Point of view, Author's Purpose, Main Idea

topic sentence

A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph's main idea.

narrator

Person telling the story

author's purpose

The reason the author has for writing. (persuade, inform, entertain.)

fiction

a story that has been made up or invented by the author.

omniscient third person

a type of third person writing where the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all characters in a story.

limited third person

a type of third person writing where the narrator tells what happens to all characters but only knows one character's thoughts and feelings.

third person

a writing style where the narration is not done by one of the characters. The narrator often uses the pronouns "he," "she" or "it."

first person

a writing style where the narrator is one of the characters in the story, often using the pronouns "I, me, or my".

text evidence

evidence from the reading selection that proves the answer to a question about the text.

supporting detail

explains and supports the main idea throughout the passage

summarize

give a brief statement of the main points of something. to state in a shortened form.

main idea

the central idea in a story or text; what a text is mostly about.

point of view

the perspective from which a narrator tells a story or a writer presents information. It may be first, second or third person.

purpose

the reason why something is done.

topic

the subject of writing or speech. (Most titles of a story or passage express the topic.)

persuade

to make someone believe or do something.

convince

to make someone believe something.

entertain

to provide amusement for someone.

inform

to tell someone about something; to teach or give knowledge to.