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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 7 of 14

Forms & Features

Text patterns, visuals and media

What your child practices

Knowing what each text form does, how features such as an index, footnote or caption help readers, how signal words show a text's pattern, and how images, color and design shape meaning.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 9-10R5; 9-10R7 · text patterns, visuals and media features

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Text forms have jobs: a script has dialogue and stage directions; an epistolary text is told in letters.
  2. Headings guide readers, footnotes add sources or notes, captions explain images.
  3. Signal words show patterns (because, in contrast, first). Images, color and design shape meaning too.

Example: A story is told in letters between two characters. What is this text form called? “Epistle” is an old word for letter. A text made of letters is epistolary. Answer: an epistolary text

Forms & Features in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 7 of 14 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Digital Smarts and before Summarizing Texts.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which pair of signal words shows a compare and contrast pattern?

    • similarly, however
    • for example, such as
    • first, next
    • because, as a result

  2. Question 2

    Two news sites report the same event with different headlines. What is the most likely reason?

    • Only one of them is a real website
    • Headlines are chosen at random
    • One of them has no photos
    • They have different purposes or target audiences

  3. Question 3

    Which text form is made up of dialogue and stage directions?

    • A biography
    • A news article
    • A recipe
    • A script

  4. Question 4

    What is a footnote used for?

    • To thank the author
    • To list every chapter
    • To show the title of the book
    • To give extra information or a source at the bottom of the page

  5. Question 5

    Which pair of signal words shows a cause and effect pattern?

    • on the other hand, in contrast
    • because, as a result
    • first, next
    • similarly, however

  6. Question 6

    A line graph in a news article is best used to show…

    • the parts of a whole in a pie
    • how something changes over time
    • a list of definitions
    • a character's emotions

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