How To Answer A Question

Answering Questions

 

Step 1.

     Give a general statement or answer, in a complete sentence, by restating the question. (NOTE: Use information about literary devices that you have learned in class. examples: irony, conflict, characterization, figurative language, etc.)

Step 2.

     Explain why you made this statement. (You may want to list reasons using parallel structure.)

Step 3.

     A) Give Specific Examples.

     B) Comment on each example briefly.

Step 4.

     Conclude with an overall statement.

 
 

EXAMPLE:

Question:

1. The following passage is an example of one of the three types of writing examined in class. Identify the type of writing in the passage and briefly explain which characteristics are displayed (use specific examples/references from the passage).

The room contained only the barest necessities of furniture. The floor was bare, and there were no pictures on the wall. The mantel also was bare, except for a clock that did not tell the time accurately.

A dreary haircloth sofa against the wall; a few damaged chairs; the small table the lamp stood on; the crippled stove—these things constituted the furniture of the room. There was no carpet on the floor; on the wall were occasional square-shaped interruptions of the general tint of the plaster which betrayed that there used to be pictures in the house—but there were none now. There were no mantel ornaments, unless one might bring himself to regard as an ornament the clock which never came within fifteen strikes of stroking the right time, and whose hands always hitched together at twenty-two minutes past anything and travelled in company the rest of the way home.

Answer:

Step 1.

Give a general answer, in a complete sentence, by restating the question.

1. The type of writing that is used in this passage is descriptive writing.

Step 2.

Explain why you made this statement. (You may want to list reasons.)

The author is clearly describing a room by using vivid diction and arranging details according to space, to create a picture of the room in the reader’s mind.

Step 3.

A) Give Examples.

Some examples of the vivid diction used by the writer are his descriptions of the "dreary haircloth sofa," and the "crippled stove."

B) Comment on each example briefly.

The author's use of imagery, descriptive adjectives, and personification creates a much clearer description of the objects than simply referring to them as "an old sofa" or "a broken stove."

Step 4.

Conclude with an overall statement.

                                       The visual images created by the author's words reveal that this piece of writing is obviously descriptive.

Complete answer:

     The type of writing that is used in this passage is descriptive writing. The author is clearly describing a room by using vivid diction and arranging details according to space, to create a picture of the room in the reader’s mind. Some examples of the vivid diction used by the writer are the descriptions of the "dreary haircloth sofa," and the "crippled stove." The author's use of imagery, descriptive adjectives, and personification creates a much clearer description of the objects than simply referring to them as "an old sofa" or "a broken stove."There is an arrangement of details according to space because the author describes objects by referring to their position in the room. The author moves from describing objects that are on the floor, to those that are on the wall and moves about the room. The visual images created by the author's words reveal that this piece of writing is obviously descriptive.