Analyzing a Short Story

Key point: the Setting
- What is the setting? Historical period! Country or locale? Season of the year? Weather? Time of day? What are the sights? Sounds? Tastes? Smells? What other details establish a sense of place?
- Are the characters in conflict with the setting? What do the characters want? Does the setting keep them from getting what they want?
- What does the setting tell us about the characters? What feelings or attitudes do the characters reveal toward the setting? Fear? Pleasure? Challenge? Dislike? Respect? Other feelings or attitudes?
- How would you describe the atmosphers or mood created by the setting? Is it gloomy? Cheerful? Mysterious? Threatening? Other descriptions

Key point 2: Characterization
- How is the character revealed through his or her own words?
- How does the character look and dress?
- What private thoughts of the character are revealed?
- What do other characters in the story say or think about the character?
- What does the character do?
- What does the writer say directly about the character: sneaky, honest, evil?

Key point 3: Theme
- What is the significance of the title?
- Does the main character change over the course of the story? Does the main character com to a new realization about something?
- What general statements about life or people do any of the characters or narrator make?
- Is the primary theme directly stated? If so, where?
- What is the story's primary theme?

Source: http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_mk/la/latm/E902LETP.PDF

Final Speaking Presentation - 15%

Here are the guidelines for the final speaking presentation: you have 10 minutes to present a short story of your own choosing.

- Work in pairs (find a different partner from the travel presentation).
- Choose a short story. A good source is www.classicshorts.com.
- You can talk about the author, the genre, literary elements of the story (plot, character, setting, theme, point of view and so on).
- See me for your choice of story and your approach to presenting the story.
- Presentations will take place Monday, May 14 and Friday, May 18.

Correction Guide for compositions

Correction Guide for Compositions
Contents / Organization / Development
1.
Thesis statement (main point of paper) weak or missing
2.
Topic sentence (main point of paragraph) weak or missing
3.
Supporting points or examples inadequate
4.
Transitions (linking devices between paragraphs) weak or missing
5.
Coherence (linking between sentences) weak or missing
6.
Coordination / subordination expressions used incorrectly (and, but, although, whenever)

Grammatical errors
7.
Sentence fragment – subject or verb is missing
8.
Run on sentence – two sentences running together without a conjunction
9.
Use of weak expressions: “There is/there are.”
10.
Starting sentence with “and” or “but.”
11.
Verb form incorrect – missing 3rd person “s” or “ed” on past or irregular verb
12.
Verb tense (time of action) incorrect
13.
Inappropriate shifting between present and past tense
14.
Incorrect use of reported speech (He said, “The class is fun.”
15.
Subject / verb agreement is incorrect (singular / plural)
16.
Pronoun (he, she, it …) incorrect
17.
Adjective / adverb incorrect

Language use (syntax, spelling, vocabulary, punctuation)
18.
Redundant word or phrase
19.
Wrong word
20.
Word order incorrect
21.
Incomplete comparison
22.
Apostrophe incorrect
23.
Spelling incorrect
24.
Unidiomatic expression
25.
Comma ( , ) or semicolon ( ; ) incorrect
26.
Capitalization incorrect (English, Canadian, Monday)