When Curtis transferred to our high school from some fancy private school, I was assigned the job of showing him around our building. First, I showed him our trophy case. Our school has done put together some quality teams and programs over the years, so our trophy case was pretty full. Curtis was not impressed. He claimed that the trophy case at his old school was at least twice as big as ours and much more crowded. Next I showed him our swimming pool. Not every high school has a swimming pool, so we were proud of ours, but Curtis couldn't care less. "The swimming pool at my old school is bigger and more modern. This one looks kind of dirty," he said with disdain. I continued to guide Curtis around the school, showing him our cafeteria, gymnasium, and even our garden, but Curtis seemed disappointed with everything that he saw. He'd quickly compare it to his old school, which in his words was superior to ours in every way. The last thing I showed Curtis was the front door. I told him that he would like this one best because he could walk through it and go back to his old school.

What is the theme of the story?

Alan had very few responsibilities, but one of them was to clean his room. It did not take long, but Alan still didn't like doing it. One day Alan thought of a way to save some time. Rather than putting everything neatly back in its place, he decided to just throw all the stuff on the floor into his closet. His mom would think that he had cleaned his room, and it would only take a fraction of the time. Alan was pleased with himself for thinking of this brilliant idea. He figured that this would save a lot of time and energy. The next time his room got messy, he piled everything up in the closet and the pile grew. It grew and grew. Then Alan's friend Steve called. "Alan, everyone is playing baseball at the park. Do you want to play too?" Alan loved baseball. "That sounds great, Steve. I'll be right there." Alan went to grab his baseball mitt when he realized that it wasn't in its usual place. Alan thought to himself, I guess it's in the closet. When he opened up the closet door, he was faced with a huge, unnavigable mess, some of which poured out as he opened the door. Alan began digging through the pile in a frantic attempt to find his mitt. He dug and dug, and as he dug his room got messier and messier. Soon his room was the messiest that it had ever been, and he still hadn't found his mitt. Alan sighed in despair. By the time he found his mitt, the boys had long concluded their game and Alan had hours of cleaning ahead of him before he'd be allowed to leave.

What is the theme of the story?

Three flies notice an overturned honey pot. Two of the flies decide to land in the honey and start eating it. But the oldest fly stays back. The two flies tease the older fly, but then get stuck in the honey.

What is the theme of this story?

Turn over a bag of potato chips. Is the label interesting? A simple food recipe may use several ingredients. These come from the soil and from chemistry labs around the world. Surprises also show up in the labels on clothing and other products. Look at the label on a package of lipstick. The tube seems small and shiny, but inside lipstick there is soap, oil, fish scales, and wax!

Which is the best way to summarize this passage?

The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be held in Brazil. It will be the 20th year of the World Cup. Brazil was chosen in October of 2007 to host the 2014 competition. Earlier in the year, South America had been chosen as the continent for the contest. Brazil was the only country to put in a bid. This is the second time Brazil will host the World Cup. The country hosted it in 1950. It is the first World Cup to be held in South America since 1978, when Argentina hosted. No other South American country has hosted the World Cup more than once.

The summary of this passage is:

GameFAQs is a Web site that hosts walkthroughs for video games. It also has answers to many frequently asked questions to popular video games. The website was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey. The site has a lot of video game information. It is a place where gamers can get almost any information about games. It covers systems from the Atari to the Xbox 360. The Web site also covers computer games. The information on the Web site is given by volunteer gamers. Then, it is reviewed by the site's two editors, Jeff Veasey and Allen Tyner. The Web site also has a large message board community. Every game listed on the site has a board for discussion or game help.

The summary of this passage is:

Tomorrow is Jill's birthday. She is excited because she gets to pick where she will eat dinner. Will it be Mexican food at the Big Enchilada House? Or will it be fried chicken at the Chicken Shack, or a big cheeseburger at Al's Hamburger Palace. She just couldn't decide. Then there was always the Pizza Shop with that great pepperoni pizza. How would she ever decide? Maybe she would just flip a coin.

The summary of this passage is:

San Francisco is located on the coast of California in an area often called the Bay Area. The weather is generally very mild, seldom getting really cold or really hot. Its mild climate is one reason many people live there. It seldom snows in San Francisco and generally does not get below freezing during the winter. Even in the middle of summer, temperatures may be in the mid 80s with a cool breeze from the bay keeping the weather very comfortable.

The summary of this passage is:

Summaries should include every detail from a story or passage.

You should only include the main events or ideas from the passage when writing a summary.

What does the root "astro" mean?

What does the root "aud" mean?

What does the root "auto" mean?

What does the root "bio" mean?

What does the root "cent" mean?

What does the root "chron" mean?

You asked him nicely to borrow his pencil, but Pete yelled, "No! If you didn't come prepared, it's not my fault!"

What character trait describes Pete?

As Sam waited in line for his food, he imagined knocking everyone out of his way to get ahead.

What character trait describes Sam?

Daren showed up at the banquet with food stains all over his dress shirt. He sat down, put his feet on the table, and burped loudly. The other people sitting at the table looked at each other but continued eating.

What character trait does Daren demonstrate?

Diamond spent twelve hours working on her Popsicle stick White House yesterday. Today she noticed that there are bushes in front of the building, so she spent another six hours making bushes out of construction paper.

What character trait does Diamond demonstrate?

Roger found a wallet on the ground. He opened up the wallet and saw an old woman's ID card. Roger took the money out of the wallet and threw the wallet in a ditch.

What character trait does Roger demonstrate?

Kelly likes Aaron because they have many things in common. They have formed a great connection and she thinks that Aaron is very handsome, but Kelly wants to date Burt. Even though Kelly had nothing in common with Burt, he drives a fancy car and he spends a lot of money. She likes this about him.

What character trait does Kelly demonstrate?

Jared got off the train from his small farm village. He was now in the big city. An unshaven man with a trench coat with several holes in it approached Jared and told him that he was a police officer and that he needed to see Jared's wallet. Jared did not think that the man looked like a police officer, but he didn't want to get arrested on his first day in the city, so Jared reached into the front pocket of his overalls and gave the man his wallet. The man promptly ran away leaving Jared with no money.

What character trait does Jared demonstrate?

The series of events in a story is called

The lost campers sweltered in the heat of the desert sun.

The scared rock climber balanced precariously on the edge of the cliff.

We often travel to New England in autumn to see the bright colors of the foliage.

The mood was somber at the funeral of the former president.

The impudent boy was assigned a detention for his inappropriate behavior that occurred during the guest speaker's presentation.

Cold rain fell all day, making it a dismal Saturday afternoon.

Nate knew his Language Art's teacher was persnickety, so he made sure his penmanship was legible, he capitalized proper nouns, looked up any words he did not know how to spell, and used all the correct punctuation.

Dorothy was warned that the Wicked Witch of the West was a malevolent lady, and she should avoid her at all cost.

During the summer, the kids enjoy going to the park with our mom.

What change, if any, needs to be made in the sentence?

You should complete your assignment early if you would like to recieve bonus points.

What change, if any, should be made in the sentence?

After we learn about compound sentences, we were required to use them in our essay.

What change, if any, should be made in the sentence?