Understanding Significant Details

Purposes of DetailsIn a piece of writing, significant

details are details that are

a. Most difficult to remember.b. Most important to the point.c. Easiest to understand.

Purposes of DetailsDetails make up most of the

information you read.The most important details in a

piece of writing are the ones that contribute directly to the author’s purpose.

Purposes of Details1. to define2. to give examples3. to describe4. to give reasons5. to explain6. to set a tone or mood7. to reveal character8. to advance the sequence of

events

Recognizing Significant DetailsWhich type of details would be

used to explain to a reader what a topic is?

a. Details that give examplesb. Details that definec. Details that describe

Details that DefineThe details that define a topic

usually explain what that topic is.Details that define are usually

part of an expanded version of the kind of explanation a dictionary would give.

Details that Define In law, a court is the official body charged

with administering justice. The term court is also applied to the judge or judges who fill the office and to the courtroom itself. Courts develop in a society when legal relations are no longer a private matter. However, courts are unnecessary when the state decides all legal matters without debate. Thus, courts do not exist in countries where citizens have no rights under the law. In the US there are two separate systems of courts, federal and state. The district court is the lowest federal court, the supreme court the highest.

Details that Define In law, a court is the official body charged

with administering justice. The term court is also applied to the judge or judges who fill the office and to the courtroom itself. Courts develop in a society when legal relations are no longer a private matter. However, courts are unnecessary when the state decides all legal matters without debate. Thus, courts do not exist in countries where citizens have no rights under the law. In the US there are two separate systems of courts, federal and state. The district court is the lowest federal court, the supreme court the highest.

Main Idea

MOST significant details

Recognizing Significant DetailsWhich type of details are usually

part of an explanation that help readers understand a broad topic?

a. Details that give examples. b. Details that describe. c. Details that give reasons.

Details That Give ExamplesDetails that give examples are

usually a part of an explanation .Often they help a reader

understand a broad topic.

Details That Give Examples Protective coloration is one means

animals have of avoiding their predators. An animal’s coloring and the pattern of its coloring help it blend into its surroundings. The stripes of the tiger make detection among the jungle grass more difficult. The leopard’s spots are more suited to the mottled light and shade of the low branches from which it drops onto its prey. The chameleon and the flounder change their pigmentation to resemble different backgrounds. The caribou changes its color from brown in the summer to white in the winter, so that it blends in better with its surroundings.

Details That Give Examples Protective coloration is one means

animals have of avoiding their predators. An animal’s coloring and the pattern of its coloring help it blend into its surroundings. The stripes of the tiger make detection among the jungle grass more difficult. The leopard’s spots are more suited to the mottled light and shade of the low branches from which it drops onto its prey. The chameleon and the flounder change their pigmentation to resemble different backgrounds. The caribou changes its color from brown in the summer to white in the winter, so that it blends in better with its surroundings.

Recognizing Significant DetailsWhich type of details would be

used to help a reader form a mental picture?

a. Details that give reasonsb. Details that reveal characterc. Details that describe

Details that DescribeDetails that describe enable a

reader to picture the topic. Often these details use

adjectives as descriptive words.Often these details use imagery.

Details that Describe It was a pleasant hillside where I worked,

covered with pine woods, through which I looked out on the pond, and a small open field in the woods where pines and hickories were springing up. The ice in the pond was not yet dissolved, though there were some open spaces. It was all dark colored and saturated with water. There were some slight flurries of snow during the days that I worked there; but for the most part when I came out on to the railroad, on my way home, its yellow sand heap stretched away gleaming in the hazy atmosphere, and the rails shone in the spring sun. I heard the lark and other birds already come to commence another year with us.Walden by Henry David Throeau

Details that Describe It was a pleasant hillside where I worked, covered

with pine woods, through which I looked out on the pond, and a small open field in the woods where pines and hickories were springing up. The ice in the pond was not yet dissolved, though there were some open spaces. It was all dark colored and saturated with water. There were some slight flurries of snow during the days that I worked there; but for the most part when I came out on to the railroad, on my way home, its yellow sand heap stretched away gleaming in the hazy atmosphere, and the rails shone in the spring sun. I heard the lark and other birds already come to commence another year with us.

The details in the paragraph describe the text’s ___________.

Walden by Henry David Throeau

Details that Describe It was a pleasant hillside where I worked, covered

with pine woods, through which I looked out on the pond, and a small open field in the woods where pines and hickories were springing up. The ice in the pond was not yet dissolved, though there were some open spaces. It was all dark colored and saturated with water. There were some slight flurries of snow during the days that I worked there; but for the most part when I came out on to the railroad, on my way home, its yellow sand heap stretched away gleaming in the hazy atmosphere, and the rails shone in the spring sun. I heard the lark and other birds already come to commence another year with us.

The details in the paragraph describe the text’s setting.

Walden by Henry David Throeau

Recognizing Significant DetailsWhat type of details support an

argument or opinion?

a. Details that set a tone or moodb. Details that give reasonsc. Details that explain

Details That Give ReasonsDetails that give reasons usually

support an argument or opinion.Usually, one sentence will state

an opinion while another supports that opinion.

Details That Give Reasons Last May the legislature hiked its base pay 100%,

making these politicians the second highest paid in the country! Has state government improved 100% since then? Particularly outrageous was the “emergency preamble” attached to this legislation; the “emergency” allowed legislators to collect a salary increase not only immediately, but also retroactively several months. Worst of all, future salary hikes are tied to state workers’ salary increases, so the legislature will receive automatic pay raises without the requirement of a roll-call vote. Your NO vote on Referendum Question one will repeal this outrageous increase.

Details That Give Reasons Last May the legislature hiked its base pay 100%,

making these politicians the second highest paid in the country! Has state government improved 100% since then? Particularly outrageous was the “emergency preamble” attached to this legislation; the “emergency” allowed legislators to collect a salary increase not only immediately, but also retroactively several months. Worst of all, future salary hikes are tied to state workers’ salary increases, so the legislature will receive automatic pay raises without the requirement of a roll-call vote. Your NO vote on Referendum Question one will repeal this outrageous increase.

Main Idea

Reasons

Recognizing Significant DetailsWhich details would be used to

support logical reasoning?

a. Details that set a tone or moodb. Details that explainc. Details that define

Details That ExplainDetails that explain help to clarify

ideas or facts.Paragraphs that explain usually

have NO insignificant details.

Details That ExplainWhile people produce most of the wastes that cause air pollution, weather also contributes to the buildup of pollution. Ozone is an air pollution that is formed in the lower atmosphere. It is created when wastes from fuel combustion, industrial processes, and the burning of solid wastes react with sunlight. These pollutants build up to dangerous levels that can then be trapped over an area of the earth by a condition called thermal inversion. Thermal inversion occurs when a blanket of warm air settles over a blanket of cool air. This inversion traps…

Details That ExplainWhile people produce most of the wastes that cause air pollution, weather also contributes to the buildup of pollution. Ozone is an air pollution that is formed in the lower atmosphere. It is created when wastes from fuel combustion, industrial processes, and the burning of solid wastes react with sunlight. These pollutants build up to dangerous levels that can then be trapped over an area of the earth by a condition called thermal inversion. Thermal inversion occurs when a blanket of warm air settles over a blanket of cool air. This inversion traps…

Main Idea

Details That ExplainWhile people produce most of the wastes that cause air pollution, weather also contributes to the buildup of pollution. Ozone is an air pollution that is formed in the lower atmosphere. It is created when wastes from fuel combustion, industrial processes, and the burning of solid wastes react with sunlight. These pollutants build up to dangerous levels that can then be trapped over an area of the earth by a condition called thermal inversion. Thermal inversion occurs when a blanket of warm air settles over a blanket of cool air. This inversion traps…

Details that explain

how smog is formed

Recognizing Significant DetailsWhich details usually use

techniques of fiction?

a. Details that reveal characterb. Details that set a tone or moodc. Details that advance a sequence

of events.

Details That Set Tone or MoodThese usually found in a work of

fiction.When details are used to set a

mood, often one really stands out.

Details That Set Tone or Mood The room in which I found myself was very large and

excessively lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around. The eye, however, struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling. Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all.

From The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

Details That Set Tone or Mood The room in which I found myself was very large and

excessively lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around. The eye, however, struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling. Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all.

From The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

Recognizing Significant DetailsWhich type of details would be

used to help a reader understand what the people a narrative are like?

a. Details that reveal characterb. Details that set a tone or moodc. Details that advance a sequence

of events.

Details That Reveal CharacterDetails that reveal character

usually do so through direct description or through the speeches, actions, or thoughts of a character.

Usually the details that reveal character add up to a general impression.

Details That Reveal Character It was Miss Murdstone who was arrived, and a

gloomy-looking lady she was; dark, like her brother, whom she greatly resembled in face and voice; and with very heavy eyebrows, nearly meeting over her large nose. She brought with her two uncompromising large, black boxes, with her initials on the lid with hard brass nails. When she paid the coachman she took the money out of a hard steel purse, and she kept the purse in a very jail of a bag which hung upon her arm by a heavy chain, and shut up like a bite. I had never, at the time, seen such a metallic lady altogether as Miss Murdstone was.

From David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Recognizing Significant DetailsWhich type of details would be

used to help move a story along?

a. Details that reveal characterb. Details that set a tone or moodc. Details that advance a sequence

of events.

Details that Advance a Sequence of EventsThese details keep a story going.The story may be either the plot

of a work of fiction or the factual sequence of events in a history or biography.

Details that Advance a Sequence of Events The men were silent. They turned their eyes from

the shore to the comber and waited. The boat slid up the incline, leaped at the furious top, bounced over it, and swung down the long back of the wave. Some water had been shipped and the cook bailed it out. But the next wave crashed also. The tumbling, boiling flood of white water caught the boat and whirled it almost perpendicular. Water swarmed in from all sides. The correspondent had his hands on the gunwale at this time, and when the water entered at that place he swiftly withdrew his fingers, as if he objected to wetting them. The little boat, drunken with this weight of water, reeled and snuggled deeper into the sea.

Details that Advance a Sequence of Events The men were silent. They turned their eyes from

the shore to the comber and waited. The boat slid up the incline, leaped at the furious top, bounced over it, and swung down the long back of the wave. Some water had been shipped and the cook bailed it out. But the next wave crashed also. The tumbling, boiling flood of white water caught the boat and whirled it almost perpendicular. Water swarmed in from all sides. The correspondent had his hands on the gunwale at this time, and when the water entered at that place he swiftly withdrew his fingers, as if he objected to wetting them. The little boat, drunken with this weight of water, reeled and snuggled deeper into the sea.

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