Lesson 1: Active Reading

Skill Lessons

Remember that I told you there would be skill lessons on grammar or mechanics included with most lessons? Well, here is your first one. You will not use your Daybook for these skill lessons. Instead, you will be using your Writers Express textbook to provide you with additional information. I will give you some practice exercises, but you and your parent/teacher may also decide to do some additional practice on these skills. Some of these skills may be new to you, and others may build on learning you have already done.

Ready? OK, let’s get started with a lesson on types of sentences.

Types of Sentences

Sentences are groups of words that express a complete thought. Sentences that are put together correctly include someone or something and tell what that person or thing did. This makes a complete sentence. If a sentence does not include someone or something and/or it does not tell what that person or thing did, we call it a sentence fragment, because it is incomplete. You will use different types of sentences in your writing. (See pages 415–416 in Writers Express.)

Declarative: This type of sentence makes a statement and ends with a period. Most sentences you read will be declarative.

We sang songs together at camp this summer.

Interrogative: This type of sentence asks a question and ends in a question mark.

What do you think will happen after Andy finishes the poster of the pyramid?

Imperative: This type of sentence gives a command or makes a request and ends with a period. Sometimes it might include words like “please,” but it is not a question.

Go to the gym and get one of the basketballs.

Exclamatory: This type of sentence expresses very strong feelings and ends with an exclamation mark. It expresses a great deal of feeling. The exclamation mark helps the reader to understand the feeling. Without the exclamation mark, the sentence would most likely be a declarative sentence.

We’re going to be late if we don’t run!

This is exclamatory, because it seems like someone might be yelling or excited. This same sentence (with different punctuation) could also be declarative, because it is simply a statement and doesn’t imply that there is any excitement or urgency attached to the sentence.

We’re going to be late if we don’t run.

Self-Check: Use the drop-down choices to identify whether each sentence below is declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory, then check your answers.

Now try writing some sentences of your own in your journal. Write at least two of each type of sentence. Check Writers Express (page 416) if you have questions or need more information about something you are unsure of. Share your work with your parent/teacher.

Synonyms and Antonyms

In your own writing, you want to make sure that you use specific language. Specific language makes it easy for the reader to visualize a scene in a piece of writing. For example, look at the two sentences below. Which one helps you visualize the scene more clearly?

The dog ran down the street.
The mutt trotted down the dusty path.

“Trotted” is almost the same as “ran,” but it helps readers visualize what is happening. The same is true of “mutt” used in place of “dog.” A word that means almost the same thing as another word is called a synonym.

Self-Check: Think of other words that could be synonyms of the following words, type them into the boxes (or write them down), and then check your answers.

If you have trouble finding synonyms, you can use a thesaurus. A thesaurus is a reference book that is a lot like a dictionary, except that it lists words that are synonyms. You might decide to use these words in place of less descriptive words. To me, it seems like magic. If I can’t think of the “perfect word,” I can go to a thesaurus for help. If you have a thesaurus, look up the words above and see what other words it suggests. Share your work with your parent/teacher.

A thesaurus contains thousands of words, each called an entry word. You use a thesaurus the same way you use a dictionary. All of the words in a thesaurus are arranged alphabetically, so you will find the “A” words first and the “Z” words last. If you are asked to find an entry word in the thesaurus, you will not want to flip through the book page by page. You want to be able to use this book very quickly. Try to “chunk” the alphabet into parts and skip to the appropriate part before you start to find your word. You know that the letter m is in about the middle of the alphabet, so you can start your search at about the middle of the thesaurus. (Writers Express has a section on using the thesaurus on page 292.)

Self-Check: Sometimes a thesaurus will also list antonyms. An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word. Can you find antonyms for the words you worked with earlier? You can often find synonyms and antonyms in a dictionary. Think of other words that could be antonyms of the following words, type them into the boxes (or write them down) and then check your answers.

You will notice that using synonyms can help make your writing more specific and create more vivid images for your readers. You will practice using synonyms for this purpose in later lessons. The more specific your language is, the more your readers can understand what you are trying to say in your writings. It’s one of the most important skills you can learn as a writer.

You do not have a progress evaluation for lesson 1, since the information you learned will be included in the progress evaluation you find at the end of lesson 2. When you have finished this lesson, you are ready to go on to lesson 2, where you will build on and practice the active reading skills you learned in lesson 1. You will actually use the skills you have learned in this lesson in each of the remaining lessons in this course. You can always return to this lesson to review strategies for active reading.

You are on your way to becoming an engaged, thoughtful reader who will build a foundation to help you in all of the reading and writing you will do in the future. Go on to lesson 2. I will not be as specific in guiding you through the process of using your Daybook in the remainder of the lessons, since you have practiced the process through this first lesson. Don’t forget—you can always return to lesson 1 for review.