English Unit Assessment

Revision by Omar Hany Eldesouky – 12B1

Vocabulary
Collapse - Verb
Meaning: To fall down or give way suddenly; to break down.
Synonyms: Crumble, fall, cave in, topple.
Example: The old building started to collapse due to its deteriorating structure.

Displace - Verb
Meaning: To move something or someone from its usual position or place.
Synonyms: Replace, relocate, reposition, shift.
Example: AIS had to displace some students to accommodate a new classroom.

Military - Noun
Meaning: Relating to the armed forces of a country.
Synonyms: Armed forces, troops, soldiers, defense.
Example: Omar aspired to join the military to serve his country.

Violate - Verb
Meaning: To break or fail to comply with a rule, law, or agreement.
Synonyms: Infringe, breach, transgress, defy.
Example: Mohammed did not want to violate the school's code of conduct.

Visual - Adjective
Meaning: Relating to sight or the sense of vision.
Synonyms: Sight, optical, graphic, perceptible.
Example: The visual arts class at AIS was known for its creativity.

Aghast - Adjective
Meaning: Filled with shock, horror, or amazement.
Synonyms: Stunned, astonished, appalled, horrified.
Example: The students were aghast when they heard about the sudden school closure.

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Affliction - Noun
Meaning: A condition of pain, suffering, or distress.
Synonyms: Ailment, malady, hardship, misery.
Example: The affliction of the pandemic affected people's lives worldwide.

Plight - Noun
Meaning: A difficult or challenging situation or condition.
Synonyms: Dilemma, predicament, quandary, crisis.
Example: The school faced a financial plight due to budget cuts.

Wail - Verb
Meaning: To cry out in grief, pain, or distress.
Synonyms: Sob, lament, moan, weep.
Example: The students began to wail upon hearing about the cancellation of the school
trip.

Loathsome - Adjective
Meaning: Extremely unpleasant or revolting.
Synonyms: Repulsive, disgusting, abhorrent, vile.
Example: The canteen served a loathsome meal that no one wanted to eat.

Preamble - Noun
Meaning: An introductory statement or explanation, especially in a document or
constitution.
Synonyms: Introduction, preface, prologue, opening.
Example: The school's code of conduct begins with a preamble outlining its values.

Virtue - Noun
Meaning: Moral excellence or goodness.
Synonyms: Goodness, righteousness, integrity, merit.
Example: The virtue of honesty was highly valued at AIS.

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Sovereignty - Noun
Meaning: Supreme authority and control over a territory or state.
Synonyms: Autonomy, independence, self-rule, dominion.
Example: The country's sovereignty was a matter of pride for its citizens.

Bequeath - Verb
Meaning: To leave or give by will; to pass down as an inheritance.
Synonyms: Inherit, transmit, bestow, hand down.
Example: The founder of AIS chose to bequeath his vision for education to future
generations.

Rebuke - Verb
Meaning: To express sharp disapproval or criticism.
Synonyms: Reproach, scold, reprimand, chastise.
Example: The teacher had to rebuke a student for disrupting the class.

Grammar
Phrases:

➔ Prepositional Phrases
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition (e.g., in,
on, under, between, with) and usually includes a noun or pronoun, which is called
the object of the preposition. They are used to provide additional information
about a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb in a sentence.

Typically the location, time, manner, or purpose of an action.

Examples:

He walked in the park. (Describes where he walked.)

The book is on the shelf. (Describes the location of the book.)
She painted the wall with a brush. (Describes how she painted the wall.)

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➔ Participial Phrases
A participial phrase consists of a participle (usually ending in "-ing" or "-ed") and
any accompanying modifiers or complements. Participial phrases are used to
provide additional information about a subject or object in a sentence.

They typically describe actions, conditions, or characteristics.

Examples:

Running down the street, Omar waved to her friends. (Participial phrase modifying
"Omar.")
Exhausted from the long journey, they finally reached their destination. (Participial
phrase describing "they.")
The car, dented and scratched, looked like it had been in an accident. (Participial
phrase describing "the car.")

➔ Gerund Phrases
A gerund phrase is formed by using a gerund (a verb form ending in "-ing") as a
noun, and it may include modifiers or objects. Gerund phrases are used as
subjects, objects, or complements in a sentence.

It has to end in -ing, be a verb form, and act as a noun.

Examples:

Swimming in the pool is her favorite summer activity. (Gerund phrase serving as
the subject.)
She enjoys reading books. (Gerund phrase serving as the direct object.)
He is passionate about helping people in need. (Gerund phrase serving as the
object of the preposition "about.")

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Point of View & Rhetoric

Perspective and point of view:

➔ Perspective:
● Narrator's outlook or view on events, characters, and the world

➔ Point of view:
● The writer's way of deciding who is telling the story to whom.

First Person

First-person central: The narrator is also the protagonist

of the story.

First-person peripheral: The narrator is telling the story of

the protagonist from close by.

Second Person

Second person: Establishes the reader as the

protagonist or main character
through the pronoun you.

Third Person

Third-person omniscient: The narrator speaks freely about

everyone and everything. There are
no limits to the time, space, or
character the narrator can access.

Third-person limited omniscient: The author writes in third person

but keeps the thoughts and
feelings limited to one central

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 character.

Third-person objective: The narrator is a neutral entity,

relying on observations of
characters rather than getting in
their heads. Imagine a fly on the
wall.

➔ Author’s purpose:
● The main reason the author has for writing.
● Commonly split into three sectors: persuade, inform, and entertain.
Remember the acronym PIE.

Skills

➔ Identifying theme:
● Identifying the theme in literature involves figuring out the main message
or idea that the author is trying to convey through the story or text.
● Themes are the big ideas or concepts that provide insight into the human
condition and the world.
● Common themes include love, Good vs. Evil, Coming of Age, Death and
Mortality, Individual vs. Society, Friendship, Nature, Isolation and
Alienation, Revenge, Identity, Conflict, Freedom and Oppression, The
Quest, Hope, and Injustice.

➔ Making inferences:
● Think of making inferences in literature like being a detective. It's about
finding the hidden clues in a story to understand what the author is really
trying to say.
● This doesn’t mean everything has a hidden meaning but it means it's up to
you to connect the dots and make educated assumptions based on the
context provided.
● Some things to look out for: time period (what time period is this written in),
the author style (many authors are known for their very distinctive style of
writing Egar Allan Poe for example.)

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➔ Mood:
● Identifying the theme in literature involves figuring out the main message
or idea that the author is trying to convey through the story or text.
● Themes are the big ideas or concepts that provide insight into the human
condition and the world.
● Common themes include love, Good vs. Evil, Coming of Age, Death and
Mortality, Individual vs. Society, Friendship, Nature, Isolation and
Alienation, Revenge, Identity, Conflict, Freedom and Oppression, The
Quest, Hope, and Injustice.

➔ Tone:
● Tone is like the mood of a story, how it makes you feel. It's the emotional
flavor of the writing.
● The tone can be joyful, making you feel like you're at a party. Or it can be
solemn as if you're at a formal ceremony. Sometimes it's playful, like a
comedy show, and other times it's eerie, like a suspenseful thriller.
● Tone helps us understand the author's intent and what are they trying to
showcase to the reader.

➔ Simile:
● Compares two different things using the word like or as.
● Popular examples: “They fought like cats and dogs.” “You are as brave as a
lion.”

➔ Understanding poetry:
● Poetry can be confusing to us students (and teachers too) here are some
general tips to understand poetry:
a. You don’t need to understand 100% of the text, a good 70% is
sufficient to solve most questions.
b. Poetry often relies on sound, so consider the rhythm, rhyme, and
how the words create a musical quality.
c. Pay attention to the poem's language, including metaphors, similes,
and symbolism. These elements can reveal deeper meanings. Look
🙃
at last year's revision sheet for a full list of literary elements.

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 d. Understand the historical and cultural context of a poem, as it can
significantly impact its interpretation. A “bear” from a poem written
in the Cold War might just symbolize the Soviets and not an actual
bear.

➔ Read some more:

● Read texts and poems from people like William Faulkner, George Orwell
(best short essays love that man), Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare,
Edmund Spenser, and John Milton. Many incredible authors from the
Renaissance era can help you feel more confident and ready for the exam
on Thursday.

Best of luck.

Quotes to get you thinking:

"In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

– George Orwell, Animal Farm

"Ending is better than mending."

– Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

"Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness."

– Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas

imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution."
– Albert Einstein