Georgia Milestones Grade 3 ELA flashcards

33 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 whole passage makes about its topic. It is broad enough to cover the entire text, not just one paragraph or one example.

Key detail

A fact, example, or event that directly supports the main idea. Removing it would weaken the passage's point, unlike a minor interesting detail.

Theme

A message about life or people that a story conveys and that applies beyond the story, such as "honesty matters." It never names the characters or events.

Lesson

What a character learns from the events of a story. It may be stated outright in the text or left for the reader to infer from how the story ends.

Character trait

An inner quality of a character, such as brave, generous, or curious, shown repeatedly through the character's words, actions, and choices across the story.

Character feeling

A temporary emotion a character experiences at a particular moment, such as nervous or delighted. It can change from scene to scene within the same story.

Retelling

Telling the important events of a story in the order they happened, including the problem and its solution, while leaving out minor details.

Cause and effect

A relationship in which one event makes another happen. The cause answers why something occurred; the effect answers what happened as a result.

Sequence

The order in which events happen in a text. Signal words such as first, next, then, and finally help readers track that order.

Compare and contrast

Explaining how two texts or ideas are alike and how they differ. Good comparisons use specific details from both sources rather than general impressions.

Text feature

A part of a text other than the main sentences that helps readers find or understand information, such as a heading, caption, bold word, diagram, or glossary.

First-person narrator

A storyteller who uses I or we and takes part in the events. This narrator can report only his or her own thoughts and observations.

Third-person narrator

A storyteller who uses he, she, or they and stands outside the events. This narrator can report the thoughts of more than one character.

Literal meaning

The exact dictionary meaning of a word or phrase, without exaggeration or imagination, as opposed to a nonliteral or figurative meaning.

Nonliteral language

Word choices that mean something beyond the dictionary sense, such as "it is raining cats and dogs" meaning it is raining very hard.

Prefix

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

Suffix

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

Base word

The main word that remains after a prefix or suffix is removed, such as help in helpful or unhelpful. Its meaning anchors the longer word.

Irregular plural noun

A noun whose plural is not made by adding -s or -es, such as child to children, mouse to mice, foot to feet, or tooth to teeth.

Closed syllable

A syllable that ends with a consonant, which usually makes the vowel short, as in rab-bit, bas-ket, and sun.

Vowel-consonant-e syllable

A syllable pattern in which a silent e at the end makes the earlier vowel long, as in hope, cake, and line.

Simple sentence

A sentence with one subject and one predicate that expresses a single complete thought, such as "The cat slept on the warm rug."

Compound sentence

Two complete sentences joined by a comma and a coordinating word such as and, but, or or, as in "I ran, and she walked."

Complex sentence

A sentence made of an independent clause and a dependent clause. When the dependent clause comes first, a comma follows it.

Adjective

A word that describes a noun or pronoun, telling what kind, which one, or how many, as in "three red apples."

Adverb

A word that describes a verb, adjective, or other adverb, often telling how, when, or where, as in "she sang softly."

Pronoun

A word that takes the place of a noun, such as I, he, she, it, they, them, or ours, so the noun does not have to repeat.

Regular past tense

The past tense of a verb formed by adding -ed to the base word, as in jump to jumped, walk to walked, or play to played.

Irregular past tense

The past tense of a verb formed by changing the word rather than adding -ed, as in go to went, see to saw, or run to ran.

Possessive noun

A noun showing ownership. A singular noun adds an apostrophe and s, as in the dog's bone; a plural ending in s adds only an apostrophe.

Opinion writing

Writing that states the author's point of view on a topic and supports it with reasons and examples rather than presenting it as a fact.

Informational writing

Writing that explains or reports facts about a topic, organized with a clear main idea and supporting details, without judging or persuading.

Narrative writing

Writing that tells a story with characters, a setting, and an organized sequence of events that usually includes a problem and a solution.