Reading Study Guide for the TEAS

Craft and Structure

Craft and structure include the manner in which an author presents information. How does the author go about giving the message to the reader—in what order and using what techniques? What other things can you learn about the accuracy of the message by studying the author’s techniques?

Fact and Opinion

Fact and opinion are opposites. While a fact is an idea or statement based on objectivity and quantifiable fact, an opinion is subjective and typically relies more on the background and worldview of the speaker. “Grass is green” is a fact, while “Grass smells pleasant” is an opinion.

Evidence

To help make an argument that is convincing to an audience, a writer will use evidence to support their claim. Evidence can come in a variety of forms, but it always refers to something factual that can be independently tested and proven. Writers embed evidence in the form of quotation or paraphrase from credible, reliable sources. Common types of evidence include statistics, textual evidence, data, testimony, interview, and anecdotes.

Author’s Point of View

An author’s point of view refers to the lens through which a writer approaches a topic. The way the author looks at the subject, the words they choose in describing or explaining it, and the evidence or examples they use all reflect their point of view. It is important to consider both the potential bias of the author and your own implicit bias when analyzing point of view as you and the author may not “see eye to eye.”

Author’s Tone

The words an author uses to communicate with the reader help define the author’s tone. One author might be describing something that can be seen. If the author uses the word eyesore to describe the sight, a different tone would be established than if the author chose the word marvel. In this case, the reader would understand the author’s tone through word choice. Other features of the passage could confirm this tone, such as if descriptions were ridiculing, appreciative, or neutral in nature.

There are many ways to describe an author’s tone and the tone may change through the course of the text. When determining tone, you might consider descriptive words that capture the author’s attitude toward the subject, such as sarcastic, critical, exalting, complimentary, satirical, ironic, argumentative, or enthusiastic. Almost any attitude a person can take toward a subject might be used to describe a writer’s tone based on their diction and content.

Bias and Stereotype

Biases and stereotypes are based on opinion rather than fact and are quite similar in nature. A bias is a tilt or leaning in one direction (e.g., preferring American governmental procedures as an American, rather than foreign ones), and a stereotype is a long-standing assumption about a place, thing, or person. A common stereotype is the notion of blond hair being an indicator of idiocy; this is a stereotype, rather than a fact based on science or quantifiable evidence.

Determining Word Meaning

When you are looking to make meaning of a text, it starts with the most basic level: the words. If you don’t understand a word or term in a text, it can make comprehending the text’s message more of a challenge. When you encounter unfamiliar words in a text, there are several approaches you can take, from skipping over it entirely to looking it up in a dictionary to using context clues to help you determine meaning.

It’s also important to understand and recognize the kind of language the author is using and how that can affect meaning and understanding. For example, figurative language isn’t supposed to be taken literally, so identifying its use can help you better recognize the connections the writer wants you to make. Being aware of language choices the writer makes is important as word choice sets the mood of an entire text.

Context Clues

The English language is rife with words having multiple meanings―some of them with opposing meanings. When you are asked for the meaning of a word in the passage, keep this in mind: As you scan through the possible meanings of a word, plug these meanings into the piece where the word stands. Then, identify which of the meanings best matches its surroundings.

Context clues can also be extremely helpful when you encounter an unknown or unfamiliar word. Most of the time, you will be able to at least approximate the meaning of a new word by studying how it is used in a sentence. This process may not provide an exact answer, but it should help you rule out at least two of the possible answer choices for the item.

Word Choice and Mood

Word choice, or diction, sets the mood or tone of an entire text. For example, if lengthy, high-level vocabulary is used, or if sentences are densely packed with information, then the mood tends to become serious and academic. If the author uses common vocabulary and a more informal set of words, and the sentences are shorter and use fewer words, it sets a different mood for the audience.

Connotative and Denotative Meanings

Words come with multiple levels of meaning. Two important ones to be aware of are denotation, a word’s literal dictionary definition, and connotation, the emotional connection a reader is likely to make when they encounter that word. Consider the word “cheap,” for example. Denotatively it means something inexpensive or economical. Consider this example: “Shirley bought a cheap backpack to take on her trip.” This use of cheap has a neutral connotation: the backpack she bought wasn’t pricey and didn’t blow her budget. But used in a different way, the connotation changes: “Shirley is so cheap, she only buys things on sale.” This use creates a negative connotation, like Shirley’s frugality is a bad thing. Writers are acutely aware of the connotation of different words and they select ones purposefully to sway the reader’s emotions in a particular way.

Figurative Language

Sometimes, an author’s words cannot be taken at face value—they do not mean the same as their dictionary definition or literal language. This type of figurative language has three main categories:

• A simile uses the word like or as, such as in light as a feather. The person or object being described is probably not quite that light, but the author uses these words to emphasize lack of weight.

• A metaphor utilizes the same strategy but does not contain the words like or as. One such expression is used in this sentence: “The cat was a lioness in her pursuit of food.” It doesn’t mean that the cat suddenly became a lioness, just that it appeared to act as a lioness does.

• When an author uses personification, they apply human traits to a nonhuman entity. This is an example: “The house alarm shrieked a warning at the intruders.” The word shrieked here (something a human might do) helps explain the nature of the sound made by the alarm (a nonhuman thing).

The Author’s Message

Authors write for a purpose. They write to inform, explain, describe, persuade, or entertain. But whatever their purpose, they must keep their audience in mind and choose their diction carefully to be effective in delivering their message. The purpose may not always be explicitly stated, in which case the reader must infer the author’s purpose based on the content, structure, diction, and mood of the text.

Author’s Purpose

Everyone writes with a purpose, and authors are no exception. Sometimes called “authorial intent,” an author may have many purposes for creating a piece of work. The most common purposes, however, are outlined below.

To Inform

There’s a lot to know in the world, and authors often write to inform their audience about a subject. Informational texts are nonfiction and include facts and statistics about the topic. They are objective and do not include the author’s opinion. This type of text uses organizational words to help orient the reader and is often referred to as expository.

To Persuade

A persuasive essay is an argumentative essay in which the author works to convince the reader of their point or perspective. The author may also be trying to get the reader to take some sort of action relevant to the author’s argument. Persuasive texts often use pathos, or emotional language, to spark a reaction.

To Entertain

Humans are natural storytellers. For thousands of years, people have told stories to entertain audiences and to teach important lessons and morals. When an author writes to entertain, they must consider how to engage with their audience in a way that will capture the audience’s attention and make them feel connected to the characters in the story. This often includes the use of dialogue, figurative language, and other narrative devices. While often fictional, nonfiction texts can be written to entertain.

To Explain

Similar to informational writing, when an author’s purpose is to explain something to the reader, they use factual information to present a topic. An explanatory text might outline the steps of a process or explain the inner workings of something. Explanatory writing requires detailed description to help the reader understand the concept being explained and often uses organizational words such as first, then, and next to explain the order of steps in the process.

To Describe

Descriptive writing uses detailed description appealing to the five senses to help the reader experience the event or action themselves or to create a mental picture of the person, thing, or place being written about. It can be found in both fiction and nonfiction texts.

Drawing Inferences about the Author’s Purpose

Authors don’t always come straight out and tell their readers what their purpose is in writing a text. Sometimes it’s easy to tell; the author’s tone is angry or frustrated and they make an argument of which they want to convince their audience. In such a case, there will be hints and clues in the text that make it easy to determine their purpose for writing. But sometimes it’s not as obvious and the reader must draw inferences about the author’s purpose. This means looking at the content, considering the organization and structure, and analyzing the diction to figure out what the author’s purpose is.

Author’s Point of View

Regardless of purpose, authors will have an opinion or take a position with regard to the topic they write about. Sometimes that subjective bias comes across in their text. Sometimes writers can suspend their bias to deliver an objective text with a neutral tone, but they always have a point of view. An author’s point of view reflects how the author feels about the topic they’re writing about. They may be angry, frustrated, excited, enthusiastic, etc., and this can be reflected in their writing.

Points of View

In nonfiction writing, the point of view is usually reflective of the author themself. They may pull in voices of others, such as researchers or topic experts, to give their point of view credibility and bolster their position. In fictional writing, especially narrative writing, other points of view may be used.

To manage the personal connection between the author and the “voice” the author creates in their writing, they may use one of several points of view in their writing. That is, they may use first person, they may address the audience directly using second person, or they may distance themselves by employing third person.

First Person

The first-person point of view employs first-person pronouns like I, me, we, and us. In first-person narration, the narrator is one of the characters in the story, talking about events from their perspective.

Second Person

Of the different points of view available to authors, second person is the least commonly used. That is likely because it can quickly turn antagonistic if not done carefully. Second-person point of view uses the second-person pronouns you and your and talks to the reader directly. It is found more often in business writing and nonfiction texts than in narratives or fictional writing.

Third Person

In a third-person point of view, the events of a story are relayed by a character who may or may not be part of the action and third-person pronouns like he, she, and *them are used.

Third Person Omniscient

The most all-encompassing view is that of the third-person omniscient character. This voice comes from a character outside of the action, someone who sees all and knows all and can take the reader into the thoughts and feelings of any and all the characters. Envision sitting on a hilltop looking down at a village below—that is the third-person omniscient point of view.

Limited Third Person

In this point of view, the narrator or voice in the story follows only one character and the reader sees things only from that limited perspective while the other characters are presented only externally and the reader does not know their thoughts or feelings except as they are expressed to the one focus character.

Author’s Perspective

The perspective from which an author writes can make a huge difference in the content of the message and in how it is presented to the reader. An author’s perspective is simply the framework of their position on the topic, the reasons they write like they do. For example, an account of a prison break written by a prisoner would be vastly different from that written by a guard.

Evaluating for Relevancy and Accuracy

In any text you read, but especially in nonfiction texts, it is important to not just accept the information the author presents as factual. Critical reading involves evaluating the text and its sources for relevance and accuracy. This doesn’t mean that you are fact-checking every claim or piece of evidence, but it means you are reading with a critical eye and evaluating the sources and the claims with some skepticism. This evaluation should take place on both the whole text level (Is the author making an accurate claim? Is this topic relevant to me?) and at the paragraph or sentence level (Is this source reliable? Is that data accurate?).

Check the Source

If you come across a claim or a supporting detail you question, check the source. Where did the author get this information? How did they come to this conclusion? If no source is named, that’s a red flag that the author may be including opinion masquerading as fact. If a source of the information is provided, evaluate that source. Have you heard of it? Is it a credible source of reliable and accurate information? It may be worth a short time-out from the reading to conduct a quick internet search of the source to see where it’s from.

Check the Evidence and Its Source

Even if the source is credible, look at and evaluate the source of the source’s evidence. In other words, if a text cites Dr. Susie Mays’ study on the effects of sleep on cognitive ability, look at that source and consider Dr. Susie Mays’ work—does her research seem valid? Is the source itself making claims that are not supported by fact or offering unreliable evidence? If so, even though it’s a cited source in the text you’re reading, it may not be providing reliable information.