12th grade CDA Review Second Nine Weeks

Main Idea Practice• Once you can find the topic, you are ready to find

the main idea. The main idea is the point of the paragraph. It is the most important thought about the topic.

• To figure out the main idea, ask yourself this question: What is being said about the person, thing, or idea (the topic)?

• The author can locate the main idea in different places within a paragraph. The main idea is usually a sentence, and it is usually the first sentence. The writer then uses the rest of the paragraph to support the main idea.

• Reading Keys Online Practice• link

What is the main/author’s purpose?

• Author's Purpose Basics• The author's purpose is basically the reason he or

she chose to act in a particular way, whether that's writing the passage, selecting a phrase, using a word, etc. It differs from the main idea in that author's purpose not the point you're supposed to get; it's the why behind the author picked up a pen or selected those words in the first place.

Author’s Purpose Practice link

Close Reading

• Link to Close Reading Practice

A close reading of anything requires you to pick up on important details and to clearly understand exactly what it is you are looking at. Sometimes this requires you to reread the same thing multiple times. If you are taking a test, you will need to read a passage at least two times in order to answer specific questions. Click on the link below to see how well you closely read things.

Parallel Structure• Link go here for practice.• To improve the clarity of your writing, it is important to remember the

balance of your sentence structure. Here are 3 rules: • 1. Parallel Structure should be used when elements are joined by

coordinating conjunctions: • Incorrect: I am allergic to the dog’s hair and how it smells. • Correct: I am allergic to the dog’s hair and its smell. • 2. Parallel Structure should be used when writing elements in the form

of a list or a series: • Incorrect: The class valued respect, honesty, and being on time in a teacher. • Correct: The class valued respect, honesty, and promptness in a teacher. • 3. Parallel Structure should be used when comparing or contrasting

elements • (A is better than B – X is less than Y): • Incorrect: James enjoys reading more than to write. • Correct: James enjoys reading more than writing

Tone• There are many tones a writer can take.  For example:  serious,

humorous, romantic, silly, tragic, ironic, lyrical (melodic and poetic), earnest, sentimental, pompous, mocking, apologetic, and many more.

• • Practice 1: • "Freedom," John Ruskin

You will send your child, will you, into a room where the table is loadedwith sweet wine and fruit-some poisoned, some not?-you will say to him,"Choose freely, my little child! It is so good for you to have freedom ofchoice; it forms your character-your individuality! If you take the wrong cup or the wrong berry, you will die before the day is over, but you will have acquired the dignity of a free child."

What is Ruskin’s tone in this passage (consider his apparent feelings about young children having freedom)?A)  sincere/honest      B)  sarcastic/mocking   C)  joyful/rejoicing

Tone• There are many tones a writer can take.  For example:  serious,

humorous, romantic, silly, tragic, ironic, lyrical (melodic and poetic), earnest, sentimental, pompous, mocking, apologetic, and many more.

• • Practice 2: • The Way Things Work, David Macaulay

The kind of nuclear reaction that happens inside a nuclear reactor iscalled nuclear fission. The fuel is uranium or plutonium, two very heavyelements which have many protons and neutrons in their nuclei. Fissionstarts when a fast-moving neutron strikes a nucleus. The nucleus cannottake in the extra neutron, and the whole nucleus breaks apart into twosmaller nuclei.

What is Macaulay’s tone in this passage?A)  uncertain/confused  B)  scared/apprehensive C)  factual/unbiased

Informational text classifications• Autobiography• Memoir• Speech• Journal

• Informational text is:• ◆ text whose primary purpose is to convey• information about the natural and social• world.• ◆ text that comes in many different formats,• including books, magazines, handouts,• brochures, CD-ROMs, and the Internet.• Informational text is not:• • For more information: LINK

Independent v. Dependent Clause

• An independent clause is a group of words that can stand on its own as a sentence: it has a subject, a verb, and is a complete thought. 

• Examples:• He ran. (Notice that while this sentence only contains two words, it is

still a complete sentence because it contains a one word subject and a one word predicate that is also a complete thought.)

• He ran fast.• I was late to work.• The paper does not specify which type of format it must be in. • The instructor spent the class period reviewing the difference

between independent and dependent clauses.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Identifying Independent Clauses Practice: link

Dependent Clauses• A dependent clause is a group of words that also contains a subject

and a verb, but it is not a complete thought.  Because it is not a complete thought, a dependent clause cannot stand on its own as a sentence; it is dependent on being attached to an independent clause to form a sentence.

• Examples:• Because I woke up late this morning… (what happened?)• When we arrived in class… (what occurred?)• If my neighbor does not pay his rent on time… (what will happen?)

Quatrains• are four line stanzas of any kind, rhymed, metered, or otherwise.

Like the couplet, there are many variations of the quatrain.

•  From W.H. Auden's "Leap Before You Look“

The sense of danger must not disappear:The way is certainly both short and steep, However gradual it looks from here;Look if you like, but you will have to leap.

Cartoon Analysis

What is meant by this illustration?What political problem does this represent?What can you infer about the behavior of the men in this cartoon?

Cartoon Analysis

What is meant by this illustration?What political problem does this represent?What can you infer about the behavior of the men in this cartoon?

Inference

• Video

• An inference is an educated guess that we make based on the information that is right in front of us combined with our own experiences.

• Practice worksheet

Kinds of rhyme• Slant rhyme-are words that come near rhyming, but do

not really rhyme. American poet Emily Dickinson used half rhyme frequently in her works.[3] In her poem "Hope is the thing with feathers" the half rhyme appears in the second and fourth lines; in the following example the rhyme is soul—all.

• Hope is the Thing with FeathersThat perches in the soul,And sings the tune without the words,And never stops at all.

• Internal rhyme Internal rhyme schemes were extremely common in popular song of the Swing Era. One familiar example is the bridge from "Don't Fence Me In," in 1944:

• Just turn me loose let me straddle my old saddle,Underneath the western skies,On my cayuse let me wander over yonder,'Til I see the mountains rise. VIDEO

Kinds of rhyme• End rhymein poetry, a rhyme that occurs in the last syllables

of verses, as in stanza one of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”:

•  Whose woods these are I think I know, His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. 

Masculine rhyme is a rhyme that matches only one syllable, usually at the end of respective lines

From John Donne's poem "Lecture Upon the Shadow"

Stand still, and I will read to thee

A lecture, love, in Love's philosophy.

These three hours that we have spent

Walking here, two shadows went

VALID SOURCES

• Excellent 12 min. VIDEO

• Perdue Writing Lab Link

• Univ. of Colorado: Boulder link

Organizational StructureCause and effect-This happened because of this.

Chronological order-Chorono-time logic-order

Order of importance-First, Second, Third, Next, Then, Finally

Spatial order-Words that have to do with position: against a wall,

under the bed, above the fireplace

Persuasion

• LOGOS- logic/ facts/ %/ #

• PATHOS- emotional words

• ETHOS- “I am _______” so you should believe me.

• Other helpful persuasive techniques:• Repetition/Comparisons/Storytelling/ Addressing the

opposition