 Objective:
Relationships are often at the core of a story or poem. They
are the power moving the story forward, backward, or around
in circles. If you can identify the relationships between
characters, (how they are alike and how they are different,)
or between events, (which event comes first, or causes another
event,) you will have another key to be a powerful reader.
By the time this lesson is finished, you'll
have tools to help you make all kinds of comparisons in a
story or poem you read. In this lesson you will:
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Review the meaning of sequence,
cause and effect, and compare / contrast,
- Identify reading and writing strategies to help make
comparisons,
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Identify cause and effect and explain
why it matters,
- Identify sequence of events (this helps analyze cause
and effect),
- Compare and contrast characters or events,
- Score and evaluate
your answers.
Vocabulary:
These words will be used in this lesson. They might be quite
familiar to you, or you might want some review. To do that,
just click the Tools button and open Vocabulary.
- Sequence
- Cause and Effect
- Compare and Contrast
Tips and Tools:
What is sequence and why does sequence matter?
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The sequence of events is simply the order events occur
in a story or poem.
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Sometimes authors tell events in time
order, from beginning, to end; sometimes they mix them
up.
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Look for key words: first, next,
then, after that, before, when, now, finally.
These words are clues to help order events in a story
or poem.
- Understanding the sequence of events helps the reader
understand the plot, the characters and their problems,
the reason why events or situations happened.
- Understanding sequence of events leads to understanding
cause and effect.
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What is cause and effect and how do I figure out
which is the cause, and which is the effect?
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In a well-written story or poem, things don't just happen
without a reason. A cause is a starter or a
reason. Some events, statements, situations, or ideas cause
others things to happen. The result, or reason, or consequence
of a cause is an effect.
How to identify cause and effect:
- Try an "As a result of" statement with
events in the story.
- As
a result of the torrential rainfall, the football game
was cancelled, my boots were ruined, and the drought
was officially declared over.
- As
a result of the boy's many lies, the town did not believe
his cry "Wolf" when he really needed help
and the lambs were eaten.
- Be aware of sequence of events. If something important
happens in a story, think what happened just before that,
or what several events led up to the important one.
- Try to tie things together. Sometimes there are several
seemingly unrelated events. And then they all come together
to cause a major event.
- In
"Weep No More, My Lady," unrelated sets of
cause & effect events create an unexpected match
between boy and dog, a satisfying resolution for Skeeter
and for My Lady.
Cause |
Effect |
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Skeeter
is swamp born and reared.
He
hears a strange sound in the swamp at night.
(We
discover from the narrator's words, and Skeeter's actions,
he is a hunter, but never kills wantonly. He is curious,
brave, and comfortable in the abundant wildlife of the
swamp, just the kind of kid to befriend a lost dog.)
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He
goes to the swamp to see what is making the weird "gro-o-o." |
| Far
away, an dog owner decides to transport valuable
Basenji by car to a kennel in the North |
One
Basenji escapes |
| Escaped
Basenji ends up in the swamp, lost, hungry and making
a strange chuckling sound. |
Skeeter
befriends My Lady, takes her home, feeds her and
we leave the story believing they were meant to be
together. |
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What does it mean to compare or contrast literary
elements?
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Compare means to find similarities,
or things that are alike, or the same. You might be looking
for similarities in two or more characters, or two or more
events.
Contrast means to find differences,
or things that are not alike. You might be looking for differences
in two or more characters, or two or more events.
Remember this (if it helps):
- Compare. A pair (different
spelling) goes together. To compare, look for pairs
of things that go together, that are alike or similar.
- Contrast. Different.
- Black and white
are contrasting colors.
- Circle and square are contrasting shapes.
- Joy and sorrow are contrasting emotions.
- Gigantic and tiny are contrasting sizes.
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contrasting colors |
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contrasting shapes |
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contrasting emotions |
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contrasting size |
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compare
sports
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compare
shapes
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compare
animals
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compare
colors
(both found in fruit
colors, crayons, and hair dye)
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Are there graphic organizers I can use to help compare or
contrast characters or events?
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Of course and glad you asked!!
Here are some links to graphic organizers to
help you brainstorm or organize details to compare and or
contrast charcters or events in a story or poem.
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How do I organize my ideas to write about similarities or
differences?
- Start out with a clear and specific introduction.
- Example:
The spider and the octopus are alike in two ways. The
poem says ...
- Example: This
story shows cats and dogs have both similarities and
differences.
- Follow with specific details, evidence from text.
- Example They
both have eight legs and they both are carnivorous animals:
they eat meat.
- Example
While
they are both common house pets, cats avoid water at
all costs, while dogs like to swim. (This
sentence compares and contrasts. You might also want
to discuss all similarities, then discuss all differences.)
- Organization of compare / contrast writing
- First list all similarities, then list all differences
- OR combine similarities and differences about the
same topic in one sentence as in example above. You
can write several sentences in this format.
- End with a concluding sentence.
- Example:
There may be even more similarities between the spider
and the octopus, but these are two described in the
poem.
- Example:
The author lists even more differences and wants the
reader to choose the kind of pet they like.
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Are there special words I can use in my writing to compare
and contrast?
- Words that show similarity:
| both |
alike |
same |
| parallel |
equivalent |
uniform |
| at the same time |
comparable |
complementary |
| together |
equal |
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- Words that show differences:
| different |
although |
while |
| individual |
unique |
distinct |
| in contrast |
besides |
in spite of |
| unlike |
otherwise |
however |
| various |
dissimilar |
on the other hand |
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In the next section, you'll see some examples of how the Tips
and Tools will help you with the skills of sequencing,
identifying cause and effect, and analyzing similarities and
differences in narrative passages.
Example
1 >>
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