Reading Definitions
Terms
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- Author's Purpose
- An author's reason for creating a work. For example, the purpose may be to explain, inform, entertain, express, persuade, or reveal what the author considers to be important.
- Author's Tone
- Establishes the way the author wants the reader to feel about the content or information. The author could use words, phrases, repetitions, rhyme, and/or exaggeration to express the tone. Author's attitude toward the content is reflected in the passage.
- Cause and Effect
- The relationship between two or more events in which one event brings about another event. The event that happens first is the cause; the one that follows is the effect. Author's can organize information in a cause/effect pattern.
- Compare and Contrast
- Comparison points out similarites between two things. Contrast points out differences between two things. Authors can organize information in a compare/contrast pattern.
- Connotation and Denotation
- Connotation-the emotional feelings that surround a rod. (For example, "mother" has a connotation of "love, wrmth, security.") Denotation-the strict, literal meaning of a wor ("mother"-a female parent)
- Fact and Opinion
- A fact is a statement that can be proved either true or false. An opinion is a thought, feeling or belief. It cannot be proved, but can be supported with strong reasons and details.
- Inference
- A logical conclusion based on evidence. The evidence may be facts the writer provides, or it may be experiences from a reader's own life.
- Main Idea
- The broad or general idea which is supported by the details within the text. The main idea may be stated or implied and may be the central idea of either on paragraph or several sequential paragraphs.
- Mood
- The emotional feeling of the reader resulting from the author's use of details and language.
- Point of View
- The author's attitude toward a subject that is revealed to the reader.
- Sequence
- The order in which events occur.
- Style
- The way the author uses words, phrases, and sentences to express his or her idea in order to make a text different from others. For example, Jack London, a famous author, use paragraphs with many semi-colons and few periods.
- Summarization
- A short paragraph which includes the main idea and the most important details of a text written in the reader's own words. It will include the most important detail from the beginning, middle and end of the entire passage.