Expository Vocabulary Terms

1. Expository Vocabulary Terms

2. Use of language that lets the reader “hear” a human personality in a writer’s work

3. Compare and Contrast • To identify the similarities and differences of two or more subjects

4. Extraneous information • Not relating directly or significantly to the matter or subject at hand • irrelevant

5. These are all examples of what? Author’s Purpose • To express feelings or thoughts • To inform or explain • To persuade • To entertain

6. Patterns of Organization (the way ideas and information is arranged and organized) These are all examples of what? • Cause and Effect • Chronological Order • Compare and Contrast • Classification • Problem-Solution

7. Combination of ideas, values, feelings, and beliefs that influence the way a writer looks at a topic

8. Main Idea • Central or most important idea about a topic that a writer or speaker conveys. • Expressed in the topic sentence

9. Problem-Solution Order • Problem is stated and analyzed and then at least one solution is proposed and examined

10. Topic Sentence • States the paragraph’s main idea

11. Conclusion • Statement of belief based on evidence, experience, and reasoning • This valid statement logically follows from the facts or statements upon which it is based and helps bring together the information

12. Text features • Elements of a text that help organize and call attention to the important information Charts Italic type Subheadings Boldface type Photographs Illustrations Timelines Numbered Lists Tables Sidebar Bulleted information Headings

13. Briefly retell the main ideas of a piece of writing in one’s own words

14. Inference • A logical guess that is based on facts and one’s own background knowledge and experience

15. Index • An alphabetized list of important topics covered in the book and the page numbers on which they can be found • It can be used to quickly find information about a topic

16. Cause and Effect • Two events are related when one event brings about, or causes, the other

17. Bibliography • List of related books and other material used to write a text • Can be good sources of further study on a subject

18. Graphic Organizers • “word picture” or visual illustration of a verbal statement that helps a reader understand a text • Examples include: charts, tables, webs, and diagrams

19. Point of View • Method of narration used in a short story, novel, narrative poem, or work of fiction • Examples: • 1st person: narrator is a character • 3rd person: narrator is outside the action (not a character) • 3rd person omniscient: all knowing (narrator sees into the minds of the characters and knows what they are thinking) • 3rd person limited: narrator only knows what one character thinks, feels, and observes

20. Sidebar • Additional information set in a box alongside or within a news or feature article

21. Footnotes • An explanatory or documenting note or comment at the bottom of a page, referring to a specific part of the text on a page