Unit 9
A thesis statement takes a stand, lets readers know the writer's opinion on a topic, and introduces what will be discussed in the essay.

Read this excerpt from holes. a patrol car pulled alongside him. a policeman asked him why he was running. then he took the shoes and made a call on his radio. shortly thereafter, stanley was arrested. it turned out the sneakers had been stolen from a display at the homeless shelter. that evening rich people were going to come to the shelter and pay a hundred dollars to eat the food that the poor people ate every day for free. clyde livingston, who had once lived at the shelter when he was younger, was going to speak and sign autographs. his shoes would be auctioned, and it was expected that they would sell for over five thousand dollars. all the money would go to the homeless. why does sachar include this description of the shoes in the flashback? a.to show where the shoes came from b.to show how valuable the shoes were c.to reveal why stanley was arrested d.to give background on the homeless shelter

Study the editorial cartoon mars probe by mike keefe. how does the alien with the baseball bat contribute to the effectiveness of the political cartoon? it suggests that aliens are like people because they play baseball, a human sport. it uses humor to show that unknown factors keep damaging the probes humans send. it shows how to cope with the surface of mars, which is rocky and full of craters. it exaggerates the size of the bat in relation to the mars probe in the cartoon.

In a group discussion, which statement most clearly uses evidence to support a conclusion? a) the author makes some good points, but i feel that he’s ultimately biased. b) the author proves that he’s biased when he uses terms like “silly” and “stupid”. c) the author obviously hates the way fast food tastes, which is why he’s negative. d) the author first criticizes fast food, and then goes in to criticize junk food.