Subjects › English 9
English 9: Read closely, argue well, write clearly
English 9 covers the ninth-grade Common Core ELA standards: close reading of literature, informational texts, historical documents, and science/technical texts; writing arguments, explanations, and narratives; research and source citation; speaking and listening; and the grammar, vocabulary, and figurative language that make all of it precise. Students work with short stories, poems, drama excerpts, speeches, historical documents, and science articles at a ninth-grade level of complexity.
A lesson starts with a short passage or a sentence and a question: what does this word choice do, what's the claim here, why did the author put this detail second. The tutor doesn't explain the point first and ask about it after; it asks, listens to the answer, and only adds what's missing. If a student calls a theme 'family' instead of stating it as a claim, the tutor pushes on that distinction before moving to the next text. Grammar and vocabulary come up inside real sentences, not as isolated drills, and writing work is checked both for the idea and for whether the sentence actually says it.
Who it is for
- Ninth graders taking Common Core-aligned English who want to talk through texts rather than just answer worksheet questions
- Students who can summarize a story but struggle to state a theme as a claim or back it with cited evidence
- Students preparing to write argument, informative, or narrative essays who need help with structure, transitions, and counterclaims
- Parents who want to see their student explain reasoning about a text out loud, not just turn in a finished essay
- Teachers looking for extra practice in rhetoric, primary-source analysis, or MLA citation between class sessions
What you will be able to do
- Cite specific textual evidence and distinguish strong evidence from weak paraphrase
- State a theme or central idea as a full claim and trace how a text develops it
- Analyze how word choice, structure, and point of view shape meaning and tone in literature and nonfiction
- Evaluate an argument's reasoning and evidence, including rhetorical appeals and fallacies, in speeches, historical documents, and science texts
- Write arguments with fairly addressed counterclaims, informative texts with organized evidence, and narratives with pacing and dialogue
- Research a question, integrate sources, and cite them correctly in MLA style
A taste of a lesson on Theme, central idea, and summary of literature
The tutor asks, you answer, and it works from what you actually said. No videos to sit through.
The 40 topics in English 9
Each topic builds on the ones before it. The tutor checks what you already know and starts there.
Citing textual evidence
Teach that every claim about a text must be backed by specific, quoted or precisely paraphrased evidence, with clear citation. Students practice selecting strong evidence (direct quotation, specific detail) versus weak evidence (vague reference), distinguish explicit statements from inferences, and cite evidence accurately with page or line references.
Parallel structure and phrases/clauses
Teach parallel structure: matching grammatical forms in lists and paired ideas (e.g., verbs with verbs, infinitives with infinitives). Teach the types of phrases (noun, verb, adjectival, adverbial, participial, prepositional, absolute) and clauses (independent, dependent; noun, relative, adverbial), how to identify each, and how using them varies sentence rhythm and conveys meaning.
Semicolons, conjunctive adverbs, and colons
Teach using a semicolon to join two closely related independent clauses, with and without a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, moreover) followed by a comma. Teach using a colon to introduce a list or a quotation after a complete independent clause. Students practice correct punctuation and avoid comma splices and misuse.
Builds on Parallel structure and phrases/clauses
Spelling and standard conventions in writing
Teach standard spelling patterns and common demons, standard capitalization rules, and the general conventions of standard English grammar and usage in writing and speaking (agreement, pronoun reference, verb tense consistency, modifier placement). Students proofread for these conventions.
Builds on Parallel structure and phrases/clauses
Context clues and word-form patterns
Teach strategies for determining unknown and multiple-meaning words from context: overall sentence and paragraph meaning, a word's position and function in the sentence, and restatement or contrast clues. Teach word-formation patterns that signal part of speech and meaning shifts (analyze, analysis, analytical; advocate, advocacy; -ize, -ation, -al, -ive) and how to use them.
Builds on Parallel structure and phrases/clauses
Using and verifying reference sources
Teach how to use dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauruses (print and digital) to find pronunciation, precise meaning, part of speech, and etymology. Teach verifying a preliminary word meaning by checking it against the sentence context and a dictionary entry, choosing the sense that fits.
Builds on Context clues and word-form patterns
Figurative language and figures of speech
Teach metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, irony, symbolism, and figures such as euphemism and oxymoron. Students learn to identify each, interpret it in context, and analyze how it shapes meaning in a text.
Builds on Context clues and word-form patterns
Word relationships and connotation nuance
Teach that words with similar denotations differ in connotation, intensity, and register (e.g., thrifty vs. stingy, slender vs. skinny). Teach how word relationships such as synonyms, antonyms, and categories are used to show shades of meaning, and how to analyze why an author chose one word over a near-synonym.
Builds on Context clues and word-form patterns, Using and verifying reference sources
Academic and domain-specific vocabulary
Teach general academic words (e.g., analyze, evaluate, infer, claim) and domain words used in history, science, and literature, and how to acquire and use them accurately in reading, writing, and speaking. Students learn strategies for independently gathering new vocabulary across subjects and using it precisely.
Builds on Word relationships and connotation nuance
Theme, central idea, and summary of literature
Teach how a theme emerges from specific details and develops across a story, drama, or poem; how to state a theme as a full claim rather than a single topic word; and how to write an objective summary that omits personal opinion and captures the main events or ideas in order.
Builds on Citing textual evidence
Structure, sequence, and time in narrative
Teach how authors structure texts and manipulate time through flashbacks, foreshadowing, parallel plots, pacing, and order of events to create mystery, tension, or surprise. Students identify these techniques and explain their effects.
Builds on Theme, central idea, and summary of literature
Word choice, connotation, and tone in literature
Teach how specific word choices in literary texts, including figurative and connotative meanings, accumulate to shape meaning, mood, and tone. Students analyze how the language evokes a sense of time or place and how tone shifts across a passage.
Builds on Word relationships and connotation nuance, Structure, sequence, and time in narrative
Complex characters and their development
Teach how to analyze characters with multiple or conflicting motivations, how they change over the course of a text, how they interact with other characters, and how their development advances plot or theme. Students use direct and indirect characterization evidence.
Builds on Figurative language and figures of speech, Theme, central idea, and summary of literature
Analyzing poetry and drama
Teach the key features of poetry (speaker, form, stanza, meter, rhyme, imagery, sound devices) and drama (stage directions, dialogue, staging, soliloquy, aside) and how to analyze how these forms create meaning, reading them as literature with attention to their particular conventions.
Builds on Word choice, connotation, and tone in literature, Complex characters and their development
Cultural perspective in world literature
Teach how to analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work from outside the United States, using context about the culture and history to interpret characters, values, and conflicts, and how the text's perspective differs from the reader's own.
Builds on Theme, central idea, and summary of literature
Source material and adaptation across media
Teach how authors draw on and transform source material (myth, Bible, earlier literature) and how to compare two artistic representations of the same subject or key scene (e.g., a poem and a painting), noting what each emphasizes or leaves out.
Builds on Analyzing poetry and drama, Cultural perspective in world literature
Central idea and summary of informational text
Teach how to determine a central idea of an informational or literary nonfiction text and trace how it is developed and refined by specific details; teach writing an objective summary of the text's main points in order.
Builds on Citing textual evidence
Organization and order of ideas in nonfiction
Teach how an author orders points, introduces and develops ideas, and draws connections among them (chronology, comparison, cause and effect, problem-solution, claim-evidence). Students map the structure of an essay or article and explain how the order serves the author's purpose.
Builds on Central idea and summary of informational text
Analyzing rhetoric, point of view, and purpose
Teach how to determine an author's point of view or purpose and analyze the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) and devices used to advance it. Students analyze how paragraphs and sentences develop and refine claims in detail.
Builds on Word choice, connotation, and tone in literature, Organization and order of ideas in nonfiction
Evaluating reasoning, evidence, and fallacies
Teach how to delineate an argument into its claims, reasons, and evidence; judge whether reasoning is valid and evidence relevant and sufficient; and identify false statements, exaggerated or distorted evidence, and common logical fallacies (ad hominem, straw man, false dilemma, hasty generalization, slippery slope).
Builds on Analyzing rhetoric, point of view, and purpose
Seminal U.S. and historical documents
Teach how to analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance such as Washington's Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech, and King's Letter from Birmingham Jail: their rhetorical strategies, how they address their audience and historical moment, and how they relate to earlier documents and ideas.
Builds on Evaluating reasoning, evidence, and fallacies
Primary and secondary sources in history
Teach the difference between primary and secondary sources; cite evidence from historical texts while attending to date, origin, author, and purpose of the source; determine central ideas and summarize how key events develop; and read history/social studies texts of grade 9-10 complexity independently.
Builds on Central idea and summary of informational text, Evaluating reasoning, evidence, and fallacies
Sequence and causation in historical events
Teach how to analyze a detailed series of historical events, and to distinguish whether earlier events caused later ones or merely preceded them (e.g., using counterfactual or mechanism tests). Students trace how events build and connect.
Builds on Primary and secondary sources in history
Historical vocabulary and text structure
Teach the meaning of political, social, and economic vocabulary in history texts (e.g., suffrage, tariff, sovereignty, depression) in context, and analyze how a historical text's structure emphasizes key points or advances an explanation.
Builds on Academic and domain-specific vocabulary, Primary and secondary sources in history
Comparing accounts and point of view across sources
Teach how to compare two or more authors' points of view on the same topic, noting which details each includes or emphasizes; and to compare and contrast treatments of a topic across several primary and secondary sources.
Builds on Sequence and causation in historical events, Historical vocabulary and text structure
Integrating charts, data, and text
Teach how to integrate quantitative or technical analysis (charts, tables, research data, graphs) with the written analysis of a text, and how to translate information between words, tables/charts, and equations.
Builds on Primary and secondary sources in history
Reading science and technical texts
Teach how to read science/technical texts: determine central ideas and conclusions, trace an explanation of a complex process, follow multistep procedures precisely (including exceptions defined in the text), and understand the author's purpose in explaining a procedure or experiment.
Builds on Academic and domain-specific vocabulary, Central idea and summary of informational text, Integrating charts, data, and text
Concept relationships and domain terms in science
Teach how to read symbols and key scientific terms (force, friction, reaction force, energy) in context and analyze the structure of relationships among concepts, e.g., how force and reaction force relate, how energy transfers.
Builds on Reading science and technical texts
Evaluating science claims and comparing findings
Teach how to assess whether the reasoning and evidence in a technical text support the author's claim or recommended solution, and to compare findings in a text with those of other sources or experiments, noting agreement or contradiction with earlier explanations.
Builds on Evaluating reasoning, evidence, and fallacies, Concept relationships and domain terms in science
Transitions, cohesion, and varied sentence structure
Teach how to use words, phrases, and clauses (transitions like however, consequently, in contrast) to link sections and sentences, create cohesion, and clarify relationships between claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims, varying sentence structure to keep prose fluent.
Builds on Parallel structure and phrases/clauses, Semicolons, conjunctive adverbs, and colons
Writing arguments with counterclaims
Teach how to write a claim-based argument: introduce a precise claim, distinguish it from opposing claims, develop claims and counterclaims fairly with evidence and noting strengths and limitations, use cohesive transitions, maintain formal objective tone, and conclude in a way that follows from the argument.
Builds on Evaluating reasoning, evidence, and fallacies, Transitions, cohesion, and varied sentence structure
Writing informative and explanatory texts
Teach how to introduce a topic, organize complex ideas with headings or categories, develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, and examples suited to the audience, use precise domain vocabulary, and conclude with the significance of the topic. Include writing explanations of historical events, scientific procedures, and technical processes.
Builds on Academic and domain-specific vocabulary, Transitions, cohesion, and varied sentence structure
Writing narratives
Teach how to write a narrative real or imagined: orient the reader with a situation and point of view, introduce narrator and characters, use dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and sequencing that builds to a coherent whole, use sensory and precise language, and provide a conclusion that reflects on the experience.
Builds on Figurative language and figures of speech, Transitions, cohesion, and varied sentence structure
Writing process, revision, and technology
Teach planning, drafting, revising, editing, and rewriting to strengthen writing for purpose and audience, including trying a new approach when a draft is not working; writing routinely in short and extended time frames; and using digital tools to produce, publish, and update shared writing.
Builds on Writing arguments with counterclaims, Writing informative and explanatory texts, Writing narratives
Research and source integration
Teach how to pose a research question (including self-generated), narrow or broaden it, gather information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources using advanced searches, assess each source's usefulness and credibility, synthesize sources, integrate information selectively, and draw evidence from texts to support analysis and reflection.
Builds on Comparing accounts and point of view across sources, Writing process, revision, and technology
Citation and style manual conventions
Teach how to write and edit work to conform to a style manual such as MLA or Turabian: in-text citations, works-cited or bibliography entries, formatting of headings and quotations, and matching the conventions of the discipline and writing type.
Builds on Research and source integration
Writing analysis of literature and literary nonfiction
Teach how to apply reading standards in writing: analyze how an author draws on source material, and delineate and evaluate the argument and claims of literary nonfiction, drawing evidence from texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Builds on Source material and adaptation across media, Evaluating reasoning, evidence, and fallacies, Research and source integration
Collaborative discussion skills
Teach how to prepare for discussions by reading material and citing evidence; set group rules, goals, deadlines, and roles; pose and respond to questions that connect to larger ideas; summarize agreement and disagreement; and qualify or justify one's own views in response to diverse perspectives.
Builds on Citing textual evidence
Integrating and evaluating multiple sources and media
Teach how to integrate information from diverse media and formats (visual, quantitative, oral) and evaluate the credibility and accuracy of each source, and how to evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, use of evidence, and rhetoric, identifying fallacious reasoning or distorted evidence.
Builds on Evaluating reasoning, evidence, and fallacies, Collaborative discussion skills
Presenting findings and adapting speech
Teach how to present information, findings, and evidence clearly, concisely, and logically so the line of reasoning and organization fit purpose and audience; use digital media strategically to enhance understanding; and adapt speech to formal and informal contexts, using formal English when appropriate.
Builds on Academic and domain-specific vocabulary, Integrating and evaluating multiple sources and media
Practice questions in English 9
A few of the kinds of questions you will work through, with answers.
Which is stronger evidence for the claim 'the narrator is unreliable': (a) 'the narrator seems kind of dishonest' or (b) 'the narrator admits, "I may have changed a detail or two in the telling"'?
See the answer
(b)
A direct quotation showing the narrator's own admission is specific and verifiable; (a) is a vague impression with no textual support.
Fix the faulty parallelism: 'She likes hiking, to swim, and reading.'
See the answer
She likes hiking, swimming, and reading.
All three items in the list should use the same grammatical form, here the -ing (gerund) form.
In 'The city never sleeps,' what figure of speech is used, and what does it suggest?
See the answer
Personification; it suggests the city is always active, as if alive.
Giving a human trait (sleeping) to a non-human thing (a city) is personification, used here to emphasize constant activity.
A speaker says, 'If we don't act now, our children will inherit a ruined world.' Which rhetorical appeal is this mainly using?
See the answer
Pathos
The statement appeals to emotion (fear for one's children) rather than logic (logos) or the speaker's credibility (ethos).
'Everyone I know supports this policy, so it must be right.' What reasoning flaw is this?
See the answer
Appeal to popularity (bandwagon fallacy)
The popularity of a belief among a small or biased sample doesn't establish that the belief is correct.
A student claims school uniforms reduce bullying, then writes: 'Some argue uniforms limit self-expression, but this concern is minor compared to the safety benefits of reduced social comparison.' What is this sentence doing in the argument?
See the answer
Acknowledging a counterclaim and responding to it
It states an opposing view fairly and then explains why the writer's claim still holds, which is required when developing claims and counterclaims.
Questions about this subject
Does this follow a specific textbook or anthology?
No. The lessons are built around the Common Core grade 9 standards and use short texts, excerpts, and passages chosen to teach each skill, not a single textbook's table of contents.
Will this help with essay writing, not just reading questions?
Yes. There are dedicated topics on argument, informative, and narrative writing, plus the writing process, research, and MLA citation, and the tutor reviews actual sentences and paragraphs a student drafts.
My student is reading above or below grade level. Does that matter?
The topics and skills are set at the grade 9 (9-10 band, grade 9 expectations) level, but passages used for practice can be adjusted in complexity while still targeting the same skill, like citing evidence or analyzing point of view.
Does it cover grammar and vocabulary or just literature analysis?
Both. Conventions like parallel structure, semicolons, and spelling, and vocabulary skills like context clues and connotation, are taught as their own topics and then reinforced inside reading and writing lessons.