Critical Terms

Topic Sentence (TS) Concrete Detail (CD) Commentary (CM) Chunk Ratio of CDs to CMs (1:2+)

Commentary (CM) Commentary means any word that has connotations, or feelings. For example: walk, stroll, and strut The word walk has no connotation; it means literally to place one foot in front of the other in order to move. The word stroll, though, has feelings attached to it. It has the feeling, or connotation, of slowness, a casual feeling, taking your time. The word strut is another connotative word; it conveys feelings of “say it loud, say it proud,” a sense of arrogance or cockiness.

Concrete Detail Also known as CD specific details that form the backbone or core of your body paragraphs. Synonyms for concrete details include facts, specifics, examples, descriptions, illustrations, support, proof, evidence, quotations, paraphrasing, or plot references. A concrete detail is one complete sentence. “What I read,” “What I have seen,” “What I/others have done,” and dialogue

Cinderella Prompt Writing Prompt: The original “Cinderella” is a longstanding folk tale with origins dating to 1 B.C. The hundreds of versions of the story differ in details, but in most versions the story begins with a young woman who lives in poor and unfortunate conditions and among cruel and abusive people. However, the story ends with her realizing great fortune and happiness. In 1950, Walt Disney released Cinderella as an animated film which has become one of Disney’s classics. Please read the tale or rent the film. Then in a one-chunk paragraph (1:2+), explain how Cinderella feels at the beginning of the story.

Example (TS in blue) 1. Cinderella feels mistreated. (CD in red) 2. She does all the cooking, cleaning, and sewing by herself. (CM in green) 3. She has no one to share her burdens. 4. She is treated like a second-class citizen. Concluding Sentence (CS in blue) 5. Cinderella is taken for granted.

Example (TS in blue) 1. Cinderella feels mistreated. Our topic sentence is not a summary sentence that starts a report, as many students have done before. Let’s add a CM: TS with one commentary Cinderella feels sad. Let’s add two CMs: Cinderella feels sad and lonely.

More Examples Eat, inhale, and gobble Look, stare, and glare

Chunk A chunk describes the part of the response to literature paragraph that includes one part concrete detail and two or more parts of commentary. It is not the whole paragraph; it is the section that comes between the topic sentence and the concluding sentence. Remember the “hamburger”?

Ratio Ratio compares the amount of concrete detail to the amount of commentary in a body paragraph. The ratio we are looking for in a response to literature paragraph is 1:2+. In other words, for every sentence of concrete detail, we want two or more sentences of commentary. The plus (+) is critical. Students may always write more than two commentary thoughts. 1:2+ Papers that held to this ratio earned higher scores than those that did not. (English papers)