Romeo and Juliet: Act 1 LITERARY TERMS AND READING SKILLS

Dialogue A conversation between characters In drama, follows the name of the speaker; no quotation marks Reveals the personalities, attitudes, plans, and relationships of characters; no narrator Advances the action of the play More like real life

Dialogue—example DAVID: My sister is captain of her tennis team. Maybe she could teach you. SALLY: That would be awesome! Do you think she really would?

Dialogue—practice JEN: Uncle, do you know why Rob seems so sad? MARK: I don’t know the reason, and I can’t persuade him to tell me. JEN: But have you really questioned him at all? MARK: Yes, I have, and so have some of his other friends.

Stage Directions Notes in the text of a play that describe how the work should be performed or staged Descriptions for scenes, lighting, sound effects, appearance of actors, movements or body language of actors Usually printed in italics and/or a different font and enclosed in parentheses

Stage Directions—example Scene 1—The school cafeteria. It is lunchtime. The doors burst open. (Enter Peter and Lisa. They walk quickly to the far table.)

Stage Directions—practice Writing a play about a high school student. In the opening scene, it is early morning in the kitchen. Write stage directions to set the scene and tell how the character looks and moves…

Summarizing Briefly stating in your own words the main points in a piece of writing Helps the reader check comprehension and understanding Much shorter in length than the original—includes only the main idea and most important details With fiction, summary is a retelling using only most important information Textbooks provide TEXT AIDS to assist readers

Summarizing—example Original: The freshman class at Jacksonville High School held a fundraiser last Saturday, January 2. The fundraiser was held in the Jacksonville High School gym. The weather was nice and sunny, and the event was a sell out with ticket sales and donations totaling $495. The money will go toward the annual freshman picnic which will be held on May 19. The most exciting part of the evening was a performance by the band Spring Break. This talented foursome consists of Ray Smith on rhythm guitar and vocals, Ben Brady on lead guitar, Kira West on bass and vocals, and Terrance Thomas on drums. Summary: Saturday’s fundraiser at Jacksonville High School raised $495 for the annual freshman picnic. A performance by the band Spring Break was a highlight of the sold-out benefit.

Summarizing—practice Sarah likes to imagine that she lives in ancient Greece. She can picture the marketplaces and the seaside, the hills and the vineyards, and most of all, the amphitheater. Rings of seats rise up around the stage, and above, stars shine in the night sky. She imagines the actors performing tragedies on the stage. She imagines the wonderful masks they wear and the sound of their voices, carrying all the way to the theater’s topmost rows.

Summarizing—practice Our bodies are adapted to Earth’s gravity. Our muscles are strong in order to overcome gravity as we walk and run. Our inner ears use gravity to keep us upright. And because gravity wants to pull all our blood down into our legs, our hearts are designed to pump hard to get blood back up to our brains. In space, the much weaker gravity makes the human body change in many unexpected ways. In microgravity, your blood is rerouted, flowing from the legs, which become thin and sticklike, to the head, which swells up. The extra liquid in your head makes you feel like you’re hanging upside down or have a stuffed-up nose. —from “Life Without Gravity” by Robert Zimmerman

Romeo and Juliet: Act 2 LITERARY TERMS AND READING SKILLS

Blank Verse Unrhymed iambic pentameter Used to indicate rank of a character Verse—important, aristocratic characters; high rank Prose—minor or comic characters; low rank

Blank Verse—example U/ U / U / U / U / A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse U/ U / U /U / U / BENVOLIO: I aimed so near when I supposed you loved. Character rank: Benvolio is an important character of high rank. SERVANT: Find them out whose names are written here? NURSE: Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen Character rank: The servant and Nurse are of low rank and sometimes humorous.

Blank Verse—practice 1. November is a time of feasts and thanks. 2. A stark winter sunset made the snowy hillsides pink. 3. To fan the moonbeams of his sleeping eyes. 4. We sat together at one summer’s end. 5. Come, we’ll in here, tarry for the mourners, and stay dinner.