Interpreting Quotes for the ELA Regents Exam
To write a Task 4, you have to interpret a quote. Here is a method for interpreting quotes:
1. Finding the Natural Stopping Points: Interpret the quote by finding the natural stopping points in
the quote and interpreting small parts. Take, for instance, this quote:
"The bravest of individuals is the one who obeys his or her conscience." — J.F. Clarke (adapted)
Each sentence has natural stopping places that represent parts of the whole idea. In order to
interpret a quote well, you have to be able to find the natural stopping places in a sentence. The
natural stopping places in this quote are here:
The bravest of individuals
is the one
who obeys
his or her conscience.
2. Interpret the Small Parts: So, what you want to do is to write what each of these lines mean. Put
these lines into your own words. So for this quote, you might interpret the lines this way:
Words of the Quote
The bravest of individuals
is the one
who obeys
his or her conscience.
My Interpretation
A person who is really brave
is someone
who listens to
her sense of right and wrong
3. Putting it all together: The next thing to do is to put the small parts together again into one
sentence. This is tricky because you have to make sure that the sentence you write makes sense.
You may have to make changes to your Small Parts to get the interpretation right. My interpretation
of the quote above would be:
A person who is really brave is someone who listens to her sense of right and wrong.
Get it? Now try some on your own:
In literature, evil often triumphs but never conquers
Words of the Quote
Your Interpretation
We do not read novels for improvement or instruction
Words of the Quote
Your Interpretation
Interpreting Quotes for the ELA Regents Exam
Things can happen in some cities and the tale of them will be interesting; the same story laid in another
city would be ridiculous
Words of the Quote
Your Interpretation
All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in
literature.
Words of the Quote
Your Interpretation
A story must be exceptional enough to justify its telling; it must have something more unusual to relate
than the ordinary experience of every average man and woman.
Words of the Quote
Your Interpretation
It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers that is important
Words of the Quote
Your Interpretation
When writers write from a place of insight and real caring about the truth, they have the ability to throw
the lights on for the reader
Words of the Quote
Your Interpretation