English 9A Final Exam Study Guide / Dec. 2009

Reading Comprehension(Fiction, nonfiction, poetry)

Literary Terms

Antagonist

Point of view

Theme

Elements of plot – exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution

Setting

Tone

Conflict

Irony

Mood

Indirect characterization

Foreshadowing

Genre

Figurative Language: Simile, Metaphor, Personification

Vocabulary

Mutinous

Insolent

Incredulity

Sage

Harrowing

Prodigious

Intervene

Insidious

Assuage

incensed

Mechanics, Usage, and Grammar

Quotations:

  • “Why didn’t you call me last night?” she asked.
  • “I don’t know. I should have called,” he replied.
  • “Honestly,” she said, “I thought you didn’t care about me any more.”

Comma Rules:

  • After we watched the movie, we ate ice cream. (Complex sentence needs comma when the subordinate clause comes at the beginning of the sentence.)
  • We ate ice cream after we watched the movie. (Complex sentence usually doesn’t need a comma when the subordinate clause comes at the end of the sentence.)
  • We watched a movie, and then we ate ice cream. (Compound sentence needs comma before conjunction.)

Subject/Verb agreement:

  • Incorrect: A dish of cooked noodles make a popular lunch.
  • Correct: A dish of cooked noodles makes a popular lunch. (subject is dish; verb is makes)
  • Incorrect: Each of the comedians try to outdo the other.
  • Correct: Each of the comedians tries to outdo the other.

Pronoun reference:

  • Each student needs to put his or her book away.
  • All of the students need to put their books away. (Pronoun must agree with antecedent in number.)

Incorrect: She should of goneshopping yesterday. Correct: She should have gone shopping yesterday.

Sentence Construction:

  • Run-on: The boy was rude, he talked back to every teacher.
  • Fragment: Although he was running really fast all through the trails in the woods.
  • Simple: First semester is almost over. (1 Ind. Clause)
  • Compound: I did pretty well this semester, but I plan to do better next semester. (2 Ind. Clauses)
  • Complex: Although I could have done better this semester, I still did pretty well. (1 Ind. & 1 or more Sub.)
  • Compound/Complex: Although I could have done better this semester, I still did pretty well, but I plan on improving my grades next semester. (2 Ind. & 1 or more Sub. Clauses)

ODYSSEY - epic, Homer, Odysseus, myth, Trojan War, Helen, Paris, Polyphemus, Cyclops, Athena, Poseidon, Teiresias, Sirens, Helios, Aeolus, Circe, Penelope, epic hero, Homeric (epic) simile, personification (Dawn spread her fingertips of rose…..), invocation, muse, epithet, Ithaca,