Québec ELA 6 Ministerial Exam cheat sheet

Three reading stances: personal response (reader's reaction), interpretive (meaning and structure), and critical (values, bias, effect) - each requires textual evidence.

Main idea test: state the point in one sentence and check that every paragraph supports it; a topic is what the text is about, the main idea is what it says about that topic.

Text types and their dominant purpose: narrative (to tell), descriptive (to depict), explanatory (to inform how/why), argumentative (to persuade), poetic (to evoke).

Explicit information is stated in the text; implicit information requires an inference drawn from two or more clues plus prior knowledge.

Narrative elements to map: setting, characters, conflict (person vs. person/self/nature/society), rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, theme.

Signal words for text organization: cause-effect (because, therefore, as a result), comparison (similarly, unlike), chronology (first, then, finally), problem-solution (however, one answer is).

A valid inference must be supported by the text and cannot contradict it; if a detail is absent, mark it as unknown rather than guessing.

Vocabulary in context: substitute the candidate meaning into the sentence and confirm the surrounding words and sentence logic still fit.

Process order: planning (audience, purpose, form) → drafting → revising (ideas, organization, wording) → editing (grammar, spelling, punctuation) → publishing.

Paragraph structure: topic sentence → supporting details or evidence → concluding or linking sentence that connects to the next idea.

Cohesion devices: pronoun reference, synonyms, transition words, and repeated key terms; every pronoun must have one clear antecedent.

Purpose determines form: to narrate use a story with a plot arc; to explain use sequenced steps or causes; to persuade use a claim plus reasons and evidence; to describe use sensory detail.

Audience adjustment: formal register for unfamiliar or official readers, informal for peers; register affects word choice, contractions, and sentence length.

Revision vs. editing decision rule: if the problem is meaning, order, or clarity, revise; if the problem is a rule of grammar, spelling, or punctuation, edit.

A persuasive text needs a clear position, at least two supported reasons, acknowledgment of a counterargument, and a conclusion that restates the position.

Text length and format constraints (word count, required sections, title, signature) are part of the task and are checked before submission.

Communication model: sender → message → channel → receiver → feedback, with noise (physical, psychological, semantic) reducing fidelity.

Turn-taking norms: hold the floor with a complete idea, yield with a pause or question, and use back-channels (nodding, "I see") without interrupting.

Purposes of oral text: to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to instruct; each implies a different tone, pace, and use of evidence.

Active listening steps: attend, receive, interpret, recall, respond; paraphrasing the speaker's point before replying demonstrates comprehension.

Nonverbal channels (eye contact, posture, gesture, volume, pace) carry meaning alongside words and must match the spoken message.

A constructive response states agreement or disagreement, gives a reason or evidence, and stays focused on the idea rather than the speaker.

A prepared oral presentation includes an opening hook, a stated purpose, organized main points, transitions, and a closing summary.

Clarification moves ("Do you mean…?", "Could you repeat that?") repair misunderstanding and are a communication skill, not a failure.

Sentence completeness: a sentence needs a subject and a predicate; a fragment lacks one, and a run-on joins two independent clauses without correct punctuation.

Comma rules: separate items in a series, set off introductory elements, join an independent clause to a following one with a conjunction, and mark non-restrictive clauses.

Semicolon joins two independent clauses; colon introduces a list, explanation, or quotation after a complete clause.

Apostrophes mark possession (singular 's, plural s') and contractions; "its" is possessive, "it's" means "it is".

Subject-verb agreement: the verb matches the head noun, not intervening phrases; indefinite pronouns such as everyone, each, and nobody are singular.

Verb tense consistency: keep one dominant tense in a narrative or report and shift only to mark a real change in time.

Pronoun case: use the subject form for subjects (he and I went), the object form after prepositions and verbs (between you and me).

Modifiers must sit next to the word they describe; a dangling modifier has no logical subject in the sentence.

Critical reading questions: Who wrote this, for whom, and what is left out? What values or assumptions does the text assume the reader shares?

Distinguish fact (verifiable), opinion (a judgment), and inference (a conclusion drawn from evidence); persuasive texts often present opinion in factual phrasing.

Literary devices and effects: metaphor/simile (comparison), personification (human traits to non-human), imagery (sensory detail), symbolism (object carrying idea), irony (gap between expectation and reality).

Theme is an idea about life the text develops, stated as a full sentence, not a single word such as "friendship".

A literary response needs a claim, at least two textual references (quoted or closely paraphrased), and an explanation linking each reference to the claim.

Point of view shapes information: first person is limited and subjective, third-person omniscient knows all characters, third-person limited stays with one.

Evaluate an argument by its claim, the relevance and sufficiency of its evidence, and the presence of logical fallacies such as hasty generalization or false cause.

Reader response is not unlimited: an interpretation is defensible only when the text supports it, and competing interpretations are weighed by evidence.