Unit 2 Reading Focus Essays

1. Unit 2Reading Focus Essays Collection 4: Making Generalizations Collection 5: Strategies for Understanding

2. Making Generalizations When you attend a football game or shop at the mall . . . . . . you usually observe the people around you. You look at their clothes and notice their behavior.

3. He has good taste. Making Generalizations Based on these observations, you might make generalizations—broad conclusions drawn from specific clues—about these people. She likes sports.

4. Making Generalizations We also make generalizations when we read literature. • We notice specific clues in the text. • Then, we reach broad conclusions about the author’s message, theme, or purpose for writing. The more text we read and the more clues we observe, the more accurate our generalizations will be.

5. Making Generalizations Here’s how the generalization process works: 1 Note specific clues the author gives: • repetition of words and phrases • related ideas, examples, or illustrations • direct statements 2 Combine the clues to make a generalization about the author’s message.

6. Making Generalizations Apply the generalization process as you read the following passage from Thoreau’s Walden. Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. . . . Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion.

7. Making Generalizations Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. . . . Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion. Step 1. Notice clues. has hardly need to count What examples and illustrations does Thoreau use? more than his ten fingers What do these examples and illustrations show? They show how to simplify. meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one

8. Making Generalizations Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. . . . Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion. Step 1. Notice clues. What word is repeated? Simplicity, What point does this repetition emphasize? simplicity, simplicity! the importance of keeping things simple

9. Making Generalizations Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. . . . Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion. Step 1. Notice clues. Find one direct statement Thoreau uses to instruct people. let your affairs be as two or three, and not a What does he mean by this statement? hundred or a thousand Do not schedule too many activities and obligations in your life.

10. Making Generalizations Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. . . . Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion. Step 2. Combine clues to generalize. has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers What generalization can you make about Thoreau’s message? Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! let your affairs be as two or three, and not a He is urging the reader to simplify life by reducing the number of details and choices that are encountered daily. hundred or a thousand meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one

11. Making Generalizations Your Turn Read the passage from Walden that appears on the following two slides. Apply the strategy you have learned in this presentation. Note Thoreau’s repeated words or phrases; related ideas, examples, or illustrations; and direct statements. These will help you make a generalization about his feelings toward the railroads.

12. Making Generalizations Your Turn We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us. Did you ever think what those sleepers are that underlie the railroad? Each one is a man, an Irishman, or a Yankee man. The rails are laid on them, and they are covered with sand, and the cars run smoothly over them. They are sound sleepers, I assure you. And every few years a new lot is laid down and run over; so that, if some have the pleasure of riding on a rail, others have the misfortune to be ridden upon. Continued on next slide

13. Making Generalizations Your Turn And when they run over a man that is walking in his sleep, a supernumerary1sleeper in the wrong position, and wake him up, they suddenly stop the cars, and make a hue and cry about it, as if this were an exception. I am glad to know that it takes a gang of men for every five miles to keep the sleepers down and level in their beds as it is, for this is a sign that they may sometime get up again. 1. supernumerary: additional; unnecessary. [End of Section]

14. Strategies for Understanding Edgar Allan Poe’s writing is much like a Gothic mansion: a mix of dramatic features, complicated structures, and fantastic details. Edgar Allan Poe

15. Strategies for Understanding Poe’s ornate style is ideally suited to exploring the dark and winding paths of the human mind. At the same time, such deep and complex writing can sometimes present challenges to the reader. You may need some tips to help you understand difficult words and sentences in a text.

16. Strategies for Understanding Breaking Down the Text “The Fall of the House of Usher,” is full of rich language and specific allusions. Whenever you encounter an unfamiliar word or allusion, try one of these strategies: • Check for a vocabulary definition or footnote in the textbook. • Look up the word in a reference source. • Use context clues to determine the meaning.

17. Strategies for Understanding Breaking Down the Text Another challenging element is Poe’s use of complex sentences structures. When you come across a complicated sentence, use these steps to break it down piece by piece. 1 Locate the main subject and the main verb. 2 Identify any objects of the verb. 3 Identify phrases and modifiers and determine how they function in the sentence.

18. Strategies for Understanding The following sentence from “The Fall of the House of Usher” has an unusual structure and includes a word that may be unfamiliar. Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. To understand this sentence better, apply the strategies for breaking down the text.

19. Strategies for Understanding First, notice the challenging word sojourn. How can you find out the meaning of sojourn? Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. Look for a definition in the textbook, check a dictionary, or use context clues. sojourn (SOH jurn) n.: a brief stay or visit.

20. Strategies for Understanding Now examine the sentence structure. Identify the subject and the verb. Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. I proposed Identify the direct object of the verb proposed. sojourn

21. Strategies for Understanding Now examine the sentence structure. Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. The basic sentence is “I proposed a sojourn.” What does the phrase shown in orange modify? sojourn

22. Strategies for Understanding Now examine the sentence structure. Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. How might you restate the sentence in a simpler form? Nevertheless, I considered staying a few weeks in this gloomy mansion.

23. Strategies for Understanding Unraveling the Meaning With some of Poe’s longer sentences, figuring out the overall meaning can be a challenge. For long sentences like the one below, apply the strategies for breaking down the text, and then put all the pieces together to unravel the meaning. Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant.

24. Strategies for Understanding First determine the meanings of any unfamiliar words. Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. What context clues help you figure out what the “mournful burden” is? horror coffin What is it? tenant a coffin with a corpse in it

25. Strategies for Understanding First determine the meanings of any unfamiliar words. Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. deposited What context clues help you guess the meaning of the word tressels? upon coffin What are tressels? probably some kind of stand for a coffin

26. Strategies for Understanding Now break the sentence down into its essential parts. What is the subject? Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. we What is the verb? (Note: The sentence has a compound verb.) turned, looked

27. Strategies for Understanding Now break the sentence down into its essential parts. Basic sentence: “We turned and looked.” Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. Study the phrase in orange. What words does it modify? turned, looked

28. Strategies for Understanding Now break the sentence down into its essential parts. Basic sentence: “We turned and looked.” Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. What is the direct object of the verb turned? lid

29. Strategies for Understanding Unravel the meaning. Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. State the meaning of the sentence in your own words. After we placed the coffin on the stand, we opened the lid and looked at the corpse’s face.

30. Strategies for Understanding Your Turn Using the suggestions in this presentation, rewrite the following sentences to make them simpler to read and understand. If necessary, look up any unfamiliar words. • “Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the building.” • “To an anomalous species of terror I found him a bounden slave.”

31. The End