NB G4 English Reading flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Main idea

The most important point a text makes about its topic, usually stated in a sentence and supported by details throughout the passage.

Theme

A message about life or human nature that a story conveys; it may be stated directly or implied through events, character choices, and outcomes.

Supporting detail

A fact, example, or event in a text that explains, proves, or illustrates the main idea and helps the reader understand it.

Summary

A brief restatement of a text's main idea and most important details, written in the reader's own words and without personal opinions.

Character trait

A quality of a character, such as brave or honest, revealed through actions, dialogue, thoughts, and how other characters respond.

Inference

A conclusion drawn by combining clues in the text with what the reader already knows, even though the text does not state it directly.

Cause and effect

A relationship in which one event, the cause, makes another event, the effect, happen; the effect answers what happened and the cause answers why.

Text evidence

A quotation, paraphrase, or specific detail taken directly from a passage that supports an answer, claim, or inference about the text.

Text features

Parts of a text other than the main paragraphs, such as headings, captions, bold print, diagrams, maps, and glossaries, that help readers locate and understand information.

Caption

A short line of text placed beside or below a photograph, diagram, or map that explains what the image shows and why it matters.

First-person point of view

A narrative perspective in which the narrator uses words such as I, me, my, and we and is a character inside the story.

Third-person point of view

A narrative perspective in which the narrator uses words such as he, she, it, and they and stands outside the events of the story.

Compare and contrast

A text structure that explains how two or more things are alike and how they are different, often using signal words such as both, unlike, and whereas.

Chronological order

A text structure that presents events or steps in the order they happen in time, often marked by words such as first, next, then, and finally.

Problem and solution

A text structure that describes a difficulty and then explains one or more steps, ideas, or actions intended to fix it.

Author's purpose

The reason an author writes a text, such as to inform, explain, persuade, entertain, or describe; it influences the words and details chosen.

Comparing two texts

Examining two passages to identify similarities and differences in topic, main idea, structure, purpose, point of view, and the details each includes.

Claim

A statement that an author or speaker asserts is true and then tries to support with reasons and evidence in an argument or persuasive text.

Reason

The part of an argument that explains why a claim should be accepted, often introduced by words such as because, since, or therefore.

Relevant evidence

Facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that directly support a specific claim and are clearly connected to it.

Firsthand account

A description of an event written by someone who personally experienced it, often including feelings, sensory details, and a first-person point of view.

Secondhand account

A description of an event written by someone who did not experience it directly, often based on research, interviews, or other people's reports.

Venn diagram

A graphic organizer made of overlapping circles used to record similarities in the shared area and differences in the outer areas of two topics.

Author's point of view

The position or opinion an author takes on a topic, which readers identify by examining word choice, reasons, and evidence in the text.

Context clues

Hints in the surrounding words and sentences, such as definitions, examples, synonyms, and antonyms, that help a reader figure out an unfamiliar word's meaning.

Prefix

A word part attached to the beginning of a base word that changes its meaning, such as un- meaning not or re- meaning again.

Suffix

A word part attached to the end of a base word that changes its meaning or part of speech, such as -less meaning without or -ful meaning full of.

Homophone

One of two or more words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings, such as their, there, and they're.

Simile

A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words like or as, such as brave as a lion.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that states one thing is another without using like or as, such as the classroom was a zoo.

Idiom

An expression whose figurative meaning cannot be understood from the literal meanings of its words, such as hit the books meaning study.

Glossary

An alphabetical list at the back of a book that gives the meanings of important or difficult words used in that book.