CRCT Key Terms

1. CRCT Key Terms 7th Grade Language Arts Candice Ellis

2. Topic Sentence • The main idea of a paragraph. • Read this paragraph and find the topic sentence: • Quickly, quickly we gathered the sheep into the pens. Dogs barked, and people shouted out orders to one another. Children rushed through the village gathering firewood to pile inside the homes. Men and women scooped up pots and pots of water, filling cisterns and containers as rapidly as possible. People pulled the last ears of corn from the fields and turned their backs on the dry stalks. Finally, we all stood together in the plaza in the center of the village for just a moment before the fighters went to stand near the walls and the wide-eyed children were coaxed inside the houses. We were prepared for the coming battle. • Answer: We were prepared for the coming battle.

3. Supporting Sentence • The details that expand on, explain, or prove a paragraph’s main idea. (sensory details, facts, or examples) • List two details that support the following topic sentence: • The time I spend with my friends on Saturday nights is my favorite time of the week.

4. Sentence Fragment • An incomplete sentence. It is missing information. • Which is a sentence fragment? • A. Rainy, dark, dreary, and cold in the afternoon. • B. Wash the dishes. • C. The sky grew dark and cloudy. • D. It could sprinkle today.

5. Antecedent • The word that a pronoun stands for. • Which word in the sentence below is the antecedent for you? • Frederick, have you turned in your report? • Answer: Frederick

6. Foreshadowing • The use of clues to suggest events that will happen later in the plot. Example: Nothing could go wrong on such a perfect day. Or so I, in my childlike innocence thought.

7. Closure • Provides an ending to the passage. It wraps everything up.

8. Transitional Word • A word that is used to go from one idea to the next. • Which transitional word should be used to show comparison between paragraphs. • A. Although • B. Afterward • C. Finally • D. Similarly

9. Consistency • Keeping similar ideas together and getting rid of unrelated ideas. • Which sentence should be removed to improve the consistency of the main idea within the paragraph? Broomball was born in the winter of 1951 when some non-skating Canadians on holiday brought household brooms and a soccer ball to a skating rink. Since then, the equipment has been streamlined and rules codified, but broomball remains an amateur sport. Basketball is also a great sport to play. Friends of all ages try broomball, often using makeshift equipment. A local business sponsors a broomball team, and loyal fans support the games.

10. Establishing a Context • Referring to something previously stated. • Example: After reading your letter from January 18th, I have decided to change my teaching lessons. (This is referring to a letter that was read earlier.) • Read the passage. Dear Mark, You are a valuable member of our team here at Home Depot. We appreciate all of your hard work. As stated in our last conference, safety for our employees is our number one concern. We are awarding you our employee of the month due to your consistent safety record. Congratulations! Sincerely, The Home Depot Team • The passage establishes a context by: • A. Identifying what a valuable employee he is • B. Explaining how safety is their number one concern. • C. Referring to a previous conference with the employee.

11. Unifying Idea • The main idea or the most important idea in a passage.

12. Antonym • The opposite. • Example: The antonym of hot is cold. • Read the stanza from the poem: The aliens have landed!It's distressing, but they're here.They piloted their flying saucerthrough our atmosphere.They landed like a meteorengulfed in smoke and flame.Then out they climbed immersed in slimeand burbled as they came • What is an antonym for the word engulfed? • A. Covered completely with • B. Above • C. Outside of or away from

13. Homophone or homonym • Two or more words that sound alike but mean different things. • Common homophones or homonyms: • Two, to, and too • Their, there, and they’re • Accept, except • Affect, effect • Already, all ready • Altogether, all together • Brake, break

14. Author’s Purpose • The reason why an author writes (to teach, to inform, to entertain, to persuade, or to share thoughts and feelings). • What would be the author’s purpose of this book: How to Build a Deck? • A. To entertain • B. To persuade • C. To teach

15. Clincher/Closing Sentence • The sentence in the conclusion paragraph that brings an ending to the passage and provides closure.

16. Implied • You don’t say something directly, but you get the meaning across by letting the other person “read between the lines.”

17. Inference • Logical guesses that a reader makes using clues in a story.

18. Irrelevant • Having no relation to the matter at hand; beside the point • Which of these sentences is irrelevant to the topic sentence, “There are many types of perennial flowers.” • A. Daisies are a good choice for a sunny spot. • B. Planting a tree can fill up a bare spot in the garden. • C. Roses bloom beautifully every year.

19. Synonym • Two different words that mean the same thing.

20. Mood • The way a poem or passage make the reader feel. • What is the mood of this passage? Thy soul shall find itself alone'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone --Not one, of all the crowd, to pryInto thine hour of secrecy:Be silent in that solitude    Which is not loneliness -- for thenThe spirits of the dead who stood    In life before thee are againIn death around thee -- and their willShall then overshadow thee: be still.

21. Author’s Perspective/Position • The opinion of the author. • What is the author’s perspective in this passage? People should spend less time in front of the television, because television can be harmful to your health. A study by the federal government shows that boys and girls who watch four or more hours of television a day are more likely to be overweight than those who watch less.

22. Plot • What happens in the story. The Elements of Plot Development If an author writes, "The king died and then the queen died," there is no plot for a story. But by writing, "The king died and then the queen died of grief," the writer has provided a plot line for a story. A plot is a causal sequence of events, the "why" for the things that happen in the story. The plot draws the reader into the character's lives and helps the reader understand the choices that the characters make. A plot's structure is the way in which the story elements are arranged. Writers vary structure depending on the needs of the story. For example, in a mystery, the author will withhold plot exposition until later in the story. In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" it is only at the end of the story that we learn what Miss Emily has been up to all those years while locked away in her Southern mansion.

23. Redundant "Redundant"We're living in repetition. Content in the same old shtick again. Now the routine's turning to contention, Like a production line going over and over and over, roller coaster. Now I cannot speak, I lost my voice. I'm speechless and redundant. 'Cause I love you's not enough. I'm lost for words. Choreographed and lack of passion. Prototypes of what we were. Went full circle 'til I'm nauseous. Taken for granted now. Now I waste it, faked it, ate it, now i hate it. Now I cannot speak, I lost my voice. I'm speechless and redundant, 'cause I love you's not enough. I'm lost for words, now I cannot speak. • Repeating what was already stated • Here are the lyrics to a Greenday song called Redundant.

24. Idiom • Phrases that mean something different from what you might think the words should mean; understanding depends on the context.

25. Internal conflict • Problems that take place in a character’s mind

26. External Conflict • Problems that take place between characters or between a character and nature.

27. Climax • The turning point; the most important event in the plot of a story. • It’s like as you read the story, you are climbing a mountain. Once you reach the top, you are at the climax of the story.

28. Imagery • Made up of words and phrases that appeal to the five senses.

29. Predict Read this paragraph:      The weather forecasters on television look at clouds on the radar and try to predict what the weather will be like today, tomorrow, and a few days ahead. They don't just guess, they find clues that tell them what the weather will be like. They also combine those clues with what they already know to make those predictions.      Just like those weather forecasters, we are going to learn how to predict from the passages that we hear or read. We are going to look and listen for clues and combine them with what we already know to tell us what will happen next. Predicting can help us become better readers and writers. As we read, we can see if our predictions come true. • Guess what will happen next Where can you make predictions in a story?

30. Character Motivation 1. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 2. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. 3. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action. 4. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of. -- Vonnegut, Kurt • The reasons characters act the way they do. What could be the motivation for the first penguin to jump in the water even though there’s a killer whale there?

31. Personification • Gives human qualities to ideas or nonliving things • For example: The window winked at me. The verb, wink, is a human action. A window is a non-living object.   What is the object being personified and the meaning of the personification in the following examples? 1. The wind sang her mournful song through the falling leaves. 2. The microwave timer told me it was time to turn my TV dinner. 3. The video camera observed the whole scene. 4. The strawberries seemed to sing, "Eat me first!" 5. The rain kissed my cheeks as it fell. 6. The daffodils nodded their yellow heads at the walkers. 7. The water beckoned invitingly to the hot swimmers. 8. The snow whispered as it fell to the ground during the early morning hours. 9. The china danced on the shelves during the earthquake. 10. The car engine coughed and sputtered when it started during the blizzard.

32. Metaphors • Say that one thing is the other (does not use like or as)

33. Simile • Comparing two things using “like” or “as” • In the cartoon, what mistake did the author make? • What two things are begin compared first? • What two things are being compared second? • What is the meaning of the third comparison?