Middle School EL Terms

The theme of a story or text is...

• the lesson or message

• the main idea

• the tone

• the plot

To summarize a passage, you...

• make it longer

• make it shorter

• analyze it

When you compare two characters, you...

• tell how they interact

• tell how they are different

• tell how they are similar

• describe their personalities

When you contrast two characters, you...

• tell how they interact

• tell how they are different

• tell how they are similar

• describe their personalities

What is the setting of a story?

• the main idea

• the lesson to learn

• the time period the author was born in

• the time and place the story is set in

When you draw inferences from a text, you...

• Picture the scene

• Doodle on your notebook

• Look for clues in the text

• Guess what will happen next

When you analyze how characters interact, what should you focus on?

• what each character thinks

• what each character feels

• what each character says to each other

the opposite of literal language:

• unliteral language

• figurative language

• bilingual

How can you find a simile?

• it rhymes

• it is funny

• it uses like or as to compare two things

• it gives human qualities to animals

What is the figurative language used to give animals and objects human qualities?

• personification

• humanization

• metaphor

• onomatopoeia