Academic Vocabulary

Very important to understand!

Understanding

• When you come across a question on a test or quiz, you must understand what it is asking if you are going to answer it properly.

• Example: analyze the poetic devices used in the poem We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks.

We Real Cool• THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL. We real cool. We Left school. We

Lurk late. We Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We Die soon.

Analyze:

• To analyze means to identify specific traits and devices used to convey a theme.

• Look back at the poem and what do you notice about it? What literary devices does Ms. Brooks use in the poem?

Implied:

• Anything that is not directly stated by an author but assumed by the reader based on what is written or spoken.

• Implied meaning is meant to be inferred, or assumed, by you, the reader.

• Example: We can infer or assume that Romeo is a very flighty young man who falls “in love” at the drop of a hat.

Describe:

• Give an account of something; tell in specific detail or words.

• Example: Describe the characteristics of the pool players in the poem by implied meaning.

• We might be asked to describe the balcony scene in Romeo & Juliet

Criticism:

• The art of judging, evaluating, or critiquing the quality of a work of art, writing, music or dramatic production.

• What criticism does Ms. Brooks have about the pool players in the poem?

Evaluate:

• When you evaluate, you make a judgment of some one or something. You are trying to judge the importance or significance of the person or thing.

• Example: Evaluate the effectiveness of the stage lighting and set in the play, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail.

Practice:

• Example:When Henry is in the jail cell and he flashes back to certain moments in his memory, how does the lighting create the illusion or implication of a flashback? Is it effective? Could anything else work better?

Compare and Contrast

• Com- a prefix meaning together: compare. • Compare: When you compare things, you

state the things they have in common.

• Contrast: you want to state the opposites of two things…those things that they do NOT have in common.

Conclusion

• If you are asked to draw a conclusion about a passage, you are being asked to deduce or come to a reasonable evaluation of that passage. What conclusion can you draw about consumers from the following graph?:

• http://image.wistatutor.com/content/feed/tvcs/circle20graph.gif

More conclusions:

• What is the largest expenditure for the average consumer?

• What is the percentage of income spent on food in the average household?

• What might be included in “other” expenses?