Study Guide: English 8, First Semester
Literature we read: You need to be familiar enough with the events (plot), characters,
and settings use them in answering questions.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hobbit
Mythology
Part One: “The Gods,” “Demeter,” “How the World and Man Were Created,” and
“Flower-Myths.”
Part Two: “Cupid and Psyche,” “Piramus and Thisbe,” “Orpheus and Eurydice,”
“Pygmalion and Galatea,” “The Quest of the Golden Fleece,” and “Daedalus.”
Part Three: “Perseus” and “Hercules”
Part Four: “Prologue — The Judgment of Paris,” “The Trojan War,” and “The
Fall of Troy.”
The Odyssey
Terms: You need to be able to define and name or recognize examples of these terms in
literature you have read or in sentences in the exam.
Term
Fiction
Definition
Myth
Epic
Epic hero
Epithet
Epic simile
Plot
Character
Setting
Flashback
Foreshadowing
Allusion
Hero
Hero’s Journey
Examples
Monomyth (and
important parts)
Archetype
Paraphrase
Topic sentence
Supporting
sentences
Clincher/concluding
sentence
Inference
Fact / observation
Etymology
Types of essay
answers
Summary
Description
Compare and
Contrast
Good essay answers:
Your essay answers should start with a topic sentence that is an inference, NOT a
fact. Your supporting sentences should present things you observed (FACTS) in
the literature we read. End with a concluding sentence. Some answers may require
more than one paragraph.
You need to write the question asked into your response. Do this early and
clearly. Make the grammatical subject of the sentences the topic you need to
address in the answer.
Avoid concluding sentences that add no new information.
Avoid terms that add no information. These include
There is or there are
For many reasons
Many similarities and differences
In many ways
Big Themes: These concepts are potential question for both short and long answers.
You need to consider the literature that addressed these themes.
Hospitality should be offered the wanderer.
Disrespecting the gods (or other powerful beings) leads to punishment.
Dangerous love will lead to disappointment and sometimes to death.
Strategy can overcome strength.
Even heroes have flaws.
Surviving tests and trials leads to insight.
Grammar:
The exam will test your knowledge of parts of speech and parts of the sentence.
Preparation Tips:
Use your notes and worksheets to help you recall major ideas and important info.
Use flash cards to test your memory for people, facts, events.
Use the graphic organizers I have given you throughout the semester to study notes on
the literature; only re-read things you don’t understand or that you will have to explain
(like an epic simile).
Review tests you took.
Make new charts.
Practice writing the essay.