I Could Do That Study Guide

Comprehension Skill: Cause and Effect

A cause is an event in a story that makes something else happen.

An effect is an event in a story that happens as a result of a previous event.
Good readers look for cause and effect relationships to better understand a story.

Vocabulary:
politics
legislature

intelligent
amendment

disorderly
candidates

approve
informed

polls
denied

Vocabulary Strategy: Dictionary Entries

Dictionary entries tell a lot of things about a word: its meanings, how many syllables it
has, how its pronounced/what syllable is stressed.
You can tell how many syllables a word has by counting the groups of words separated by
the syllable dots in a dictionary entry. You can tell which syllable is enunciated, or
stressed, by the accent mark next to it.

legislature
completely

has 4 syllables. The 3rd syllable is stressed.

has 3 syllables. The 2nd syllable is stressed.

Grammar: Negatives
A negative is a sentence that means no.
Contractions can be negative forms of words that are made by combining a word with
not. (Example: dont = do not and arent = are not)
Double negatives are sentences that have two negatives in them. They are not correct.
Examples:
Aint nobody got time for that! It should be: I dont have time for that.
I dont have nobody to talk to. It should be: I dont have anybody to talk to.
Why arent the books never on the desk? It should be: Why arent the books ever
on the desk. OR Why are the books never on the desk?