Embedding Quotations and Using Textual

Support

Ms Alexander

AP/IB English 3

Since I don’t like repeating myself over

and over…here are some GOODexamples for you all. This is what itmeans to “use textual support,” “useevidence,” and “support yourargument/point with proof from thetext.” See it. Get it. Do it.

Using a complete and unaltered quotation:

• Examples:In Antigone, Tiresias confronts Creon

and says, “Pay the dead his due. Wound not the fallen. It is no glory to kill and kill again.” (153)

  Creon bluntly states, “When do I take

orders from the people of Thebes? I am king, and responsible only to myself.”

Using a phrase or phrases as a part of your original

sentence: Antigone was simply doing what she saw as

the right thing and trying to obey the “written unalterable laws of God and heaven,” even though it went against the law of the land.

 It is not by curiosity, but by pure pride that

Oedipus continues on his quest for answers of the past, for he claims to “pursue his trail to the end,” only wanting to prove that he is capable of it, uninterested in what lies at the end.

Using Ellipsis to shorten a quote or make it fit with your

sentence: • Tiresias says to Oedipus, “…brother, as it

is shown, and father at once, to the children he cherishes…father killer and father supplanter.”

“The…law.”

• This all came about as a result of another issue of pride: “The leader roughly ordered me out of the way…and I struck him, for I was angry.”

Quoting just words in a list:

Lamb also capitalizes the words “Journey,” “Lighted,” “Town,” “Sun,” “Life,” and “Mind” to give them importance. He states that London holds “so much life,” further emphasizing the excitement of the city and providing a stark contrast to the “dead nature” that Wordsworth and his fellow romantics love.

Lamb uses possessive repetition to separate his and Wordsworth’s very different lifestyles. He repeats “your” when discussing Wordsworth’s nature. “Your mountaineers,” “your sun…” while talking about his materialized objects like bookcases.

Referencing the line, sentence, or

paragraph to introduce the support: • In the sentence “The lighted shops…

power of satiating me,” Lamb runs one sentence on for eight lines. Within this sentence, he displays…

• “Within the lengthy sentence in lines 4-13, Lamb exclaims he has “formed intense local attachments to…the innumerable trade, coaches, wagons, playhouses, [and] the crowds…”

Explanation is KEY

• Make sure to EXPLAIN the significance of a quote, phrase, or support—don’t just throw it

in without thorough discussion/explanation.

Example…

• "From you; bird lore and god-craft all were silent. Until I came-I, ignorant Oedipus came-and stopped the riddler's mouth, guessing the truth by mother wit, not bird-lore." In this mocking statement he not only dismisses the seer's abilities, but also boasts about his own. Sophocles' careful use of syntax reveals Oedipus' pride and arrogance. His emphasis on “I,” when speaking about himself, changes the tone of the statement from contemptuous to conceited.

Example…

• "It is against you and me he has made this order." Antigone tells Ismene of the injustice against their family. She is constantly preserving the reputation of her family to downplay the shame which was brought upon it. This depicts Antigone's pride in herself alone because she considers Creon's orders personally insulting. Furthermore, it is this abiding pride which causes Antigone to be insensitive to the reasons as to why Ismene will not cooperate in burying their brother.

Not-so-good examples…

Referencing text without using direct quotations or

evidence

4 Lamb’s letter is surrounded with long,

lengthy details to clarify why he won’t accept the invite. For example, in lines 5-8, Lamb explains the lifestyle in the country, and with the use of a dash, his last point is emphasized.

No textual support

5

The sentences describing the country are straight, short and to the point, composed with nothing more than the basic one-syllable words and a period…

No textual support

• 5 – full paragraph

In addition, Lamb uses details to show the dullness of nature. When he describes the city he uses a plethora of detail. He does this to illustrate to the reader that the city has “a lot to offer.” The lack of detail for nature emphasizes that nature can’t offer anything or give as much as the city can. It also shows that the city is more exciting that nature.

Using quotes/textual support without

analyzing the importance or effect of it • 5

• He [Lamb] shows a high contrasting point between people of London and people like hopeless Romantic Wordsworth as Lamb states “…I have formed many intense local attachments as any of your mountaineers with dead nature.” In London, with the hustle and “bustle and wickedness” that occurs daily. [end paragraph]

Using quotations for summary – no analysis

 4

Lamb describes the “Journey” to Cumberland as “desperate,” nature as “dead,” life in the city as “awake,” London as a pantomime and masquerade that “feeds” him, Wordsworth’s emotions as “rural,” states he doesn’t envy but should “pity” Wordsworth, and the objects of the city as “visible.”