Personalised Learning: Point and evidence

When you are constructing your paragraph analysing a text, you will have a focus for writing. If the question is ‘What do you learn about the knight in The Canterbury Tales’? then the focus of your paragraph is the knight and what it is you have deduced about him. If the question is ‘What do you learn about the journeys he has been on?’ then the focus of your paragraph is on the journey and what you have deduced about it.

In addition, this term your analysis has had a language focus. So if the question is ‘How has language been used to present the knight in ‘The Canterbury Tales’? then your focus is on the words / phrases that have been used to present the knight. If the question is ‘How has language been used to present the knight’s journey in ‘The Canterbury Tales’? then your focus is on the words / phrases that have been used to present this journey.

Look at the five quotations below. A maximum of two words / phrases in each quotation are in bold. Look these words up in the dictionary and identify their word class. An example has been done for you.

Though so illustrious, he was very wise

Illustrious is an adjective.

Wise is an adjective.

1. A knight there was, and he a worthy man

Worthy is __________________________________________________

2. And honoured everywhere for worthiness

Honoured is _________________________________________________________

Worthiness is _______________________________________________________

3. Of mortal battles he had fought fifteen

Mortal is ___________________________________________________________

Fought is ___________________________________________________________

Fifteen is ___________________________________________________________

4. Three times in lists, and each time slain his foe

Slain is ____________________________________________________________

5. He never yet had any vileness said

Never is ____________________________________________________________

Vileness is __________________________________________________________

Once we are clear on the language that has been used then we can start to write our opening sentence. Here is my example again:

Though so illustrious, he was very wise

Illustrious is an adjective.

Wise is an adjective.

I can see that both key words are adjectives. So my opening sentence would be ‘Adjectives have been used to present the knight.’

However, if I look at this quote I have picked out ‘He was truly perfect, gently knight’, I can see that the key words are ‘truly’, ‘perfect’ and ‘gently’ Then I know that ‘truly’ is an adverb, ‘perfect’ is an adjective and ‘gently’ is an adjective so both adjectives and adverbs have been used so my opening sentence to my paragraph would be ‘Adjectives and adverbs have been used to present the knight.’

Now you have a go at writing the five opening sentences for the quotes you worked on above.

1. _________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________

4. _________________________________________________________________

5. _________________________________________________________________

Once you have your opening sentence, it is important that you introduce and copy out the full quote. Here is my example again:

Though so illustrious, he was very wise

Illustrious is an adjective.

Wise is an adjective.

Adjectives have been used to present the knight. This is evident in the line ‘Though so illustrious, he was very wise.’

Now taking your five sentence starts, add the phrase ‘This is evident in the line’ and copy the full quotation out so you end up with a sentence like mine above.

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2. ______________________________________________________________

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3. ______________________________________________________________

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4. ______________________________________________________________

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5. ______________________________________________________________

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Further practice

Use the following questions to construct further points and evidence paragraph openers.

To ride about the world

Loved chivalry, / Truth, honour, freedom and all courtest

Full worthy was he in his liege-lord’s war

In Latvia raided he

And he’s fought for our faith at Tramissene

And always won he sovereign fame for prize.

Though so illustrious, he was very wise

And bore himself as meekly as a maid

He was truly perfect, gently knight

For he had lately come from his voyage / And now he was going on this pilgrimage.

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Personalised Learning: ExplanationWell done! You have nailed making a point and introducing the evidence that supports that point. Now you need to develop your explanations. An explanation is one sentence that summarises (on a more general level) what you learn from the quotation. Have a look at my example below:

The first thing I did was identify my quotation:

Though so illustrious, he was very wiseI then focused in on my key words and made sure I knew their word class.

Illustrious is an adjective.

Wise is an adjective.

I then considered what the quotation tells me about the knight on a more general level.

It tells me that although the knight was very well-known, he was very clever around people.

You will notice that I haven’t repeated any of the key words from the quotation but used my own words to show what I have learnt about the knight.

Now have a look at the following five quotations. What do each of these quotations tell you about the knight or the journey he has been on?

1. A knight there was, and he a worthy man

This quotation tells me that the knight is __________________________

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2. And honoured everywhere for worthinessThis quotation tells me that the knight is __________________________

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3. Of mortal battles he had fought fifteenThis quotation tells me that the knight ____________________________

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4. Three times in lists, and each time slain his foe

This quotation tells me that the knight ____________________________

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5. He never yet had any vileness said

This quotation tells me that the knight ____________________________

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Once I have explained what the quotation is telling me, using my own words, I can combine it to the rest of my paragraph. Here is my example below:

Adjectives have been used to present the knight. This is evident in the line ‘Though so illustrious, he was very wise’ which tells me that although the knight was very well-known, he was very clever around people.

Now look at the openings to the following paragraph and complete these paragraphs with the explanation of what is learnt about the knight in the quotation, using your own words.

1. Adjectives have been used to present the knight in the line ‘A knight there was, and he a worthy man’ ____________________________

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2. Verbs and nouns have been used to present the knight in the line ‘And honoured everywhere for worthiness’ ____________________

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3. Adjectives and verb phrases have been used to present the knight in the line ‘Of mortal battles he had fought fifteen’ _________________

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4. Verbs have been used to present the knight in the line ‘Three times in lists, and each time slain his foe’ __________________________

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5. Adverbs and nouns have been used to present the knight in the line ‘He never yet had any vileness said’ ________________________

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Further practice

Use the following questions to construct further paragraph openers constructing the point (language techniques), evidence and an explanation of the evidence using your own words.

To ride about the world

Loved chivalry, / Truth, honour, freedom and all courtest

Full worthy was he in his liege-lord’s war

In Latvia raided he

And he’s fought for our faith at Tramissene

And always won he sovereign fame for prize.

Though so illustrious, he was very wise

And bore himself as meekly as a maid

He was truly perfect, gently knight

For he had lately come from his voyage / And now he was going on this pilgrimage.

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Personalised Learning: Focused explorationWell done! You have nailed writing a point, backing it up with evidence and then explaining what you learn from the evidence. Now we need to develop the focused exploration of your paragraph. This is the section where you begin to analyse key words and consider why you think the writer has used those words – what did he / she want the reader to think or feel about the person, place or thing being described? Here is my quotation choice below:

Though so illustrious, he was very wise

The first thing I need to do is identify my key words. I have done this above in bold. Then I need to be clear on what these words mean. So

Illustrious (adjective) means to be well-known, respected and admired for past achievements.

Wise (adjectives) means to have or show experience, knowledge and good judgement.

For each of the quotations below, I have identified the key words or phrases in bold. Use a dictionary to write down a definition of those words or phrases.

1. A knight there was, and he a worthy man

Worthy (adjective) ___________________________________________________

2. And honoured everywhere for worthiness

Honoured (verb) _____________________________________________________

Worthiness (noun) ___________________________________________________

3. Of mortal battles he had fought fifteen

Mortal (adjective) ____________________________________________________

Fought (verb) _______________________________________________________

Fifteen (number) _____________________________________________________

4. Three times in lists, and each time slain his foe

Slain (verb) _________________________________________________________

5. He never yet had any vileness said

Never (adverb) ______________________________________________________

Vileness (noun) _____________________________________________________

Once I have established what the key words or phrases mean, I need to think about why the writer has used them. What do these words / phrases make me think about the knight? Why? So if I go back to my example, this might be what I say:

Though so illustrious, he was very wise

The first thing I need to do is identify my key words. I have done this above in bold. Then I need to be clear on what these words mean. So

Illustrious (adjective) means to be well-known, respected and admired for past achievements.

Chaucer might have chosen illustrious to show that the knight is strong. He has gone to a number of different places and gained people’s respect as he has won battles. As a reader, we would admire the knight’s strength and believe that because he is described as illustrious, he has proved his worth.

Wise (adjectives) means to have or show experience, knowledge and good judgement.

Chaucer might have chosen ‘wise’ to show that the knight has gained more experience as he has travelled the world and knowledge, perhaps, about how to defeat an enemy as he has won so many battles. As a reader, we would have a greater faith in him because he is experienced at what he does and successful at it.

Now consider what we learn about the knight from the choice of key words and how we would view the knight as a result, as a reader.

1. A knight there was, and he a worthy man

Chaucer might have chosen the adjective ‘worthy’ to show the knight ____________

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As a reader, we would ________________________________________________

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2. And honoured everywhere for worthiness

Chaucer might have chosen the verb ‘honoured’ to show the knight _____________

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As a reader, we would ________________________________________________

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Chaucer might have chosen the noun ‘worthiness’ to show the knight ___________

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As a reader, we would ________________________________________________

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3. Of mortal battles he had fought fifteen

Chaucer might have chosen the adjective ‘mortal’ to show the knight ____________

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As a reader, we would ________________________________________________

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Chaucer might have chosen the verb ‘fought fifteen’ to show the knight __________

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As a reader, we would ________________________________________________

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4. Three times in lists, and each time slain his foe

Chaucer might have chosen the verb ‘slain’ to show the knight _________________

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As a reader, we would ________________________________________________

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5. He never yet had any vileness said

Chaucer might have chosen the adverb ‘never’ to show the knight ______________

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As a reader, we would ________________________________________________

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Chaucer might have chosen the noun ‘vileness’ to show the knight _____________

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As a reader, we would ________________________________________________

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Now I have considered the definitions of my key words and what I, as a reader, learn about the knight, I need to combine this all into my PEEFE. Here is what I have come up with:

Adjectives have been used to present the knight. This is evident in the line ‘Though so illustrious, he was very wise’ which tells me that although the knight was very well-known, he was very clever around people. The adjective ‘illustrious’ means to be well-known, respected and admired for your achievements. Chaucer might have chosen illustrious to show that the knight is strong. He has gone to a number of different places and gained people’s respect as he has won battles. As a reader, we would admire the knight’s strength and believe that because he is described as illustrious, he has proved his worth. Furthermore, the adjective wise means to have or show

experience, knowledge and good judgement. Chaucer might have chosen ‘wise’ to show that the knight has gained more experience as he has travelled the world and knowledge, perhaps, about how to defeat an enemy as he has won so many battles. As a reader, we would have a greater faith in him because he is experienced at what he does and successful at it.

Now choose one quotation from the five you have been analysing to construct a PEEFE paragraph below:

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Personalised Learning: EffectWell done! You have nailed the point, evidence, explanation and focused exploration. Now it’s time to consider the effect. The effect is where you consider the reader’s response. In this instance, it is considering whether the reader would think the knight was a strong character or not. Here is my example again:

Though so illustrious, he was very wiseOverall, the effect that this description would have on a reader is that they would consider the knight to be a character of great strength because he has gathered experience, making him ‘wise’ and become a better knight whilst travelling the world which has made him very well-known or ‘illustrious’.

In the example above, I have commented on the overall effect but also used the key words from the quotation to reinforce what has led to a particular effect.

Now look at the following quotations. For each one, can you comment on the effect that this description would have on the reader.

1. A knight there was, and he a worthy man

Overall, the effect that this description would have on a reader is that they would

consider the knight to be a character who is _______________________________

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2. And honoured everywhere for worthiness

Overall, the effect that this description would have on a reader is that they would

consider the knight to be a character who is _______________________________

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3. Of mortal battles he had fought fifteen

Overall, the effect that this description would have on a reader is that they would

consider the knight to be a character who is _______________________________

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4. Three times in lists, and each time slain his foe

Overall, the effect that this description would have on a reader is that they would

consider the knight to be a character who is _______________________________

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5. He never yet had any vileness said

Overall, the effect that this description would have on a reader is that they would

consider the knight to be a character who is _______________________________

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Once you have completed this task, please go and support the group who are working on developing their point and evidence.