REVIEWER IN ENGLISH 9

Lesson 1: (Literary Analysis, Part 1)

→ Literary Analysis
Closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why
the author made certain choices. It can be applied to ovels, short stories,
plays, poems, or any other forms of literary writing.

→ How is a Literary Analysis an Argument?

✓ Specific Attributes of the Text
✓ Specific Arguable Point (thesis)
✓ Reasons and Evidence drawn from the Text

→ How to Analyze a Story

✓ Structure of the Story
✓ Rhetorical Elements
✓ Meaning of the Story
o Identify the theme(s) and how the author announce them.
o Explain how the story elements contribute to the theme.
o Identify contextual elements that point beyond the story to the
author’s life/experience, history, or other writings.
✓ Essential Elements of the Story
o Theme: main idea
o Plot: relationship and patterns of events
o Characters: people the author creates (including the narrator
of a story or the speaker of a poem)
o Setting: when and where the action happens
o Point of View: perspective or attitude of the narrator or speaker

→ Theme
Main idea or underlying meaning of the literary work. It is what the
author wants the reader to understand about the subject. In fables, this
may also be the moral of the story.

→ Sequence of Conflict / Crisis / Resolution

All stories, literary essays, biographies, and plays have a beginning,
a middle, and an end.
o Beginning – used to describe the conflict/problem faced by the
character/subject
o Middle – used to describe the climax or crisis reached by the
character/subject
o End – used to resolve the conflict/problem and establish a
theme.
→ Plot

→ Types of Conflict
✓ Person vs. Person Conflict
✓ Person vs. Society Conflict
✓ Person vs. Nature Conflict
✓ Person vs. Fate/Supernatural Conflict
✓ Person vs. Self Conflict

→ Characterization
✓ Protagonist – main character
o Round – three-dimensional personality
o Flat – one or two striking qualities – all bad or all good
o Dynamic – grows and progress to a higher level of
understanding
o Static – remains unchanged throughout the story
✓ Antagonist – the character or force that opposed the main character
✓ Foil – the character that provides a contrast to the protagonist

→ Factors to Consider in Analyzing a Character

✓ How He/She Acts/Feels
✓ How Others Feel About Him/Her
✓ What He/She Looks Like
✓ What He/She Says

→ Things to Consider in Characterization

✓ A character’s actions
✓ A character’s choices
 ✓ A character’s speech patterns
✓ A character’s thoughts and feelings
✓ A character’s comments
✓ A character’s physical appearance and name
✓ Other characters’ thoughts and feelings about the character
✓ Other characters’ actions towards the character

→ Setting
Time period, geographical location, historical and cultural context
– social; political; spiritual, instrumental in establishing mood, may
symbolize the emotional state of characters, impact on characters’
motivations and options.

Lesson 2: (Literary Analysis, Part 2)

→ Elements to Analyze
✓ First Person – narrator is a character within the story – reveals own
thoughts and feelings but not those of others.
✓ Third Person
o Objective – when the narrator is outside the story, acts as a
reporter and cannot tell what the characters are thinking.
o Limited – when the narrator is outside the story, and can see into
the mind of one of the characters.
o Omniscient – when the narrator is all-knowing, and is also
outside the story who can enter the mind of more than one
character.

→ Rhetorical Elements
✓ Foreshadowing – this is the use of hints or clues to suggest event that
will occur later in the story. It builds suspense.
✓ Tone – this is the author’s attitude – stated or implied – toward the
subject. It is revealed through the word choice and details.
✓ Mood – it is the climate of feeling in a literary work. It is the choice of
setting, objects, details, images, and words.
✓ Symbolism – it can be a person, place, or object which stand for larger
and more abstract ideas. [e.g., American flag – freedom, Dove –
peace]
✓ Irony – shows contrast between what is expected or what appears to
be and what actually is.
o Verbal Irony – shows contrast between what is said and what is
actually meant.
o Irony of Situation – shows an event that is the opposite of what is
expected or intended.
o Dramatic Irony – audience know more than the character.
 ✓ Figurative Language – a language that goes beyond the literal
meaning of words. [e.g., simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification,
onomatopoeia, hyperbole]

→ The Process of Writing a Literary Analysis

Literary Analysis gives a deep and illuminating explanation of a
literary work. It is a critical interpretation. It formulates a deep thesis,
organizes a paper coherently, uses a number of different critical methods.

→ Creating a Thesis
The thesis should state the basic point you want to communicate. It
should be clear and understandable. It should be deep, something that
not everyone would think of. It should be significant, something that the
majority of people interested in your text would find helpful. It should be
new and original.

Start by reading the text closely. Craft a statement that summarizes

your thoughts about the text and responds to the ideas of other critics.
Modify your working thesis as you continue to interact with your research
and the text.

Don’t be afraid to modify your thesis even after you’ve begun

writing the body of your paper. Spend the body of your paper arguing
that your thesis provides an interpretation which is clearly supported by
the text. Do not deviate from discussion related to your thesis.

→ How to Support a Thesis Statement

✓ We can have examples from the text such as direct quotations,
summaries of scenes/actions, paraphrased sentences.
✓ We can also have other critics’ opinions, and historical and social
context.

→ Tips for Writing the Body

✓ Begin finding common threads among the items supporting your thesis.
✓ Begin writing with the body, making sure that each paragraph centers
on one specific idea.
✓ Make sure that the topic sentence of each paragraph demonstrates a
link between the content of the paragraph and your thesis statement.
Lesson 3: (Speech Delivery)
→ Qualities of Effective Delivery
✓ Effective Delivery is Natural.
✓ Effective Delivery is Enthusiastic.
✓ Effective Delivery is Confident.
✓ Effective Delivery is Direct.

→ The Functions of Nonverbal Communication

✓ Nonverbal Behavior Clarifies Verbal Messages – the impact of the
verbal component of your speech depends largely on what you are
doing vocally and bodily while saying it.

✓ Nonverbal Behavior Helps Establish a Relationship – nonverbal

behavior allows speakers to modify feelings of closeness and familiarity
with an audience, thereby establishing an appropriate relationship
based on topic, purpose, and occasion.

✓ Nonverbal Behavior Helps Establish Speaker Credibility – nonverbal

speech behavior affects speaker credibility – the audience’s
perception of the speaker’s competence, trustworthiness, and
character.

→ The Voice in Delivery

✓ Volume – the relative loudness of a speaker’s voice while giving a
speech. Loudness depends on size of room/number of persons,
availability of a microphone, background noise.

✓ Pronunciation and Articulation

o Pronunciation – the correct formation of word sounds.
o Articulation – about saying words with clarity and forcefulness so
they are individually audible and discernible.
o Vocal Delivery and Culture – every culture has subcultural
variations on the preferred pronunciations and articulations of
its language.

→ Face, Eyes, and Body in Delivery

✓ Facial and Eye Behavior – facial expressions convey emotion. Smile
and the world smiles with you (a sign of mutual welcome at the start of
a speech). The eyes have it – scanning means moving your eyes from
one listener to another, maintaining eye contact is mandatory for
rapport.

✓ Gestures and Body Movement – use gestures to fill in meaning gaps in

the same manner as you would in everyday conversation.
 ✓ Body Movement and Presentation Aids – positioning your body so that
it is oriented toward the audience is critical, especially when using
visual aids.

✓ Listeners’ Body Language – audience members’ body language sends

positive and negative signals back to the speaker.

✓ Dress and Objects – the first thing an audience is likely to notice as you
approach the speakers’ position is your clothing. Critical criteria for
determining appropriate attire for a speech are – audience
expectations, nature of the speech occasion.

→ Methods of Delivery:
✓ Speaking from a Manuscript – it involves reading the speech from
prepared written text that contains the entire speech, word for word.
✓ Speaking from Memory
o Oratory – it is an ancient public speaking in which speeches
were fully committed to memory. It is not a natural way to
present a message.
✓ Speaking Impromptu – delivering a speech without prior preparation.

→ Practicing the Delivery

✓ Focus on the Message – clarity of your message should be the primary
concern in the planning of your speech. Concentrate on your delivery.
✓ Practice Under Realistic Conditions – try to closely simulate the actual
speech setting as you practice. Practice your speech in front of a live
audience.

→ Does Delivery Really Make a Difference?

Delivery does affect attitude change in persuasive speeches. It does
affect audience comprehension of speeches. It does affect audience
perception of a speaker ethos (trustworthiness and character).

Lesson 4: (Evaluating a Speech)

1. Listening Actively
✓ Give the speaker your undivided attention.
o Turn off all electronic devices and put away any distractions
o Look at the speaker while the speech is being given
o You shouldn’t have anything in your hands but maybe a
notepad for taking notes
o Don’t ever evaluate a speech based on the text alone
✓ Identify the main idea of the speech.
 o If you can’t find the main idea of the speech, try to guess what
you think the speaker is trying to prove
o For some speeches, like a toast, a tribute, or a thank you, the
main idea might be obvious, but play dumb
✓ Try to follow the supporting argument of the speaker.
o If you’re listening to a persuasive speech, try to come up with
responses, questions, and retorts that you might use for
feedback later
o If you’re listening to an informal speech, like a toast or a
congratulatory speech, focus on the organization of the
information that we’re getting
✓ Be willing to be convinced.
o Going into a speech with a closed mind is a bad way to
evaluate it
o Even if you’re going to listen to someone give a speech at the
Flat Earth Society, try your best to go into it with an objective
mind, willing to listen to the content and the presentation of
anyone’s speech
✓ Take notes.
o Write down particularly memorable quotes or moments from
the speech to praise
o Write down any time the speaker gets a good crowd reaction,
or a negative response

2. Evaluating Specific Details

✓ Evaluate the content of the speech.
o What was the main argument of the speech?
o Was the content clear and well-articulated?
o Was the argument supported with research?
o Was the content made clear to the audience?
o Did the speaker prove his points?
✓ Evaluate the organization of the speech.
o Was the supporting argument logically structured?
o Was the speech easy to follow? Difficult? Why?
o Do the speaker’s points flow logically from one to the next?
o What could be included to clear up the speech for you?
✓ Evaluate the style of the speech.
o How would you describe the style of the speech and the
speaker?
o Did the style of the speech work for the content, or against it?
Why?
o How convincing was the speaker?
o How was the timing of the speech? Was it easy to follow?
✓ Evaluate the tone of the speech.
o Who is the audience for the speech? What are their
expectations of the speech and the speaker?
 o How would you describe the tone of the speech?
o Did it match the content? How?
o If not, how might the tone be improved?
o How well will the tone match the audience for the speech?

3. Giving Constructive Feedback

✓ Write you feedback down.
o It’s better to write down your criticisms, praise, and comments
so the speaker will have some document of your feedback
o It’s best to write a short note. No more than 250 or 300 words, to
accompany your evaluation of the speech
o You may have to fill out a rubric or assign a grade to a speech.
✓ Summarize the speech as you understood it.
o Try to start your response with things like. “What I heard you’re
saying is...” or “What I got from this speech was...”
o A good summary should be several sentences in the evaluation,
perhaps slightly less than half of your feedback
o Identify the main idea and the main supporting points of the
speech. The summary should focus on content only
✓ Focus your feedback primarily on the content of the speech.
o If the speaker is mostly a wet blanket, focus on how the content
could better match the speaking style and how the tone might
be changed to match
o Telling a speaker to be “more dynamic” or “funny” isn’t good
feedback
✓ Always find something to praise.
o If you thought the speech was boring, instead learn to say
something like, “It as subdued, which I think works well for the
occasion.”
o If the speaker seemed nervous, try to reassure them with some
compliments, “You seemed confident up there. The material
really speaks for itself.”
✓ Focus your feedback on revision of the speech.
o Aim all feedback at making specific changes that will improve
the speech, not identifying what is wrong with the speech, or
what seems to be not working for you about it
o Don’t say, “I didn’t like the jokes you used,” say “Next time, I
think you could leave the jokes out and the speech would
move a little quicker”
✓ Try to focus on no more than three key areas of improvement.
o Focus first on content corrections, the organization of the
speech, and the tone before you focus on anything else in the
speech
o Worry about the specifics of the delivery later
o If the speech is already very good, feel free to move onto these
secondary concerns
Lesson 5: (Understanding Poetry, 1)
→ Poetry
Usually written in lines, it is a Literary work in which special intensity is
given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style
and rhythm. In poetry, the sound and meaning of words are combined to
express feelings, thoughts, and ideas. The poet chooses words carefully.

→ Poetry Elements
✓ Rhythm – flow of the beat in a poem, it gives poetry a musical feel, it
can be fast or slow, depending on mood and subject of the poem.
You can measure rhythm in meter, by counting the beats in each line.

✓ Sound - Writers love to use interesting sounds in their poems. After all,
poems are meant to be heard. These sound devices include:
o Rhyme - words that end with the same sound. Rhyming sounds
don’t have to be spelled the same way. Rhyme is the most
common sound device in poetry. Poets can choose from a
variety of different rhyming patterns:
▪ AABB – lines 1 and 2 rhyme, and lines 3 and 4 rhyme
▪ ABAB – lines 1 and 3 rhyme, and lines 2 and 4 rhyme
▪ ABBA – lines 1 and 4 rhyme, and lines 2 and 3 rhyme
▪ ABCB – lines 2 and 4 rhyme, lines 1 and 3 do not rhyme
o Repetition – Occurs when poets repeat words, phrases, or lines
in a poem. It creates a pattern. It increases rhythm. It
strengthens feelings, ideas, and mood in a poem.
o Alliteration - Repetition of the first consonant sound in words, as
in the nursery rhyme “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers”
o Onomatopoeia - Words that represent the actual sound of
something are words of onomatopoeia. It appeals to the sense
of sound. E.g., “bark”, purr”, “boom”, “drip”, and “tick”
✓ Imagery - Use of words to create pictures or images in your mind. It
appeals to the five senses: smell, sight, hearing, taste, and touch.
Details about smells, sounds, colors, and tastes create strong images.
To create vivid images, writers use figures of speech.
→ Figures of Speech
Tools that writers use to create images, or “paint pictures” in your
mind. Similes, metaphors, and personification are three figures of speech
that create imagery.
o Simile - Compares two things using the words “as” or “like”.
Comparing one thing to another creates a vivid image.
o Metaphor - Compares two things without using the words “as”
or “like”. It gives the qualities of one thing to something that is
quite different.
 o Personification - Gives human traits and feeling to things that
are not human like animals or objects.

Lesson 6: (Understanding Poetry, 2)

→ Forms of Poetry
✓ Couplet – a poem, or a stanza in a poem, written in two lines.
✓ Tercet – a poem, or stanza, written in three lines. It usually rhymes. Lines
1 and 2 can rhyme; lines 1 and 3 can rhyme; sometimes all 3 lines
rhyme.
✓ Quatrain – a poem or stanza written in four lines. The quatrain is the
most common form of stanza used in poetry. It usually rhymes. It can
be written in variety of rhyming patterns.
✓ Traditional Cinquain – a cinquain is a poem written in five lines that do
not rhyme. Traditional cinquain has five lines containing 22 syllables in
the following pattern:
o Line 1 – 2 syllables
o Line 2 – 4 syllables
o Line 3 – 6 syllables
o Line 4 – 8 syllables
o Line 5 – 2 syllables
✓ Haiku – a Japanese poem with 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.
(17syllables) It does not rhyme. It is about an aspect of nature or the
seasons. It captures a moment in time.
✓ Concrete Poem – also called a shape poem, is written in the shape of
its subject. The way the words are arranged is as important as what
they mean. It does not have to rhyme.
✓ Free Verse – does not use rhyme or patterns, it can vary freely in length
of lines, stanzas, and subject.
✓ Acrostic – in this poem, the first letter of each line spells the subject of
the poem. It is a type of a free verse poem. It does not usually rhyme.
✓ Limerick – a funny poem of 5 lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme. Lines 3 and
4 are shorter and rhyme. Lines 5 refers to line 1.

→ Lines and Stanzas

✓ Most poems are written in lines.
✓ A group of lines in a poem is called a stanza.
✓ Stanzas separate ideas in a poem. They act like paragraphs.

→ Voice
“Voice” is the speaker in a poem, the speaker can be the poet
himself or a character he created in the poem. There can be one speaker
or many speakers.
✓ Poet as speaker
✓ Human character in a poem as a speaker
✓ Object or animal as speaker
 ✓ More than one speaker

→ Author’s Purpose
The poet has an author’s purpose when he writes a poem. The
purpose can be to:
✓ Share feelings
✓ Tell a story
✓ Send a message
✓ Be humorous
✓ Provide description

→ Mood
The atmosphere or emotion in the poem created by the poet. It
can be angry, happy, silly, sad, excited, fearful or thoughtful. A poet uses
words and images to create mood. Author’s purpose helps determine
mood.

→ Reading for Meaning

To find meaning in a poem, readers ask questions as they read.
There are many things to pay attention when reading a poem.
✓ Title
✓ Rhythm
✓ Sound devices
✓ Imagery
✓ Figures of speech
✓ Voice
✓ Author’s purpose
✓ Mood
✓ Plot

Lesson 7: (Active and Passive Voice)

→ Verbs and Voice
Voice is the form a verb takes to indicate whether the subject of
the verb performs or receives the action. There are two types of voice:
active and passive.

→ Active Voice
Active voice indicates that the subject of the verb is acting.
Because the subject does or “acts upon” the verb in such sentences, the
sentences are said to be in the active voice.
✓ These examples show that the subjects are doing the verbs’ actions.
o The dog jumped onto the boy.
o Kristy will give a book report to the class.
→ Passive Voice
In a passive voice sentence, the subject and object flip-flop. The
subject becomes the passive recipient of the action. Because the subject
is being “acted upon” (or is passive), such sentences are said to be in the
passive voice.
✓ These examples show the subject being acted upon by the verb.
o The boy was jumped on by the dog.
o A book report will be given by Kristy to the class.
o My paper was eaten by the computer.

→ Reasons to Use the Active Voice

✓ More writers prefer to use active voice because it is more direct.
o The waiter dropped the tray of food. [active]
o The tray of food was dropped by the waiter. [passive]

✓ The active voice is less awkward and clearly states relationship

between subject and action.
o The review committee denied your request for funding.
o Your request for funding has been denied by the review
committee.

→ When to Use Passive Voice

In general, the passive voice is less direct, less forceful, and less
concise than the active voice.
✓ Use the passive voice in the following situations:
o Use passive voice when you do not know or do not want to
reveal the performer of an action.
o Use passive voice when you want to emphasize the receiver of
an action.

✓ Examples:
o My bicycle was repainted by John. [awkward passive]
o My bicycle was repainted. [deliberate passive]

→ Form of Passive Voice Verbs

The passive voice requires a “double verb” and will always consist
of a form of the verb “to be” and the past participle (usually the
“en/ed/t” form) of another verb.
✓ Example:
o John baked the bread. [active]
o The bread was baked by John. [passive]

Writers should be familiar with the forms of “to be”, often called linking
verbs, so that they can easily identify the passive voice in their work.
 ✓ Examples of “to be”:
o Am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been

→ Form of Passive Voice Verbs

Note the forms of “to be” in the examples of the verb “to kick” in
various forms of the passive voice:
Is kicked Had been kicked
Was kicked Is going to be kicked
Is being kicked Will be kicked
Has been kicked Can be kicked
Was being kicked Should be kicked

Often passive voice sentences will contain a “by” phrase indicting

who or what performed the action. Passive sentences can be easily
transformed into active sentences when the object of the preposition
“by” is moved to the subject position in the sentence.

✓ Examples:
o The cookies were eaten by the children. [passive]
o The children ate the cookies. [active]
o The tunnels are dug by the gophers. [passive]
o The gophers dug the tunnels. [active]

END OF REVIEWER