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Reading for Success: Literal Comprehension Strategies
~ With any piece of literature-from fiction to poetry-your first goal in reading is to understand
what the writer is saying. There are strategies you can apply to help you understand
even complex writing.
• Reread or read ahead. Reread a sentence or a paragraph to find the connections among
the words. Read ahead. A word or detail you don't understand may become clear further on.
• Use context clues. Context refers to the words, phrases, and sentences that surround a
word. Look for clues in the context to help you figure out the meaning of an unknown word.
• Break down confusing sentences.
• Restate for understanding. Paraphrase, or restate a sentence or a paragraph in your
own words. Summarize at appropriate points; review and state the main points of what has
happened.
• Respond. Think about what the selection means. What does it say to you? What feelings
does it evoke in you?
DIRECTIONS: Read the following excerpt from "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe and apply
the reading strategies to increase your understanding. In the margin, write notes showing
where you reread or read ahead, use context clues, break down confusing sentences, and restate
for understanding. Finally, write your response to the excerpt on the lines provided.
from "The Tell-Tale Heart·· by Edgar Allen Poe
In the following excerpt ofthis murder mystery story, the narrator is
recalling how he planned the crime.
Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening
the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine.
Never before that night, had I felt the extent of my own powers-of
my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think
that there I waSt opening the door, little by little, and he not even to
dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea;
and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenlYt as if
startled. Now you may think that I drew back-but no. His room was
as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close
fastened, through fear of robbersJ and so I knew that he could not
see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily,
steadily.
I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my
thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprung up in
bed, crying out-flWho's there?fI
I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move
a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was
stili sitting up in the bed listening;-just as I have done. night after
night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.
Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of
mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief-oh, no!-it was
the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when
© Prentice-Hall, Inc. Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket 3