Name:

Tips for Tackling Shakespeare’s Language

Use the following eight skills whenever you encounter a Shakespeare passage for the first
time:

1. Getting the Structure: Look for a complete sentence or thought. What is the subject and
what is the verb? Be careful: Sometimes Shakespeare puts the verb before the subject.
2. Sounding It Out: What modern word does this word sound like?
3. Building on What We Know: Use the words you DO understand to help you figure out
those you don’t.
4. Skipping for Now: Which unknown words should you skip for now until your understand
the main idea of the passage?
5. Guessing the Meaning: What are your guesses about word definitions?
6. Consulting the Experts: What do the dictionary, glossary, or text references say the
definition is?
7. Getting the Joke: What were the jokes of the time? What were the puns about?
8. Getting the Point: What are the key words in this line(s), the nouns and verbs? What
main idea(s) do they express? What theme(s)?

Whenever you read Shakespeare, always use the BARD It! Strategy: Before you ask your
teacher: BARD It!

Break open your book

Ask each other for help, not answers
Read the references, and then read the text again.
Don’t forget to try the dictionary.