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8 GRADE
TH
READING
COMPREHENSION
AND WRITING SKILLS
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8 GRADE
TH
READING
COMPREHENSION
AND WRITING
SKILLS
®
N E W Y O R K
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Copyright © 2009 LearningExpress, LLC.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United
States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
8th grade reading comprehension and writing skills. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-57685-711-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-57685-711-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Language arts (Middle school) I. LearningExpress
(Organization) II. Title: Eighth grade reading comprehension and writing skills.
LB1631.A16 2009
428.0071'2—dc22
2009016509
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
ISBN 978-1-57685-711-3
For information on LearningExpress, other LearningExpress products, or bulk sales, please write to us at:
2 Rector Street
26th Floor
New York, NY 10006
Or visit us at:
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Contents
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK ix
PRETEST 1
SECTION 1 BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION 17
LESSON 1 Becoming an Active Reader 19
LESSON 2 Finding the Main Idea 25
LESSON 3 Defining Vocabulary 31
LESSON 4 Distinguishing between Fact and Opinion 39
LESSON 5 Putting It All Together 47
SECTION 2 STRUCTURE 53
LESSON 6 The Parts of a Plot 55
LESSON 7 Organizing Principles 63
LESSON 8 Similarities and Differences: Comparison and Contrast 71
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–CONTENTS–
LESSON 9 Cause and Effect 79
LESSON 10 Summaries and Outlines 87
LESSON 11 Putting It All Together 95
SECTION 3 LANGUAGE AND STYLE 103
LESSON 12 Point of View 105
LESSON 13 Word Choice 113
LESSON 14 Style 119
LESSON 15 Literary Devices 127
LESSON 16 Putting It All Together 135
SECTION 4 READING BETWEEN THE LINES 143
LESSON 17 Finding an Implied Main Idea 145
LESSON 18 Identifying an Author’s Purpose 153
LESSON 19 Assuming Causes and Predicting Effects 159
LESSON 20 Analyzing Characters 165
LESSON 21 Putting It All Together 173
SECTION 5 INTERPRETING NON-LITERARY SOURCES 181
LESSON 22 Instructions 183
LESSON 23 Advertisements 191
LESSON 24 Graphs 199
LESSON 25 Visual Aids 207
LESSON 26 Putting It All Together 215
SECTION 6 WRITING SKILLS 225
LESSON 27 Prewriting 227
LESSON 28 Organizing Ideas 235
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–CONTENTS–
LESSON 29 Writing with Focus and Clarity 243
LESSON 30 Reviewing and Revising 251
LESSON 31 Putting It All Together 259
POSTTEST 267
APPENDIX Suggested Reading for 8th Graders 285
vii
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How to Use This Book
E
ighth grade is an exciting year that is full of changes and challenges. It’s also an important year aca-
demically. As an eighth grader, you’ll be required to take tests that measure your reading, writing, and
math skills. This year is also your last chance to brush up on your academic skills before you enter high
school. And because you’ll need to read for almost all your classes, reading comprehension is perhaps the most
important set of skills you’ll need for success. In high school, you will also be required to write more than you
have before, and this book will help you develop your writing skills to excel at the next level.
In eighth grade and beyond, you’ll be asked to read, understand, and interpret a variety of texts, including
stories and poems, reports, essays, and scientific and technical information. While a lot of your learning will still
take place in the classroom, you’ll be expected to read more and more information on your own, outside of
class. You’ll need not only to understand what you read but also to respond to and assess what you read. And as
the texts you read become more complex, you’ll spend a lot more time “reading between the lines” and drawing
your own conclusions from the text. As your reading skills improve, so will your writing. You’ll learn to recog-
nize and implement the techniques good writers use to communicate ideas to their readers.
As you work through the lessons in this book you will build your critical reading, thinking, and writing
skills. Each of the 31 short lessons should take about a half hour to complete. You’ll start with the basics and
move on to more complex reading and writing strategies. While each chapter can be an effective skill builder on
its own, it is important that you proceed through this book in order, from Lesson 1 through Lesson 31. Each les-
son builds on skills and ideas discussed in the previous chapters, and as you move through this book and your
skills improve, the practice passages will become longer and more difficult.
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–HOW TO USE THIS BOOK–
The lessons are divided into six sections. Each section focuses on a different group of related reading com-
prehension strategies and skills. These strategies are outlined at the beginning of each section and reviewed at
the end of the section in a special lesson, Putting It All Together.
Each lesson includes several exercises that allow you to practice the skills you have learned. To be sure
you’re on the right track, at the end of each lesson you’ll find answers and explanations for the practice ques-
tions. You’ll also find a section called Skill Building until Next Time after each practice session. These are help-
ful suggestions for practicing your new skills.
This book also includes a pretest and posttest. To help you measure your progress, take the pretest before
you begin Lesson 1. The pretest will give you a sense of your strengths and weaknesses so you can focus on spe-
cific chapters. After you finish the lessons, take the posttest. You’ll be able to see how much your reading com-
prehension skills have improved. You’ll also be able to find out whether there are areas in which you may still
need practice.
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