Georgia Milestones Grade 4 ELA 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 passage makes about its topic. It is stated as a complete sentence and is supported by details from the text.

Theme

A message or lesson about life that a story conveys, such as honesty matters or hard work pays off. It is broader than the plot.

Summary

A short retelling of a passage's most important events or ideas in order, with minor details and personal opinions left out.

Context clue

A word or phrase near an unknown word that helps a reader figure out its meaning, such as a definition, example, or contrast in the same sentence.

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things using the words like or as, as in her laugh was like a bell ringing across the room.

Metaphor

A direct comparison that says one thing is another without using like or as, as in the classroom was a zoo before the bell.

Personification

A figure of speech that gives a human trait or action to an animal, object, or idea, as in the wind whispered through the trees.

First-person point of view

A narrator who is a character in the story and uses words such as I, me, my, and we to tell what happened.

Third-person point of view

A narrator outside the story who uses character names or pronouns such as he, she, they, and them rather than I or we.

Author's purpose

The reason a writer created a text, usually to inform, persuade, or entertain. Facts and headings suggest informing; a call to action suggests persuading.

Text structure

The way an author organizes information, such as cause and effect, compare and contrast, chronological sequence, or problem and solution.

Inference

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

Text feature

A part of a book or article other than the main paragraphs that helps readers find or understand information, such as a heading, caption, glossary, or diagram.

Caption

A short line of text placed near a picture, photograph, or diagram that explains what the visual shows and why it matters.

Glossary

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

Opinion writing

A piece that states a clear claim about a topic, gives reasons supported by evidence, and closes by restating the claim.

Informative writing

Writing that explains or describes a topic using grouped facts, linking words such as also and for example, and a concluding statement.

Narrative writing

Writing that tells a story with characters, a setting, a problem, ordered events, dialogue or description, and a resolution.

Revising

The writing stage that improves ideas, word choice, sentence order, and details rather than fixing spelling or punctuation errors.

Editing

The writing stage that corrects capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar so the piece follows the conventions of standard English.

Complete sentence

A group of words with a subject, a predicate, and a complete thought. Missing any one of these makes it a fragment.

Compound sentence

A sentence made of two complete thoughts joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, or so.

Subject-verb agreement

The rule that a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb, as in the bird sings and the birds sing.

Pronoun-antecedent agreement

The rule that a pronoun must match the number and gender of the noun it replaces, as in each student raised his or her hand.

Irregular verb

A verb that does not form its past tense by adding -ed, such as go/went, see/saw, eat/ate, write/wrote, and bring/brought.

Homophone

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

Prefix

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

Suffix

A word part added 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.

Dictionary

A reference book or digital source that lists words alphabetically and gives their spelling, pronunciation, part of speech, and meanings.

Thesaurus

A reference source that lists synonyms and antonyms for words, used to find a more precise word choice during revising.

Adjective order

The usual English order for describing a noun: opinion, size, age, color, and material, as in a pretty little old red cloth bag.

Commas in a series

Commas that separate three or more items in a list, as in we packed sandwiches, apples, and water for the trip.