Literary Devices: Figures of Speech

Figurative Language

• Metaphor: comparing two things without using "like" or "as" (e.g., "Time is a thief")
• Simile: comparing two things using "like" or "as" (e.g., "Her smile was as bright as the sun")
• Personification: giving human characteristics to non-human objects or abstract concepts (e.g., "The wind whispered through the trees")
• Hyperbole: exaggerated statements not meant to be taken literally (e.g., "I've told you a million times")

Analyzing Texts

• Comparative Analysis: identifying common themes or contrasting viewpoints
• Structural Analysis: examining how each text is organized and presented
• Contextual Analysis: considering the historical, cultural, or social context in which each text was written
• Thematic Analysis: exploring how each text handles its central themes and messages
• Character Analysis: comparing the characters and their development across both texts

Literary Devices

• Simile: comparing two things using "like" or "as"
• Metaphor: comparing two things without using "like" or "as"
• Personification: giving human characteristics to non-human objects or abstract concepts
• Hyperbole: exaggerated statements not meant to be taken literally
• Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sounds
• Alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sounds
• Irony: contrast between what is expected and what actually occurs

Reading Fiction Text

• Identifying the primary theme of a passage
• Determining the genre of a text (e.g., Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery)
• Identifying the story element most prominently described in a passage (e.g., Setting, Conflict, Resolution, Dialogue)

Reading Informational Text

• Identifying the main idea of a text
• Determining the author's purpose in writing a text
• Identifying evidence that supports a claim made in a text

Language Foundations

Vocabulary

• Revise: to review and make changes to the content of a text to improve clarity, coherence, and overall quality
• Edit: to correct and refine the technical aspects of a text, focusing on grammar, punctuation, spelling, and formatting

Sentence Structure

• Compound Sentence: a sentence that contains two or more independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions
• Complex Sentence: a sentence that contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause, joined by subordinating conjunctions

Punctuation

• Periods: used to separate sentences
• Commas: used to indicate a pause between parts of a sentence or to separate items in a list
• Question Marks: used to indicate a question
• Exclamation Points: used to indicate strong emotions
• Colons: used to introduce a list or quotation
• Semicolons: used to separate two independent clauses that are closely related in meaning
• Quotation Marks: used to set off direct quotations or to indicate that someone is speaking
• Parentheses: used to provide additional information or to clarify meaning

Capitalization

• Used to distinguish the start of a sentence and specific names of people, places, or organizations

Grammar

• Syntax: the arrangement of words and phrases to form sentences
• Morphology: the study of the structure of words and how they are formed
• Semantics: the study of meaning in language