Academic Vocabulary

Examine in order to identify and understand differences between two or more things

• Compare

• Contrast

• Identify

• Explain

The author's most important idea/reason for creating a written work

• Support

• Story

• Details

• Main Idea

Noting individual features or characteristics

• Develop

• Compare

• Identify

• Contrast

The plot or ordered events in a novel, poem, drama, etc.

• Demonstrate

• Story

• Details

• Main Idea

To tell or show with written or spoken words; point out facts or details

• Support

• Develop

• Describe

• Compare

Examine in order to note likenesses between two things

• Support

• Compare

• Contrast

• Explain

When readers think about things that are not stated exactly in the text. To "read between the lines."

• Critique

• Predict

• Summarize

• Infer

When readers use what they already know and what has happened so far in the text to think about what might happen next.

• Predict

• Infer

• Synthesize

• Analyze

When readers retell the most important parts of a story.

• Summarize

• Synthesize

• Analyze

• Critique

When readers use their background knowledge to help in learning new information from the text.

• Infer

• Summarize

• Make Connections

• Synthesize