FITE Notes: English & Writing

Reading for meaning means you are hunting for the main idea, not just letting your eyes slide across words. Active readers ask questions while they read: What is this about? What does the author want me to feel or believe? What is the most important sentence on this page?

Find the main idea

The main idea is the single most important point a paragraph or passage is making. In nonfiction it is often stated in a topic sentence near the top. In stories it is usually shown, not stated, so you build it from what the characters do and what changes.

Annotate as you go

• ●Underline the sentence that carries the main point.
• ●Circle words you do not know, then guess the meaning from context before you look them up.
• ●Write a two or three word summary in the margin next to each paragraph.
• ●Mark turning points with a star, where a character or argument shifts.
• ●Jot a question mark wherever you are confused, then come back to it.

Figurative language is when a writer says something that is not literally true to make a point hit harder. Spotting these devices is half of every English test, and naming them correctly is how you score points on essays.

• ●Metaphor: calls one thing another thing directly. Example: He was a wall on the goal line.
• ●Simile: a comparison using like or as. Example: She ran like a freight train.
• ●Symbolism: an object stands for a bigger idea. Example: a green light standing for hope and a dream just out of reach.
• ●Imagery: language that paints a picture for the five senses. Example: the cold steel bleachers and the smell of cut grass.
• ●Irony: when what happens is the opposite of what you expect. Example: a fire station burns down.
• ●Tone: the author's attitude toward the subject, such as angry, hopeful, bitter, or proud.

How to write about a device

Do not just label it. Name the device, quote the line, and explain the effect. Say what the device makes the reader feel or understand. The effect is where the credit is.

Every story is built from the same parts. Learn the parts and you can break down anything from a short story to a novel to a movie.

• ●Plot: the sequence of events. It usually rises to a climax, the highest point of tension, then falls to a resolution.
• ●Character: the people in the story. The protagonist is the main one. The antagonist works against them.
• ●Setting: when and where the story happens, including the time period and the mood of the place.
• ●Conflict: the struggle that drives the story. It can be character against character, against nature, against society, or against themselves.
• ●Theme: the big idea or message about life that the story reveals.

How to find the theme

1. 1Ask what the main character wants and what gets in the way.
2. 2Notice what changes in the character by the end, and what they learn.
3. 3Look for an idea that shows up again and again, like loyalty, freedom, or growing up.
4. 4State the theme as a full sentence about life, not one word. Not loyalty, but true loyalty costs something.

A thesis statement is the one sentence that tells your reader exactly what your essay will argue. It lives at the end of your introduction. A strong thesis is the backbone of a good grade, because everything else in the essay has to support it.

Strong vs weak

• ●Weak: The Great Gatsby is about the American Dream. That is just a topic, not an argument.
• ●Strong: In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows that chasing the American Dream destroys the very people who believe in it most. That takes a side and can be proven.
• ●Weak: There are many reasons dogs are good pets. Too vague, no real claim.
• ●Strong: Dogs make better pets than cats because they build loyalty through training, exercise, and daily routine. Specific and arguable.

Test your thesis

1. 1Can someone disagree with it? If no one could argue the other side, it is a fact, not a thesis.
2. 2Does it take a clear position? Make sure you are claiming something, not just naming a topic.
3. 3Can you back it with three points? If you can list three reasons or pieces of evidence, you have your body paragraphs.

The five-paragraph essay is the workhorse format for tests and most class assignments. Master this shape and you can write a clean essay under pressure, every time.

1. 1Introduction: open with a hook to grab attention, give a little background, and end with your thesis statement.
2. 2Body paragraph one: state your first supporting point, give evidence such as a quote or example, then explain how it proves your thesis.
3. 3Body paragraph two: state your second point, give evidence, and explain it the same way.
4. 4Body paragraph three: state your strongest point last, give evidence, and explain it.
5. 5Conclusion: restate your thesis in fresh words, sum up your three points, and end with a final thought that leaves the reader something to think about.

The shape of every body paragraph

• ●Topic sentence: the point this paragraph proves.
• ●Evidence: a quote, fact, or detail from the text.
• ●Explanation: a sentence or two saying how the evidence supports your thesis. This is the part students skip and it costs them.
• ●Transition: a phrase that leads into the next paragraph.

Good ideas still lose points when the grammar is sloppy. These are the mistakes graders see most. Fix these and your writing instantly looks sharper.

Run-ons and fragments

• ●Run-on: two complete sentences jammed together. Wrong: I ran the ball I scored. Fix it with a period, a comma plus and, or a semicolon: I ran the ball and I scored.
• ●Fragment: an incomplete sentence missing a subject or verb. Wrong: Because he was tired. Fix it: He sat down because he was tired.

Subject-verb agreement

• ●A singular subject takes a singular verb: The player runs.
• ●A plural subject takes a plural verb: The players run.
• ●Watch for words between them: The box of cleats is heavy, not are heavy, because box is the subject.

Commas, its, and the their family

• ●Comma basics: use a comma before and, but, or so when it joins two complete sentences, and between items in a list.
• ●Its vs it's: it's means it is. Its shows possession. If you can swap in it is, use it's. Otherwise use its.
• ●Their, there, they're: their shows possession, there is a place, they're means they are.

Analysis means breaking a text into parts and explaining how those parts work together to make meaning. Whether it is a paragraph of a novel or a short poem, the move is the same.

1. 1Read it twice. The first time for what it says, the second time for how it says it.
2. 2Find the meaning. What is this passage really about under the surface?
3. 3Spot the tools. Look for literary devices, word choices, and images the writer used on purpose.
4. 4Make a claim about how a device creates the meaning.
5. 5Back the claim with evidence and explain it.

Claim, evidence, explanation

• ●Claim: your point about what the text means or does. Example: The poet uses cold imagery to show the speaker's loneliness.
• ●Evidence: the exact words from the text that prove it. Example: the line about frost on the empty window.
• ●Explanation: how the evidence proves the claim. Example: the frost and the empty window turn a normal morning into a picture of isolation, so the reader feels the speaker's loneliness without being told.