes have to be raised. By contrast, the following
statements are logically related: The old elementary school is in need of
repairs. Since there’s not enough money in the budget to make the
repairs, we need to raise taxes.

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Now, let’s look at a sample paragraph. Read it carefully and see if you
can detect evidence of bias.

(1) Several citizens of Bay City have complained that their

property taxes are unfair. (2) Three citizens wrote letters to the
town Commissioner of Revenue stating that they were taxed on an
unfair appraisal of the value of their homes. (3) Responding to
these complaints, Mayor Garrett Brown stated yesterday that he
will order an investigation of tax records. (4) In my opinion, there
should be an independent investigation of the town tax records,
since it’s obvious that Garrett Brown is not to be trusted.

The first three sentences in this paragraph are statements of fact. They
can be proved from evidence. However, the fourth sentence shows bias.
How can you tell? The first clue is the phrase In my opinion, which
indicates that this is not necessarily a fact. The main clue, however, is
that the writer gives no evidence to prove that Garrett Brown is not to be
trusted. In addition, the statement “Garrett Brown is not to be trusted”
doesn’t follow naturally from the previous statement, “there should be an
independent investigation of the town tax records.” The two statements
aren’t logically related, indicating that the writer probably has a bias
against Mayor Brown.

(2) Does the writer use loaded words?

To understand the concept of loaded words, think about the following

sentences.

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 Libby complained about working such long hours.
Libby grumbled about working such long hours.
Libby whined about working such long hours.

[Loaded Words]

The words complained, grumbled, and whined are synonyms that mean
about the same thing. From each sentence, you learn that Libby doesn’t
like working long hours. However the three words—complained,
grumbled, and whined—give you a different feeling. The word
complained is relatively neutral. When people complain, they’re simply
saying they’re unhappy about something. The word grumbled, on the
other hand, sends a different message. You may now picture Libby
muttering under her breath and frowning a lot. When someone is
grumbling, you’re more likely to think of that person as expressing
anger. Finally, the word whining presents a different feeling entirely, as
whining is usually considered childish behavior. A whiner complains like
a child.

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Words like grumbled and whined are called loaded words—they carry
strong feelings or emotions. Writers often use loaded words to get
readers to respond with an emotion. As you read, keep in mind that
authors will use loaded words to evoke an emotion from you. It may be
to get you to buy something, to convince you to vote in a particular way,
or to get you to act in a certain way. Those loaded words may also be
designed to attack a person or a person’s ideas.

To influence means to try to convince someone of something. Words

may be used to influence your opinions. Loaded words are also used to
persuade people to interpret things in a certain way. See if you can pick
out the loaded words in this ad:

QUALITY FURNITURE AT BARGAIN PRICES!

Browse our fine selection of modern and colonial furnishings. Register

for a free gift!

Remember: At Franklin’s, quality is guaranteed.

Words like bargain, free, fine, quality, and guaranteed are very common
in commercial messages. They’re loaded words that are intended to
influence you. The writer of the ad in the box below wants to persuade
you that you can find good furniture at low prices when you shop at
Franklin Furniture.

Now, read the following three sentences and think about how each may
be aimed at influencing your point of view on a local campaign for the

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state legislature.

The candidates have different views on gun control.

The candidates are split over the issue of gun control.
The candidates stand in bitter opposition over the issue of gun
control.

The first sentence is neutral. It simply states that the two candidates
have different views about gun control. The second sentence uses the
word split. That word suggests that the candidates’ opinions on gun
control are very different. Split is a loaded word. The final sentence
suggests that both candidates have very strong feelings about gun
control. The loaded word here is bitter.

A word or statement is neutral if it isn’t meant to make readers feel a

strong emotion.

For a final example of bias, read the following paragraphs:

VERSION 1

Coach Blaskin Brown has it right. The Jefferson high Bees’ smashing 21
— 6 victory over North Cross in their first game of the year makes it
clear that the Bees are headed for a winning season. The Bees’ new
quarterback, Jason Knox, showed us he can pass a football where he
wants it to go. He also showed anyone who was watching that he knows
exactly what the North Cross defense is going to do. Of course, Knox
has the ready assistance of two second-year receivers. Luis Trippe took

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a pass from Knox for a 65-yard trip across the goal line in the second
quarter. And, of course, Shawn Crispin put the Bees into a comfortable
scoring position with his third-quarter interception. That was all Knox
needed to slide his offensive line past North Cross defenders for a final
touchdown and a stunning victory.

VERSION 2

The Jefferson High Bees scored a 21 to 6 win over North Cross in their
first game of the season. Two exciting high points of the game were
Louis Trippe’s 65-yard run in the second quarter on a pass from Knox
and Shawn Crispin’s interception of a North Cross pass in the third
quarter.

The North Cross offense seemed to falter in the second half, but — In
this reporter’s opinion — the team was not performing the way it could.
The Bees’ head coach, Blaskin Brown, expressed the opinion that his
bees are headed for a winning season. That may be true, but the
season is just beginning. And, if you ask me, North Cross will look better
and better in the coming months.

Both of the accounts in the box above contain a bias. However, the
difference between the two paragraphs is in how the writers are biased.
The writer of Version 1 is obviously biased in favor of the Jefferson High
Bees. He sees the victory over North Cross as evidence that the Bees
will have a winning season. But predicting the future is always risky.
Making a prediction based on one game shows bias. It’s hard, after all,

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to decide how a whole season will turn out based on only one game.
The writer of Version 2 is also biased. However, his bias leans toward
the North Cross team. He expresses his opinion that North Cross wasn’t
performing as well as it could and that it will improve as the season
progresses. That shows his bias.

Bias is often present in things you read. Sometimes authors intentionally

insert their bias, and sometimes the bias is unintentional. And bias isn’t
necessarily good or bad. Bias supported by evidence makes more
sense than bias based simply on opinions and feelings. Making an effort
to detect bias in the material you read helps you to understand a writer’s
point of view. It also keeps you alert for opinions that don’t make sense
or have no support.

Drawing Conclusions

Making inferences, separating fact from opinion, and spotting bias helps
you to draw conclusions from what you read. Conclusions are what you
decide based on the information you’re given. Conclusions may be
useful or not useful, and they may be based on facts or on opinions.

Consider these examples:

You read a newspaper article about the rising cost of homes. If the
article includes facts, you can draw a conclusion about why home
costs are rising. You draw a conclusion when you form an opinion
by thinking about facts.
You read an online article about your favorite performer. The article

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 talks about her background, her music, her current romances, and
the problems she has had with drinking. From what’s written, you
might conclude that she’s struggling to recover from alcohol
addiction. The article may not say that in so many words, but you
may infer it by reading between the lines and coming to that
conclusion.
An important election is coming up. You want to learn about the
candidates and what they stand for. You begin to read articles in
the newspaper and online, and you listen to newscasts and political
debates. After all this, you draw some conclusions and determine
which candidate you want to vote for. Is your decision based on
fact? Is it based on what the candidates have said? Have you taken
their opinions as fact, or have you carefully separated the two?
When you make decisions based on your reading, make sure you
know that you can trust the material you’re reading.

To get some practice in drawing conclusions, read the paragraph in in

the box below. As you do, try to draw a conclusion about the season of
the year.

Maxwell stood at his kitchen window, looking out into the backyard.
Sunshine was splashing across the grass like puddles of gold. A robin
worried the soil in search of a worm. Along the edges of the rock
garden, bright purple crocuses were poking upward into the morning
light. A dogwood tree was alive with pale green leaf buds. As he waited
for the coffeemaker to finish gurgling, Maxell smiled.

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Some facts in the paragraph above don’t tell you about the season. For
example, that Maxwell stood at his kitchen window is a fact, but it
doesn’t refer to the season. Also, the sun shines on the grass during
most, if not all, seasons of the year.

Here are the facts that directly suggest the season:

Crocuses are sprouting.

A dogwood tree has new leaf buds.

These two facts point to the fact that it’s spring. But what about the robin
searching for a worm? That fact alone would not indicate that it’s spring
since robins look for worms in both spring and summer. However, in the
context of the paragraph, you can conclude that it’s spring.

Let’s look at another example to give you some practice in drawing

conclusions from what’s written. Read the passage below. As you do,
think about the answer to this question: Is space travel between the
stars practical?

Einstein developed the theory of relativity, which has been proven by

experiments. According to the theory, nothing can travel faster than the
speed of light. The speed of light is about 186,000 miles per second, or
11,160,000 miles per minute. Now that’s fast! The star nearest Earth is
the Sun. It’s about 93,000,000 miles from Earth. Therefore, it takes
sunlight about 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to Earth. The star that is
next nearest Earth is about 4 light-years from the Sun. A light-year is the
number of miles light travels in one year. To figure out that number, you

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would have to multiply 186,000 by the number of seconds in a year!
There’s no spacecraft we can imagine that would not take many years
to reach the nearest star.

Any conclusion you draw should be based on the facts in the paragraph.
You would have to consider that light travels at an incomprehensible
speed. You would also have to calculate the number of years it would
take a spaceship to get from Earth to the closest star. Thinking about
that, you might draw some preliminary conclusions. A preliminary
conclusion is one that helps you get to a final conclusion. For example,
a starship would have to be quite large because it would need to carry
everything the people needed to live for many years. In fact, the people
on the spaceship would probably be in space long enough to have
children and grandchildren. When the grandchildren arrived, they would
know nothing about Earth. The final conclusion most people would come
to is that travel between the stars isn’t practical at this point.

Some Final Thoughts

As you conclude this assignment, consider these final suggestions for

making inferences and drawing conclusions:

1. Locate the facts in what you read, separating fact from opinion.
Some statements may look like facts, even though they aren’t. For
example, the sentence “The moon is made of green cheese” is
stated as though it were a fact. Sometimes all it takes is common
sense to see that a statement like this isn’t a fact. On the other
hand, some things stated as facts may or may not be facts. If you

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 read “The price of fresh eggs has dropped 10 percent over the past
year,” you might have to do some research to see if the statement
is actually a fact.
2. While sorting out facts from opinions, remember that opinions often
reveal bias. Including some facts but omitting others can also
indicate bias. For example, suppose you read this statement:
“Mayor Brown has been charged with tax evasion.” However,
elsewhere you read that official records show that Mayor Brown
paid his taxes as required. You can now infer that the charge
against Mayor Brown is an opinion that isn’t based on the facts.
3. As you sort out facts from opinions and look for bias, make
inferences by reading between the lines. Look for what the writer is
implying by the way he or she writes. By doing all of these things,
you’ll be better able to draw accurate conclusions.

Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

When you make an inference, you come to a conclusion based on

what you know.
When you read, you must learn to make inferences about the
information you’re reading.
Evidence is information that supports a conclusion. A conclusion is
what you decide based on evidence or opinion.
A fact is information that can be proved with evidence.

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 An opinion is what someone thinks or believes about something.
Bias refers to a strong emotional preference for one viewpoint or
another.
Good readers learn to look for facts, opinions, and bias in the
material they read.
Loaded words carry strong feelings or emotions.
A word or statement is neutral if it isn’t meant to make readers feel
a strong emotion.

Links

Identifying Implied Information (lessons.pennfoster.com/modules/hs

read/Identifying_Implied_Information.pdf)
Inference: Reading Ideas as Well as Words (www.criticalreading.co
m/inference_reading.htm)
Quiz: Fact and Opinion (www.quia.com/jq/24723.html)
Quiz: Fact and Opinion 2 (www.shsu.edu/~txcae/Powerpoints/prep
ostest/factIIpretest.html)
CTE Online—Detecting Bias (www.cteonline.org/portal/default/Curri
culum/Viewer/Curriculum?action=2&cmobjid=293642&view=viewer
&refcmobjid=260683)
Practice Drawing Conclusions (www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/h/
inferencesp.cfm)
Drawing Conclusions (www.laflemm.com/reso/conclusions.html)
Reading Comprehension: Drawing Conclusions Quiz (www.softsch
ools.com/quizzes/language_arts/drawing_conclusions_reading_co
mprehension/quiz1286.html)

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Exercise: Making Inferences

Questions 1–4 are based on the following paragraphs.

Jane Lively appeared on Laurie Pritchart’s front porch while morning

frost was still on the grass. The scattered clouds on the horizon were
orange and pink, painting those same colors in reflections from the
aluminum silo. The faint mooing of cows drifted from the barn, and Jeb
Pritchart was busy fiddling with the spark plugs on his aging John Deere
tractor. He didn’t seem to notice the arrival of Jane’s pickup truck.
Perhaps he didn’t care to notice it.

“Morning, Jane,” Laurie said, stepping out onto the porch. “What brings
you over so early?”

As usual, Jane’s mouth had a sour twist to it. “Laurie,” she said, “I think
you know why.”

Laurie forced a smile. “Is this about our fence line?”

Jane folded her burly arms across her chest, looked grim, and nodded.
“Two of your steers are poking around in our south pasture again.”

Laurie laughed. “Well, I’ll get Jeb to send Bobby over there to collect
them—soon as I get a minute.”

“Well,” Jane said sharply, “I expect you to get to it right away. And I

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expect Jeb to get to fixing that fence real quick. I don’t trust that Bobby
Loomis to fix it right.”

Laurie was about to ask Jane if she wanted to come in for coffee, but
she just couldn’t get the words out. Instead, she just nodded.

Jane turned on her heels, stomped off the porch, and marched back to
her pickup. Laurie remained standing on the porch taking deep breaths.

Jeb still had his head buried under the engine cover of the tractor. He
never looked up until the dusty trail of Jane’s pickup was a half mile
down the road. Finally, with a clang, he closed the engine cover and
looked up at Laurie. “What is it this time?” he called out.

“Same as last time,” Laurie called back. “Jane still thinks that pasture
fence is on our land.”

1. What can you infer about Jane Lively’s personality?

2. What evidence did you find to support your inference?

3. The passage doesn’t reveal who Bobby Loomis is, but what can
be inferred about his relationship to the Pritcharts?

4. How could you infer that Jane Lively has a bias about Bobby
Loomis?

Exercise Answer Key:

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Exercise: Making Inferences

1. She seems to be a sour, negative person.

2. She was rude and demanding with Laurie. She stomped off the
porch. Meanwhile, Jeb made a point of ignoring her. Also, it seems
that the fence problem is the Livelys’ responsibility, not the
Pritcharts’.

3. He could be a hired hand, or he could be a friend of the family.

4. She told Laurie that she didn’t trust him to fix the fence properly.

Exercise: Facts, Opinions, and Bias

Questions 1–3 are based on the following letter to the editor.

Have you ever tried to teach a class full of restless, active sixth-
graders? I have. I taught sixth-grade students for 12 years. For that
reason, I was shocked to learn that the average class size at Harbor
Elementary School is 32. The National Education Association
recommends a class size of 23. In my view, Harbor Elementary should
hire at least five more teachers. Teachers are already overworked and
underpaid. Large classes make teaching young children nearly
impossible for most teachers.

Sincerely,

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Elsie Lovelace

1. List the facts that Ms. Lovelace states in her letter.

2. What is Elsie Lovelace’s opinion about working conditions for

teachers?

3. What bias does Elsie show in her letter?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Facts, Opinions, and Bias

1. Elsie taught sixth grade for 12 years. The average class size at
Harbor Elementary is 32. The National Education Association
recommends a class size of 23.

2. Elsie feels the teachers are overworked and underpaid.

3. She has a bias against large classes in elementary school. She's

also biased toward teachers since she thinks they’re overworked
and underpaid.

3.2 Examine imagery, rhyme, and figures of speech in

poetry

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Reading Poetry
READING ASSIGNMENT

Poetic Imagery

https://players.brightcove.net/1642697353001/3bc42260-cdb6-423b-
8cc3-c469249176a5_default/index.html?videoId=6225365724001

[Mountain]

Sometimes writers use words to create mental images that, in turn,

create a certain kind of feeling in readers. For example, think about the
difference between these two sentences:

The water in the pond was calm.

The pond was a crystal mirror reflecting a blue sky and cotton-
candy clouds.

The first sentence is factual and straightforward. As you read it, you can
imagine a pond in which the water is flat and without waves. The second

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sentence also indicates that the water in the pond is calm, like a mirror.
But the second sentence says more than that. It creates a mental image
of a clear mirror reflecting both the blue sky and the passing clouds. The
image of white clouds is made more interesting because the writer
compares them to cotton candy.

The mental image you get from the first sentence isn’t likely to touch
your emotions. It’s just a simple description. The second sentence is
more interesting because it uses imagery, a literary tool that suggests
mental pictures of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, and actions.
Imagery also conveys emotions and moods.

Writers often use vivid words to create imagery—that is, to make images
in your mind that are strong or colorful. For example, in the second
sentence, the words a crystal mirror form a vivid phrase that helps you
visualize what the lake looked like. In fact, a word like crystal is vivid all
by itself. Vivid words and phrases that create strong, colorful mental
images stir the emotions. For example, the second sentence may make
you feel peaceful. It may also make you feel a little bit happy. Evoking
emotions and feelings with words is just what the writer intended to do.

The word vivid involves producing a strong or clear impression on the

senses.

Poetry is a special form of writing that uses imagery to make its readers
feel certain things. By speaking to feelings, poetry may also encourage
people to think about things in a different way.

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Poetry is different from other kinds of writing because it’s usually
intended to be spoken aloud. And among all kinds of writing, poetry is
closest to music. In fact, song lyrics are written very much like poetry,
and many poems have been put to music. So, you might think of good
poetry as “word music.” To understand this idea, read the poems aloud
as you go along.

Let’s look at an example of imagery in this poem by Emily Dickinson.

The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;
The berry’s cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,

The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I’ll put a trinket on.

—Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was an American poet born in Amherst, Massachusetts,

in 1830. If you would like to learn more about her, go to poets.org (www.
poets.org/poetsorg/poet/emily-dickinson) .

A poem may have one or more stanzas. The poem by Emily Dickinson
has two stanzas.

A stanza is two or more lines of poetry that create divisions within a

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poem.

Dickinson’s poem is about autumn, but it makes its readers think about
autumn in new ways. It does this, in part, by presenting strong imagery
through a vivid use of language. For example, consider this line: “The
berry’s cheek is plumper.” Dickinson uses vivid language to describe the
ripening of berries in a new way. In fact, the entire first stanza describes
autumn in fresh ways. The second stanza tells how the poet responds to
the change in season. She decides to put on a trinket. In this case, a
trinket is probably some kind of jewelry.

You may have noticed another thing about this poem. It’s witty. Wit is
the clever use of words to catch people’s attention and perhaps to make
them smile or laugh. When you read the line “The rose is out of town,”
you may have smiled. Her choice of words is much more interesting
than simply saying “The roses have stopped blooming.”

Rhyme in Poetry

Rhyme is similarity in sound of the ends of words, such as carry and

marry or sorrow and borrow. Many poets use rhyme to structure their
poems. Go back and look at Dickinson’s poem again. Notice the words
at the end of each line. Brown (line 2) rhymes with town (line 4) and
gown (line 6). These three words also loosely rhyme with on at the end
of line 8. It isn’t a perfect rhyme, but the rhyme of a poem is less
important than the feeling it provides. You can understand this idea
more clearly when you read a poem that doesn’t rhyme.

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Read the following lines to see how they can be a poem even if they
don’t rhyme:

Cloak

The cut of this night

becomes the earth;
long, loose-fitting,
deep-pocketed;
a drape of darkness
earth wears well.

—Preston Newman, from The Land Stacks Up

(Reprinted courtesy of Pocahontas Press)

This poem has only one stanza, which describes what it’s like when
night settles on the earth. The poem causes the reader to think of night
in a different way by comparing it to a cloak that fits the earth well.

Figures of Speech

Writers, and especially poets, often use figures of speech to help their
readers get a vivid and lifelike picture of something. In using figures of
speech, writers suggest meanings or effects that go beyond the literal
meaning of a word or phrase. On the other hand, figures of speech say
one thing in terms of something else. Let’s look at some examples.

The literal meaning of a word is the same as its dictionary meaning.

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Two very common figures of speech are metaphors and similes. Both
compare two unlike things. Similes compare two unlike things by using
the words like and as. Here are two very familiar similes that you’ve
probably heard many times:

Marilynn slept like a log.

Jacob is as strong as an ox.

In both instances two very unlike things are being compared: Marilynn
and a log in the first sentence and Jacob and an ox in the second.
Notice, too, the use of the words like and as. A comparison is a simile
only if one of these words is used.

Metaphors also compare two unlike things but without using the words
like and as. For example, in the poem “Cloak,” Preston Newman
compares nightfall to a cloak. Nightfall and a cloak are two unlike things.
His purpose is to show how night covers the earth the way a cloak
covers a person. Notice that he doesn’t use either like or as to make this
comparison.

To help you understand the difference between a metaphor and a

simile, consider the following lines of poetry:

In tuxedo crisp and scarf of silk,

Lionel was like a peacock among lesser birds.

In tuxedo crisp and scarf of silk,

Lionel was a peacock among lesser birds.

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The first example uses the image of a peacock as a simile because it
includes the word like. The second example uses the peacock as a
metaphor. It compares Lionel to a peacock more directly, without the
use of like or as. However, both poem fragments use the word birds as a
metaphor for other people.

Now it’s your turn to see if you can spot figures of speech. Read the
following lines from another poem by Emily Dickinson. As you do, look
for metaphors and similes.

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.

These lines compare hope to a bird—“the thing with feathers.” This

“bird” perches in the soul and sings a tune that needs no words, a tune
that “never stops.” Such an idea is similar to the saying “Hope springs
eternal in the human heart.” The “thing with feathers” is a metaphor of
hope, not a simile. Can you see why? You don’t find the words like or as
in the lines. Instead, the poet tells us that hope is the thing with feathers.

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8cc3-c469249176a5_default/index.html?videoId=6225364477001

Key Points and Links

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READING ASSIGNMENT

Key Points

Imagery is a literary tool that suggests mental pictures of sights,

sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, and actions.
A vivid word produces a strong or clear impression on the senses.
Poetry is a special form of writing that uses imagery to make its
readers feel certain things.
A stanza is two or more lines of poetry that create divisions within a
poem.
Rhyme is the similarity in sound of the ends of words.
The literal meaning of a word is the same as its dictionary meaning.
Two very common figures of speech are metaphors and similes.
Both compare two unlike things. Similes compare two unlike things
by using the words like and as. Metaphors compare two unlike
things without using the words like and as.

Links

How to Read a Poem (www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/198

82)
The Poetry Archive: Imagery (www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive
/glossaryItem.do?id=8098)
Similes and Metaphors in Common Music (www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=iIBdDiPi-o0&feature=related)
Similes and Metaphors in Pop Culture (www.youtube.com/watch?v
=EQL-wEe03hc)

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Exercise: "The Winds of Fate"

Questions 1–3 are based on the following poem.

"The Winds of Fate"

One ship drives east and another drives west

With the selfsame winds that blow.
’Tis the set of the sails
And not of the gales
Which tells us the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,

As we voyage along through life;
’Tis the set of a soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox

1. What is this poem about?

a. The excitement of a sea voyage
b. The way a person’s character guides life
c. The power of the wind on sails
d. The problems of living everyone encounters

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 2. In “The Winds of Fate,” the poet compares a person’s life to
a. a ship at sea.
b. the wind.
c. a ship’s sails
d. the power of fate.

3. According to this poem’s first stanza, what determines the direction

of a ship?
a. The sea
b. The soul
c. The sails
d. The wind

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: "The Winds of Fate"
1. b. The way a person’s character guides life 2. a. a ship at sea. 3. c.
The sails Exercise: "Meeting at Night"

Questions 1–5 are based on the following poem by the English

poet Robert Browning.

"Meeting at Night"

The gray sea and the long black land;

And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

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 As I gain the cove1 with pushing prow2,

And quench its speed i’3 the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;

Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A rap at the pane4, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro’5 its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each.
.
—Robert Browning

1 A cove is a small inlet from the sea.

2 A prow is the front end of a boat.

3 i’ is short for in.

4 Pane refers to a windowpane.

5 Thro’ is short for through.

1. Each stanza in this poem has six lines. Which lines rhyme within
each stanza?

2. What is the main idea of this poem?

3. In ordinary language, describe the mental pictures you get from the
first stanza.

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 4. In the first stanza, why do you think the poet says that little waves
look like “fiery ringlets”?

5. What does the last line of the poem tell you?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: "Meeting at Night"
1. The first and last lines rhyme, the second and fifth lines rhyme, and
the third and fourth lines rhyme. 2. It’s about a man hurrying to meet
with one he loves. 3. The first line creates an image of a gray ocean.
The land looks black because it’s night. The second line presents a
picture of a half-moon low in the sky. It may seem large since it’s near
the horizon. The third and fourth lines give the readers a mental picture
of waves that are probably caused by the boat moving through the
water. The last line gives a mental image of the boat beaching on wet
sand. 4. It could be that the waves made by the passing boat reflect the
moonlight. 5. Two hearts “beating each to each” suggests that the
couple are lovers meeting after a time apart.

3.3 Analyze the individual elements of fiction writing

Elements of Fiction
READING ASSIGNMENT

Character and Setting

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The term fiction refers to writing that’s the product of someone’s
imagination. Fiction uses pretend or created characters, rather than
actual or real people. The category of fiction includes short stories,
novellas, and novels.

A short story is a tale with a fully developed theme, which can be read in
one sitting. A novella is longer than a short story but shorter than a
novel. Finally, a novel is a lengthy fictional story.

[Shoes]

Fiction always includes characters and setting. Characters are the

people that authors create for their stories. Setting refers to the place
and time a story occurs. It also includes the characteristics of the
environment that are noticeable – the weather, amount of noise, and
visual elements are often part of the setting for a short story or a scene
in a longer piece. Settings in fiction may be real or imagined places, or a
combination of both. For example, in Frank L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz,
the main character, Dorothy, travels from Kansas (a real place) to the
Land of Oz (an imaginary place).

Writers explain their characters by revealing the characters’ traits,

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motives, and feelings. Providing these details about the different people
in the story is called characterization. For example, readers of The
Wizard of Oz learn that Dorothy’s character traits are bravery and
cheerfulness. They also learn that she wants to return to her home in
Kansas. That’s her motive—the reason she does what she does in the
story. Finally, readers learn that Dorothy has different kinds of feelings.
She’s delighted and curious about the amazing Land of Oz, but she’s
also lonely because she knows “there’s no place like home.”

Sometimes settings are very important to stories. For example, think

again about The Wizard of Oz. The story begins in Kansas just as a
tornado is threatening. The tornado plays an extremely important role in
the story. Without it, Dorothy would never have arrived in Oz. The Land
of Oz is also very critical to the action, since it’s a magical place, where
scarecrows and tin men come to life.

In other stories, the characters stand out more than the settings. For
example, a modern romance story won’t depend as much on the setting
as it will on how the characters deal with each other.

To help you understand the elements of character and setting, you’ll

read and study a very short fairy tale, “The Little Match Girl,” written by
Hans Christian Andersen. We’ve divided the story into parts so that we
can talk about it as we go along.

The Little Match Girl

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 [The Little Match Girl]

Once upon a time, a little girl tried to make a living by selling matches in
the street. It was New Year’s Eve and the snow-clad streets were
deserted. From brightly lit windows came the tinkle of laughter and the
sound of singing. People were getting ready to bring in the New Year.
But the poor little match seller sat sadly beside the fountain. Her ragged
dress and worn shawl did not keep out the cold and she tried to keep
her bare feet from touching the frozen ground.

She hadn’t sold one box of matches all day and she was frightened to
go home, for her father would certainly be angry. It would not be much
warmer anyway, in the draughty attic that was her home. The little girl’s
fingers were stiff and cold. If only she could light a match! But what
would her father say at such a waste!

Falteringly, she took out a match and lit it. What a nice warm flame! The
little match seller cupped her hand over it, and as she did so, she
magically saw in its light a big brightly burning stove. She held out her
hands to the heat, but just then the match went out and the vision faded.

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The night seemed blacker than before and it was getting colder. A shiver
ran through the little girl’s thin body.

The author introduces several important things in the opening of the

story. First, it’s a cold winter night. Second, the main character, the little
girl, is poor. Her poverty is evident in the fact that she sells matches for
only pennies, plus she’s barefoot and poorly clad for the winter weather.
Third, the little girl is afraid to go home because she believes her father
will be angry with her for not selling any matches. Her fear indicates that
the little girl’s father isn’t very kind or loving. Fourth, the little girl lights a
match. When she does, a magical thing happens. She has a vision of a
“brightly burning stove,” and she’s temporarily transported from her
place by the fountain to a place that isn’t real. Sadly, her vision quickly
disappears the moment the match burns out, and then everything
seemed darker and colder to the little girl.

Now, continue reading the story.

After hesitating for a long time, she struck another match on the wall,
and this time, the glimmer turned the wall into a great sheet of crystal.
Beyond that stood a fine table laden with food and lit by a candlestick.

Holding out her arms towards the plates, the little match seller seemed
to pass through the glass, but then the match went out and the magic
faded. Poor thing: In just a few seconds she had caught a glimpse of
everything that life had denied her—warmth and good things to eat. Her
eyes filled with tears and she lifted her gaze to the lit windows, praying
that she too might know a little of such happiness.

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A glimmer is a small light or sparkle. In this case, it’s the light from the
match.

The little girl is in a terrible situation. She’s beginning to burn her

matches, in an attempt to stay warm. But something else is happening.
As she lights the second match, a new vision appears. What do you
think these visions mean? The visions seem to stand for those things
that the little girl doesn’t have in her life. She’s cold and hungry and she
sees a vision of warmth and food. She weeps and prays that she may
have the happiness of being warm and well-fed.

Read on, now, to the end of the story.

She lit the third match and an even more wonderful thing happened.
There stood a Christmas tree hung with hundreds of candles, glittering
with tinsel and colored balls.

“Oh, how lovely!” exclaimed the little match seller, holding up the match.

Then, the match burned her finger and flickered out. The light from the
Christmas candles rose higher and higher. Then one of the lights fell,
leaving a trail behind it.

“Someone is dying,” murmured the little girl, as she remembered her

beloved Granny who used to say: “When a star falls, a heart stops
beating!”

Scarcely aware of what she was doing, the little match seller lit another
match. This time, she saw her grandmother.

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“Granny, stay with me!” she pleaded, as she lit one match after the
other, so that her grandmother could not disappear like all the other
visions.

However, Granny did not vanish, but gazed smilingly at her. Then she
opened her arms and the little girl hugged her crying: “Granny, take me
away with you!”

A cold day dawned and a pale sun shone on the fountain and the icy
road. Close by lay the lifeless body of a little girl surrounded by spent
matches.

“Poor little thing!” exclaimed the passersby. “She was trying to keep
warm!”

But by that time, the little match seller was far away where there is
neither cold, hunger, nor pain.

The story continues as the little girl burns match after match. The story
ends with her lifeless body lying on the ground surrounded by burnt
matches. A passerby exclaims that she died trying to keep warm by
burning matches, but is that really what happened? No, she was burning
match after match to hold on to the vision of her beloved Granny.

The passerby said the little girl was a “poor little thing.” Is that what the
writer wanted to express? As the reader, you must decide. The story is
sad because the little girl was poor and had no one to help her stay
warm and fed. On the other hand, the little girl passed beyond this world

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to a better place—perhaps to be with her Granny—a place “where there
is neither cold, hunger, nor pain.”

Plot, Conflict, and Theme

As you've just seen, characters and settings are very important to

fiction. However, three other elements are also critical parts of a good
story: plot, conflict, and theme. The term plot refers to the sequence of
events in a story—that is, what the story is about. Conflict refers to the
issue to be resolved or challenges that characters must overcome in a
story. Finally, theme refers to the main point of the story. It’s the
message the writer is trying to convey. To illustrate each of these
elements, let’s outline the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo, a classic
novel by Alexander Dumas.

[Treasure Chest]

A young man, Edmund Dantes, is looking forward to marrying his

sweetheart, the beautiful Mercedes. Although he’s young and

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uneducated, he’s about to become captain of a sailing vessel.
Unfortunately, things do not go as planned. On his way back to France,
Dantes is asked to carry a letter from the island of Elba. At that time, the
former emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, was imprisoned there,
looking forward to returning from exile to claim power once again. That
scheme is what the letter is about. Of course, Dantes doesn’t know this.
Since he’s unable to read, he couldn’t read the letter if he wanted to. A
close friend of Dantes betrays him to a corrupt politician named Villefort.
Even though he has no knowledge of any political plot, Dantes is
charged with conspiracy. He ends up in a prison at Villefort’s orders. The
twist is that Villefort is involved in the plan to bring Napoleon back to
power.

Dantes spends 14 years in prison. His family and Mercedes are told that
he is dead. While in prison, Dantes meets a wise inmate, the Abbé
Faria, who teaches him how to read and write and tells Dantes of a
fabulous treasure on the island of Monte Cristo.

With the help of Abbé Faria, Dantes eventually figures out who betrayed
him and why. As his knowledge grows, so does his determination to
escape and to take revenge on his enemies. At last, he makes a daring
escape and finds the treasure of Monte Cristo.

Since no one knows he’s alive, Dantes uses his great wealth to make
himself the awesome Count of Monte Cristo. Step by step, Edmund
works cleverly to turn his enemies against each other. Gradually, he
gains revenge over all of them, including the evil Villefort.

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In the movie version of this story, Dantes decides that love is more
important than revenge. He renews his love for Mercedes, and they live
happily ever after. The original book has a different ending. You might
want to get a copy and find out what it is!

An abbé is a member of the French clergy.

A protagonist is the main character in a story.

From this short description of The Count of Monte Cristo, you can
recognize the plot. A good plot helps you see the characters as the story
develops. For example, the protagonist, Edmund Dantes, goes from
being a decent, uneducated man to a wealthy, educated man bent on
vengeance.

Within the plot, you can also see the character’s conflicts. Conflicts are
generally problems a character must confront and resolve. The conflicts
for Dantes include coping with betrayal, surviving in prison, and with the
help of the abbé, bettering himself in order to plan an escape, carry it
off, and create a new life.

The main conflict for Dantes is the deep feeling of anger driving him to
seek revenge. In fact, that main conflict is also the main theme of the
story. In one word, the theme of The Count of Monte Cristo is revenge,
specifically the nature and cost of revenge and what it does to the
human soul.

Key Points and Links

READING ASSIGNMENT

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Key Points

The term fiction refers to writing that’s the product of someone’s

imagination.
Characters are the people that authors create for their stories.
Setting refers to the place and time a story occurs. Settings in
fiction may be real or imagined places, or a combination of both.
Plot refers to the sequence of events in a story—that is, what the
story is about.
Conflict refers to the issue to be resolved in a story.
Theme refers to the main point of the story. It’s the message the
writer is trying to convey.

Links

Short Story Elements (hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/engramja/elements.ht

ml)

Exercise: Investigating Fiction

Read the following passage and answer the questions.

On a long summer afternoon a Trailways bus becomes a metal box on

thick, determined double tires that leaves a wake of blue smoke,
tedium,1 abandoned hopes, and intentions half-formed. The wake drifts
beyond the asphalt to be inhaled by white-haired black men on wooden
porches, by teenage girls with bare legs and braces on their teeth. It

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leaves a dull film on billboards.

Inside the bus, in his summer Class-A uniform with its brass glitter and
infantry-blue shoulder cordon,2 Jamie Sabin was going home. Fort
Benning would be a fading dream; Preston, Virginia, a place unknown,
his future. He was in between, fumbling with puzzle pieces, making up
stories about the real Jamie Sabin. Each of these he set adrift like a
paper boat on a shifting sea of daydreams. He did that encased in the
drone and shudder of diesel pistons and hissing tires. Jamie Sabin was
going home to a place unknown.

Three seats back, across the aisle, a young woman who had boarded
the bus in Charlotte sat with pained furrows between her brows. Her
dark eyes counted the rhythm of passing utility poles without registering
a sum. Her mind rolled and pitched with passing images of
weatherwracked barns, mobile homes, a brown dog with its tongue
draped out to dispel the summer heat. Kathryn Shay was half asleep,
but wide awake. She sat forward in her seat, slumped in it, then sat up
again, her long olive fingers pressing nervously against the tote bag on
her lap. Kathryn Shay was running away from a home too well known.

—R. G. Turner
(Courtesy, R. G. Turner, with permission)

1. Which one of the following sentences best describes the character

of Jamie Sabin?

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 a. He’s young and eager to get home.
b. He’s a dreamer looking forward to a great new life.
c. He’s uncertain about his future in Preston, Virginia.
d. He’s a soldier who has just enlisted in the military.

2. What connects the wake of the bus to abandoned hopes?

a. Blue smoke
b. Asphalt
c. Dust
d. Diesel pistons

3. Which phrase best shows that Kathryn is tense and possibly

unhappy?
a. “pained furrows between her brows”
b. “counted the rhythm of passing utility poles”
c. “half asleep, but wide awake”
d. “long olive fingers pressed nervously against the tote bag”

4. What is the main theme of the excerpt?

a. The stress of travel
b. The concept of home
c. The military life
d. The bus experience

5. What is the connection between Kathryn and Jamie?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: Investigating Fiction

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 1. c

2. a

3. a

4. b

5. Both are focused on the idea of home and what it means. They’re
having mixed feelings about it.

Exercise: "The Tell-Tale Heart"

Questions 1–5 are based on the following excerpt from “The Tell-
Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe.

True!—Nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but

why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses
—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing
acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many
things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how
healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once
conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none.
Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged
me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it

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was his eye! yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture
—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my
blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind
to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But
you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I
proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what
dissimulation1 I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than
during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about
midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it—oh, so gently! And
then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark
lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my
head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly2 I thrust it in! I
moved it slowly—very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old
man’s sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the
opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha!—would
a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was
well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously—oh, so cautiously—
cautiously (for the hinges creaked)—I undid it just so much that a single
thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights—
every night just at midnight—but I found the eye always closed; and so it
was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed3
me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went
boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by
name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he had passed the night. So

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you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to
suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he
slept.

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the
door. A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never
before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers—of my
sagacity.4 I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that
there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of
my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps
he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you
may think that I drew back—but no. His room was as black as pitch with
the thick darkness (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of
robbers), and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door,
and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.

I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb
slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying
out—“Who’s there?”

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a
muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still
sitting up in the bed listening;—just as I have done, night after night,
hearkening5 to the death watches in the wall.

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal

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terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief—oh, no!—it was the low
stifled6 sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged
with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all
the world slept, it has welled7 up from my own bosom, deepening, with
its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I
knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart.
I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise,
when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing
upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not.
He had been saying to himself—“It is nothing but the wind in the
chimney—it is only a mouse crossing the floor,” or “it is merely a cricket
which has made a single chirp.” Yes, he had been trying to comfort
himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain;
because Death, in approaching him, had stalked with his black shadow
before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence
of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel—although he neither
saw nor heard—to feel the presence of my head within the room.

—Edgar Allan Poe, from “The Tell-Tale Heart”

1. What reason does the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” give for
killing the old man?
a. He disliked the old man’s vulture-like eye.
b. He felt that the old man was unkind to him.
c. He was insane and couldn’t control himself.
d. He planned to take the old man’s riches.

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 2. The narrator compares his speed of opening the old man’s door to
a. the pitch darkness of the old man’s room.
b. a lantern with its shutters closed.
c. the minute hand on a watch.
d. the sound sleep of the old man.

3. The narrator tries to convince the reader that

a. he is a cautious man.
b. he is completely sane.
c. the old man is very wealthy.
d. the old man is suspicious.

4. What caused the old man to suddenly sit up in bed?

a. The narrator made a noise with the lantern.
b. The wind began to blow strongly outside.
c. A mouse ran across the floor.
d. A cricket began chirping outside.

5. How does the setting of the story affect the plot?

Exercise Answer Key:

Exercise: "The Tell-Tale Heart"

1. a. He disliked the old man’s vulture-like eye.

2. c. the minute hand on a watch.

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 3. b. he is completely sane.

4. a. The narrator made a noise with the lantern.

5. The setting is inside the home and especially the bedroom of the
old man. The entire focus is on the room and the sounds in it and is
part of the overall plot since it’s where all action takes place.

Lesson 3 Review

Self-Check
1. Drawing a conclusion based on information presented is called
a. inferring.
b. interfering.
c. concluding.
d. answering.
2. What is bias in writing?
a. A belief that's strongly supported by evidence
b. An opinion
c. A strong emotional preference for one viewpoint or another
d. Hatred
3. Which of the following sentences uses loaded language to invoke an
emotional response in the reader?

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 a. Clean-water regulations prevent businesses from dumping waste.
b. Regulations have resulted in cleaner rivers and lakes.
c. Businesses should not be prevented from disposing of waste
however they see fit.
d. The clean-water regulations are burdensome on businesses.
4. ______ is a literary tool that suggests mental pictures of sights,
sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, and actions.
a. Imagery
b. Wit
c. Simile
d. Metaphor
5. "The fog comes On little cat feet" In these lines, the author is
employing
a. simile.
b. comparison.
c. metaphor.
d. contrast.
6. The category of fiction includes all of the following except
a. novellas.
b. novels.
c. poems.
d. short stories.
7. Characters and setting are included in all works of
a. nonfiction.
b. writing.
c. fiction.

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 d. poetry.
8. Which of the following is an example of a vivid phrase?
a. Scarlet clouds
b. Red sky
c. Orange trees
d. Calm winds
9.
Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Based on the imagery of this stanza, what season is the poet

describing?

a. Autumn
b. Summer
c. Winter
d. Spring

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10. Read the following passage from To Build a Fire, by Jack London,
then answer the question. The fire was a success. He was safe. He
remembered the advice of the old-timer on Sulphur Creek, and smiled.
The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man
must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he
had had the accident; he was alone; and he had saved himself. Those
old-timers were rather womanish, some of them, he thought. All a man
had to do was to keep his head, and he was all right. Any man who was
a man could travel alone. There was the fire, snapping and crackling
and promising life with every dancing flame. He started to untie his
moccasins. They were coated with ice; the thick German socks were like
sheaths of iron half-way to the knees; and the moccasin strings were
like rods of steel all twisted and knotted as by some conflagration. For a
moment he tugged with his numbed fingers, then, realizing the folly of it,
he drew his sheath-knife. But before he could cut the strings, it
happened. It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should not
have built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the
open. But it had been easier to pull the twigs from the brush and drop
them directly on the fire. Now the tree under which he had done this
carried a weight of snow on its boughs. No wind had blown for weeks,
and each bough was fully freighted. Each time he had pulled a twig he
had communicated a slight agitation to the tree--an imperceptible
agitation, so far as he was concerned, but an agitation sufficient to bring
about the disaster. High up in the tree one bough capsized its load of
snow. This fell on the boughs beneath, capsizing them. This process
continued, spreading out and involving the whole tree. It grew like an

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avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire,
and the fire was blotted out! Where it had burned was a mantle of fresh
and disordered snow. What is the theme of this story?
a. The man's dismissal of the old-timer's advice led to ruin.
b. The old-timer on Sulphur Creek was actually a woman.
c. Man's struggle for survival in an inhospitable environment
d. The danger of traveling in cold weather

Self-Check Answer Key

1. inferring.
Explanation: When you make an inference, you come to a
conclusion based on what you know.
Reference: Section 3.1

2. A strong emotional preference for one viewpoint or another

Explanation: Bias refers to a strong emotional preference for one
viewpoint or another. A bias chooses one point of view and
opposes other possible viewpoints.
Reference: Section 3.1

3. The clean-water regulations are burdensome on businesses.

Explanation: Loaded words carry strong feelings or emotions.
Writers often use loaded words to get readers to respond with an
emotion.
Reference: Section 3.1

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4. Imagery
Explanation: Imagery is a literary tool that suggests mental pictures
of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, and actions. Imagery
also conveys emotions and moods.
Reference: Section 3.2

5. metaphor.
Explanation: Similes compare two unlike things by using the
words like and as. Metaphors also compare two unlike things but
without using the words like and as.
Reference: Section 3.2

6. poems.
Explanation: Fiction is writing that’s the product of someone’s
imagination. The category of fiction includes short stories, novellas,
and novels.
Reference: Section 3.3

7. fiction.
Explanation: Fiction always includes characters and setting.
Characters are the people that authors create for their stories.
Setting refers to the place and time a story occurs.
Reference: Section 3.3

8. Scarlet clouds
Explanation: Vivid words create images in the reader's mind that

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 are strong or colorful.
Reference: Section 3.2

9. Autumn
Explanation: Imagery is a literary tool that suggests mental pictures
of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, actions, emotions, and
moods. The words that imply autumn are stubble plains (the crops
have been harvested), full-grown lambs (lambs are born in the
spring, so if they’re grown, it must be several months later), and
gathering swallows (the birds are flocking as they prepare to
migrate south).
Reference: Section 3.2

10. Man's struggle for survival in an inhospitable environment

Explanation: Theme is the main point of the story. It’s the message
the writer is trying to convey.
Reference: Section 3.3

Flash Cards
1. Term: Evidence
Definition: Information that supports a conclusion

2. Term: Conclusion
Definition: What you decide based on evidence or opinion

3. Term: Fact

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Definition: Information that can be proved with evidence

4. Term: Opinion
Definition: What someone thinks or believes about something

5. Term: Influence
Definition: To try to convince someone of something

6. Term: Neutral
Definition: A word or statement that isn’t meant to make readers feel a
strong emotion

7. Term: Vivid
Definition: A word that produces a strong or clear impression on the
senses

8. Term: Stanza
Definition: Two or more lines of poetry that create divisions within a
poem

9. Term: Literal Meaning

Definition: The meaning of a word that's the same as its dictionary
meaning

10. Term: Short Story

Definition: A tale with a fully developed theme, which can be read in

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one sitting

11. Term: Novella

Definition: A tale that's longer than a short story but shorter than a
novel

12. Term: Novel

Definition: A lengthy fictional story

13. Term: Abbé

Definition: A member of the French clergy

14. Term: Protagonist

Definition: The main character in a story

15. Term: Petrified

Definition: Turned to stone

16. Term: Imagery

Definition: A literary tool that suggests mental pictures of sights,
sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, and actions; also conveys emotions
and moods

17. Term: Poetry

Definition: A form of writing that uses imagery to make its readers feel
certain things

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18. Term: Rhyme
Definition: Similarity in the sound of the ends of words

19. Term: Figures of Speech

Definition: Suggests meaning or effects that go beyond the literal
meaning of a word or phrase

20. Term: Simile

Definition: The comparison of two unlike things using the words like or
as

21. Term: Metaphor

Definition: The comparison of two unlike things without using the words
like or as

Exercise
1. Review Exercise: Main Facts and Ideas

Questions 1–2 are based on the following paragraphs.

Genes are found in all cells of the body. They’re like chemical codes
that determine a person’s physical traits. Genes determine a person’s
height, skin color, eye color, blood type, and many other things.

To see if people with the same genes had about the same intelligence

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levels, a group of scientists conducted a study of 20 pairs of twins. Ten
pairs were identical twins, both developing from the same egg in their
mother. The other ten pairs were fraternal twins. They were born at the
same time but from different eggs in the mother. Identical twins have
almost identical sets of genes, but fraternal twins don’t. After studying
the 20 pairs of twins for 10 years, all of the individuals were given an
intelligence test. Scientists found that the intelligence scores of the
identical twins were very close. Overall, the test scores of the identical
twins were much closer together than those of the pairs of fraternal
twins.

1. What conclusion can you draw from the paragraphs?

2. List the main facts that helped you draw your conclusion.

Questions 3 and 4 are based on the following excerpt from a poem.

I say we must not speak the

unspeakable name of love to
the windless stars, but hold it
like a candle flame and whisper
hope, each to another, ecstatic
in the gathering dark.

—Anonymous (with permission)

3. What simile is used in this poem?

© 2021 Penn Foster Reading Skills (v1) : Lesson 3 : Page 67

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4. What is the main idea of this poem?

Exercise Answer Key:

Review Exercise: Main Facts and Ideas

1. People with identical genes have very similar scores on intelligence

tests.

2. A person’s genes determine many of their physical traits. Identical

twins have nearly the same genes. Fraternal twins have different
genes. The intelligence scores of identical twins were much closer
together than those of fraternal twins.

3. A candle flame is compared to love.

4. Love is not to be spoken. It’s to be held inside. To express love, we

should whisper hopeful words to each other, especially at a time
when things may look bleak and hopeless.

© 2021 Penn Foster Reading Skills (v1) : Lesson 3 : Page 68

Inc.