study-notes

English Language Arts 7

Right now, I’m really, really worried on how I’m going to manage to do Science and Social Studies at this time.

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Sentences

• A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.
  • Sentences require a subject (noun) and a predicate (verb). (I drove the car, subject: I, predicate: drove the car)
• Commands or requests don’t have a subject, just a predicate, but they’re still considered sentences since the subject is implied. (Eat your vegetables!, implied subject: you, predicate: eat your vegetables)
• Uppercase letters are used for the beginnings of sentences, proper nouns, dates, abbreviations, and proper adjectives. (The car is fast, Bob, Monday, Chinese food)
• Punctuation is also important:
  • Periods, exclamation marks, and question marks are used to indicate the sentence has ended.
  • Commas are used to help with the flow of a sentence.
• There are also different types of sentences:
  • A declarative sentence makes a statement and ends in a period. (You’re ugly.)
  • An interrogative sentence asks a question and ends in a question mark. (Who’s that guy?)
  • An imperative sentence expresses a command or request and ends in a period. (Open the door.)
  • An exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotion and ends with an exclamation mark. (Lets go!)
• Some different combinations of subjects and predicates:
  • A complete subject is all the words that tell who or what the sentence is about. (The big toy)
  • A complete predicate is all the words that tell us what the subject is or doing. (was very expensive)
  • A simple subject is a subject in which there is only one noun/pronoun. (Steven)
  • A compound subject is a subject in which there are two or more nouns/pronouns. (Mars and Jupiter)
  • A simple predicate is a predicate in which there is only one verb. (looked at the man)
  • A compound predicate is predicate in which there are two or more verbs. (stared at and licked the ice cream)
• The Oxford Comma rule is when there are lists of at least three items, there’s also a comma before the final “and”. (Pickles, cheese, and juice were all on the list.)
• A coordinating conjunction is a word that joins two parts of a sentence that are of equal status/ranking/importance. (The door was closed, but it was unlocked.)
  • You can use the acronym “FANBOYS” to remember the common coordinating conjunctions. (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)
• A dependent clause doesn’t express a complete idea, can’t act alone as a sentence as it depends on an independent clause, and always begins with a subordinating conjunction. (so that I can eat the cake)
  • Subordinating conjunctions include: “after”, “although”, “as”, “because”, “even if”, “even though”, “if”, “in order to”, “once”, “provided that”, “rather than”, “since”, “so that”, “than”, “that”, “though”, “unless”, “until”, “when”, “whenever”, “where”, “whereas”, “wherever”, “whether”, “while”, and “why”.
• Sentences can also have different parts:
  • An interrupted sentence is an independent clause with a subordinate clause in between, separated by commas. (Ivan, the winner of the race, was a very interesting person.)
  • An interjection sentence has a sudden burst of excitement within a sentence. (AH! What the hell is that?)
• Different combinations of subjects and predicates result in different types of sentences:
  • A simple sentence (also known as an independent clause), expresses one complete thought. (Joseph and Bob must now fight to the death.)
  • A complex sentence contains an independent and dependent clause. They begin with a subordinating conjunction. (Because the boys went to the park, they didn’t go to the zoo.)
  • Compound sentences are two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction from the “FANBOYS” acronym. (I turned on the TV, and watched the news.)

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Reading Strategies

• When reading, you should ask questions to yourself about the text. (Does the text make sense? What’s happening? Am I confused? What does this word mean? Should I speed up or slow down? Do I need to reread this? I know I understand this because…)
• Skimming means your eyes are quickly looking over the page in motions to see how many paragraphs there are, looking for bold/underlined/italicized words, and visuals/headers. This lets you preview and get acquainted with the text.
• Scanning means your eyes are searching for particular information on the page and are moving until they find something you’re looking for.
• You should sometimes ask yourself what the text is mainly about, pay attention to the important parts and details of the paragraphs and sentences, and the facts and details as evidence to support the main idea and any questions you have.
• It’s also a good idea to look at the order and sequence of parts of text.
• Annotating is marking specific parts of the text for later reference.
  • While reading the text, you can circle unfamiliar words, note any clues the author gives, underline or highlight major events and the main conflict, write any connections you have, and identify what you feel about some text.
  • After reading, you can draw conclusions, evaluate what the author did best, determine deeper meanings, make connections, and determine the meaning of the title.
  • You can use any signs/symbols/marks you want to use.
• It’s important to make connections to text so that you can use experiences to help us understand text.
  • Connections must be descriptive and meaningful to provide value.
  • Text to text is a connection to another text such as a film, novel, article, TV show, photograph, etc.
  • Text to self is a connection to your past life experiences and reminds you of your family, friends, emotions, or experiences.
  • Text to world is a connection from the text to something occurring in the world through current events or something in the past through historical events.
• An inference is a conclusion that the reader makes about what they have read and aren’t guesses.
  • Inferences are made by finding clues and evidence to prove that an inference is reasonable.
  • Drawing background knowledge from prior experience also helps make conclusions.
  • It’s of course possible for other to have different inferences. Then, one has to determine how plausible, believable, and convincing it’s to hold.
  • Inferences can also be made with films, novels, articles, TV shows, photographs, etc.
• When trying to understand a word you don’t know, you can look at its context.
  • If it’s an adjective, verb, adverb, or noun, you can read how it’s described alongside other words. (I loathed and hated the thing! Loathed means hate. He ran quickly and swiftly. Swiftly means fast.)

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Paragraphs

• Different types of paragraphs serve different purposes:
  • An information paragraph informs, classifies, compares, and explains how, why, or what.
  • A narrative paragraph tells a story or relays an event.
  • A persuasive paragraph presents and argues your opinion about an issue or topic.
  • A descriptive paragraph describes, in vivid detail, a person, place, or thing.
• When writing a paragraph, you must either indent the first line, or prefix it by an empty line.
• The structure of a burger is sometimes used as an analogy for paragraph structure:
  • The top bun is the hook and topic sentence.
  • The toppings and meat are the supporting key details.
  • The bottom bun is the concluding sentence.
• Present only one main idea per paragraph.
• The beginning of a paragraph:
  • The hook captures the attention of the reader. This can be done by asking a thoughtful question, sharing a statement, or sharing a meaningful quote. (Have you ever wondered what happens when you eat 68 hot dogs in a day?)
  • The topic sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph. This can be done by giving the main idea straight-up or in chronological order, the supporting ideas. (There are many stages people must go through when eating a lot of food.)
  • In a paragraph, the topic sentence must be supported with three supporting key details.
• The middle of a paragraph:
  • The PEEL method can be used to write paragraphs. (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link)
  • Point is what the key detail is discussing.
  • Evidence are examples, reasons, details that are used to support the topic sentence.
  • Explanation is how all the evidence show or prove the topic sentence.
  • Link is whether all the ideas connect to the topic of the paragraph.
  • It’s important to be specific with details.
  • Supporting details expand and elaborate.
  • Each supporting detail should be at least three sentences.
  • Transition words add coherence or flow to writing.
  • It’s necessary to select an appropriate transition word, but it’s also a bad idea to overuse them.
  • Transition words include: indeed, obviously, especially, importantly, never, also, furthermore, too, as well as that, besides, in addition, moreover, unlike, nevertheless, on the other hand, while, whereas, even so, first, second, third, finally, following, before, previously, above all.
• The end of a paragraph:
  • The concluding sentence restates the topic sentence.
  • Be sure to not use the same words, though.

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Figurative language

• Figurative language calls on the reader’s imagination to complete the authors meaning.
• Alliterations are the repetition of words of the same consonant sound of two or more words. (She sells seashells by the seashore.)
  • In alliterations, it’s the sound, not the letter, that matters.
  • Tongue twisters are longer alliterations meant to be harder to say.
• A hyperbole is an overstatement or extravagant exaggeration of the fact or possibility used for emphasis or effect. (I’m so hungry I can eat a horse.)
• Metaphors are figures of speech which involve an implied comparison between relatively unlike things. (It’s a zoo in here!)
  • Personification is a type of metaphor that gives human qualities to inanimate objects or ideas. (The lightning danced across the sky.)
• An onomatopoeia is a term used for words that sound like what they mean. (Crash! Bang! Snap!)
• An oxymoron is when two words with opposite meanings are placed beside each other. (You look pretty ugly. The movie was awfully good.)
• Similes are figures of speech in which similarity between two subjects is directly expressed. Usually using “like” or “as”. (The man was like a gorilla. She was as skinny as a blade of grass)
• An idiom is a word or phrase that has a specific cultural meaning. They usually have a completely different meaning from the literal individual words. (What a couch potato. I better hit the sack.)
• A pun is a play on words, usually using similar sounds, spellings, and meanings. (Let’s “bee” friends!)

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Short Stories

• Plot refers to the main events of a story (what happens in the story).
• Exposition is the beginning of the story, and when the author engages the reader and shares essential information to get the story started.
  • Background information such as the characters, situation, and setting is told. The mood can also be told from the tone of the exposition.
  • The author can start the story in an important conversation, an important/intense event, an action scene, a sound effect, a question, a flashback, or a description.
• The initial event is the first time when the conflict (problem) of the story is brought to the reader’s attention.
  • At the beginning, the main character encounters a problem they must face.
  • There are two types of conflicts: internal and external.
  • Internal conflict comes from within the character.
  • External conflict from another character or force outside the character.
  • Character vs self is an internal conflict when the character has a problem with themselves they want to deal with. (grief, sadness, anger, loss, fear)
  • Character vs character is an external conflict in which two characters have a problem with each other. (good guy vs bad guy)
  • Character vs nature is an external conflict in which the character has a problem with nature. (animals, plants, natural disasters)
  • Character vs supernatural is an external conflict in which the character has a problem with supernatural forces. (vampires, aliens, werewolves)
  • Character vs society is an external force in which the character and society have a problem with each other. (laws, rules, government)
• The protagonist is the main character who has a goal to achieve or overcome (not always the “good guy”).
• The antagonist is the character whose goal is to prevent the protagonist from succeeding (not always the “bad guy”).
• The rising action includes all the events after the initial event, is in the middle of the story, and comprises most of it too.
  • Usually as the story progresses, the events get more and more complicated.
  • The tension increases in the rising action.
  • There are usually three or more events in the rising action.
• The climax is when the main character usually comes face-to-face with their conflict.
  • This is the highest point of tension in the story.
  • This is the turning point of the story and when the main character may change in some way.
• The falling action is when all loose ends of the plot are tied up. This is the beginning of the end.
  • The conflicts and climax are taken care of, and tension decreases.
  • The reader knows if the protagonists succeeds or not.
  • This part is usually shorter than the rising action.
• The resolution is the final point or outcome of the story when the conflict is explained or solved.
  • This is where the reader can determine whether the protagonist has changed.
  • A comedy resolution is when the protagonist is successful.
  • A tragic resolution is when the protagonist was unsuccessful.
  • A resolution could be an unexpected surprise or cliffhanger.
  • The resolution is often short.
• The subplot of a story is second plot involving secondary events in a story that usually involve supporting characters.
• A suspense involves character(s) in jeopardy or trouble. (in danger)
• A flashback is when the author interrupts the main plot and goes back in time.
  • They usually give us more background information so that we can better understand characters, setting, conflict, etc.
  • They’re usually presented as dreams or memories in short stories.
• Foreshadowing is hinting something that will happen in the future.
  • They usually happen in the beginning of the story or a chapter.
  • They set expectations about what will happen later on in the plot.
• Dialogue shows that two or more characters are talking to each other and what’s being said.
  • They can show the characters’ personality, motives, and feelings more clearly.
• Theme is the point or central message in a story and connects us with the characters and events.
  • By the end of the story, there should be a bigger message in mind about life and what it means to be human for the reader to connect to. (pride, jealousy, greed, fairness)
• There are also different types of characters:
  • A static character stays the same throughout the story.
  • A dynamic character changes throughout the story, whether it’s good or bad.
  • A flat character can be summed up simply because of not being very detailed and not having much information.
  • A round character has lots of information, is complex, interesting, and motivated. They’re usually a major character since the author spends time describing them.
  • A stock (stereotypical) character is generally a flat character, is stereotyped, often appears in literature, and is easily identifiable. They’re put in similar roles each time.
• Irony is unexpected. It’s the opposite of what the character thinks, believes, or expects. (calling the tallest person “Shorty”, calling a flat town “Summit”)
• Point of view or perspective is the “lens” in which a text is told in.
  • First person uses words such as “I” and “We”.
  • Second person uses words such as “You”.
  • Third person uses words such as “He”, “She”, “It”, and “They”.
• Mood is the feeling of the reader.
• Tone is the attitude or feeling of the writer.
• Imagery is using vocabulary, sensory details, and description to help picture what’s happening for the reader.

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Narrative Writing

• A sentence can start in different ways:
  • A subject starter sentence starts with the subject, then the predicate. It’s also unfortunately overused. (Bob ran.)
  • An adverb starter sentence starts with an adverb (“-ly” word). (Quickly, Alice chugged the maple syrup like a True Canadian (TM).)
  • An “-ing” starter sentence starts with a verb ending with “-ing”. (Screaming, John Doe slapped the hell out of the bag of chocolate milk cheese.)
  • An -ed starter sentence begins with a verb ending with “-ed”. (Eliminated from the game, John Xina vaporized.)
  • A prepositional starter sentence starts with a word that shows a relationship of a noun or pronoun with another word. (Across the floor, was Obi-Wan Kenobi. “Hello there.”)
• Spoken dialogue is surrounded in quotation marks.
• A speaker tag indicates who’s talking in dialogue.
  • Some examples:
  • Speaker tag + quotation = My teammate triumphantly shouted, “We are the tournament champions!”
  • Quotation + speaker tag + quotation = “Please take out your assignment from yesterday,” instructed the teacher.
  • Quotation + speaker tag + quotation = “Betty,” mom began, “can you please take the trash out after supper?”
• A new speaker means a new paragraph. A new speaker reply needs to be indented.
• If dialogue in quotation is interrupted, it’s ended and should be a natural pause. It starts again as a continued sentence (no capitalization at beginning). (“Hello there,” he said, “how are you doing?”)
• Punctuation is also important in quotes:
  • Commas are used when the speaker tag is after the quotations. (“So I stared at the guy,” I continued.)
  • Periods are used when the speaker tag is before the quotations. (I replied, “Of course not.”)
  • Question marks indicate a question. (“You want me to eat that?” I asked.)
  • Exclamation marks indicate strong emotion. (“What a loser!” they all exclaimed.)
  • Punctuation is placed inside quotation marks. (She yelled to the man across the street, “What are you doing?”)
• Indirect quotes don’t use quotation marks. (My dad told me to clean my room.)
• You can also use quotation marks when placing emphasis on a word or indicating a title. (So I read “1984”.)
• There are two main ways of writing dialogue:
  • Ping pong dialogue is quick and short quotations bouncing back and forth between characters.
  • Descriptive dialogue is dialogue, involving lots of details about what’s currently happening as the characters are talking.

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Grammar

• Apostrophes have two main functions: omission and possession.
  • Abbreviation is removing letter(s) from a word to shorten it, and leaving an apostrophe there. (gov’t)
    • The omission of dates from numbers in dates also involves apostrophes. (‘84, ‘23)
  • Contraction is joining words together into a shortened one word form, also using apostrophes. (can’t, isn’t, won’t, should’ve, don’t, I’m)
    • The difference between “its” and “it’s” is a common error.
    • “Its” means “belonging to it”. (Its GPU was fast.)
    • “It’s” is a contraction of “it is”. (It’s really heavy.)
  • To show possession by a singular owner, “‘s” is added to the owner. (David’s brand-new car was loud.)
    • If the owner is a noun that already ends with an “s”, proceed to still add an “‘s”. (The bus’s brakes were broken.)
    • To show possession by a plural owner, an apostrophe is added to the owner. (The dogs’ tails were wagging.)
    • If the owner is an irregular plural noun (children, teeth, men), add an “‘s” to the owner. (The women’s bathroom was much cleaner.)
  • So apostrophes are never used to indicate a plural alone.
• Singulars and plurals have different rules:
  • “Was” means “to be” for singular past. (I was suspicious.)
  • “Were” means “to be” for plural past. (We were eating the stew.)
  • “Is” means “to be” for singular present. (He is weird.)
  • “Are” means “to be” for plural present. (They are looking at me.)
  • When dealing with a singular, “s” is added to the end of the verb. (He swims in the water.)
  • When dealing with a plural, nothing is added to the end of the verb. (They swim in the water.)
  • “Every/each/everyone/everybody/anyone/anybody/someone/somebody” is singular. (Each of the apples is tasty.)
  • “All/some/none” plus a singular noun requires a singular verb. Plus a plural noun, and it’s a plural verb. (Some cakes are pink. All cake is pink.)
  • Percents/parts/fractions plus a singular noun requires a singular verb. Plus a plural noun requires a plural verb. (Eighty percent of the people have jobs. Most of the group is from here.)
  • “Either of/neither of” requires a singular verb. (Neither of the people liked the movie.)
  • Money/time deals requires a singular verb. (A thousand dollars is the highest amount we can give you. Five years ought to be enough time.)
• Commas might also accidentally be used incorrectly:
  • A comma splice is a common error in which a comma is used to join two or more independent clauses. (We had a nice time, I hope we can meet again soon.)
  • To correct a comma splice, you can insert a coordinating conjunction between the two independent clauses (We had a nice time, so I hope we can meet again soon.), start a new sentence (I didn’t like the movie. The movie was weird.), or insert a semicolon between the two independent clauses (only when they’re related) (I liked the book; it was fascinating.)

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Persuasion

• Persuasion must be effective:
  • When writing a persuasive text you should start by stating your opinion of the topic.
  • You should also know your audience and write with them in mind.
  • Use reason to persuade.
  • Link an argument to a character or person that people admire or trust.
  • Appeal to emotion to build a strong case.
  • Share facts.
  • Tell the reader if something is a fact or if it’s your opinion (or lie).
  • Use examples to help your reader see and feel what you’re trying to communicate.
  • Show the link between ideas using words like “first”, “second”, “third”, “if…then”.
  • Write a strong ending by making a personal statement, predicting what could happen if your idea came true or summarizing your arguments.
• The following are advertisement strategies:
  • The bandwagon technique convinces people that if they aren’t using a product, they’re missing out on something everyone else has.
  • Celebrity endorsement connects the product to a famous person.
  • Repetition makes a product memorable by repeating the name over and over.
  • Promotions and rewards offers coupons and discounts to buy the product.
  • Facts, figures, and statistics make an advertisement look official and scientific to add credibility.
  • One product can be shown as better than another by comparing the product to another similar product made by a competitor.
  • Weasel words use words like “may”, “might”, “can”, “virtually”, “up to”, “as much as”, or “possibly” to appear clear but actually be vague.

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Visual Literacy

• Speech balloons are shapes that contain text shown near a character to indicate speech.
  • They can be round, jagged, rectangular, or have irregular edges to convey emotion.
• A caption speaks directly to the reader and is frequently under, above, or beside comic panels.
• Emanata are text or icons that represent what’s going on inside a character’s mind.
  • Examples include: “?”, “ZZZ…”, a light bulb, or something like “@&$%!#$”.
• Labels are written on characters to identify who’s who or what a group is.
  • They’re frequently used in political cartoons to identify groups.
• Narratory blocks are rectangles or squares that convey special information to the reader.
• Signs are written onto objects to identify an object or show more information about something.
• Sound effects are words that accompany action in a panel. (BANG, WHAM, POW, BOING)
• Thought balloons contain a character’s current thoughts.
• A panel or frame is a rectangle that contains the action of a comic.
  • A splash panel is a panel that takes up the space of multiple panels in order to highlight action or a character.
  • A border or frame is the edge or outline of a comic panels or page.
  • The gutters are the spaces between comic panels.
  • Open panels or borderless panels are panels that are completely open and have no edges for dramatic effect.
  • In bleed angles, images run outside the border of the panel.
  • Splash pages use the whole page as a panel.
  • When an image runs outside all four sides of a panel, it’s a full bleed.
• Using different views in different contexts can be effective:
  • A close-up shows images in a large view. Frequently used for a character’s face.
  • An extreme close-up shows a very large view.
  • A longshot shows images fully top to bottom and head to toe.
  • An extreme longshot shows many images at a very small scale.
  • They can be from the perspective of a bird’s eye view or worm’s eye view.
  • In reverse, the images in the current panel are the reverse of the previous panel.
    • This is usually used to show a different character talking.

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Poetry

• Poetry is a type of literature genre that expresses feelings and ideas on a particular topic using a unique form, style, and rhythm.
  • Poems can be written on their own or be part of an anthology (collection of poems in a book).
  • A poet writes poems and shares their feelings, emotions, ideas, and message.
  • Poems can be written in a similar way to stories.
• A line is like a sentence in poetry. They don’t always follow correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules.
• A stanza is a paragraph in poetry. It’s a group of poetic lines.
  • A new stanza signals a new idea or thought.
  • Different stanzas with different line numbers have different names:
    • A couplet is two lines.
    • A triplet or tercet is three lines.
    • A quatrain is four lines.
    • A cinquain is five lines.
    • An octet is eight lines.
• Poems often (but not always) have rhymes.
  • An internal rhyme occurs within a poetic line.
  • An end rhyme occurs at the end of a poetic line.
  • A rhyme scheme is a pattern of a rhyme. (ABCB)
  • They’re labeled with letters of the alphabet. (AABB)
  • Each letter corresponds to a specific type of rhyme. (Little Miss Muffet, = Sat on her tuffet = A)
• Syllables are the unit of pronunciation that word sounds are separated into. (banana has 3, watermelon has 4)
• There are many types and forms of poems, such as acrostic, concrete, limerick, haiku, cinquain, diamante, free verse, sonnet, ballad, narrative, lyrical, etc.
  • A haiku has five syllables on the first line, seven on the second, and five on the last.
  • Cinquains (five lines) are often structured to be an unrhymed poem in which the first line is a subject, the second line is two adjectives, then three verbs, a phrase or sentence describing the subject, and finally a synonym of the original subject.
  • A diamante is also unrhymed and seven lines. It begins with a subject and builds up to an antonym. It starts with a noun subject, then two adjectives, then three participles (-ing words), four nouns (first two relating to first subject, last two relating to second subject), three participles about subject two, two adjectives for subject two, and lastly the second, antonym subject.
  • A concrete poem describes thoughts about a subject using many words arranged in the shape of the subject. Doesn’t necessarily have to rhyme.
  • A limerick is a joke that rhymes. It has five lines following the “AABBA” rhyming scheme.

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