English

Castle Learning Online's English includes questions covering reading skills, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and literature. The Critical Reading/Essays unit contains reading passages with related questions, testing a student's comprehension skills. Associated with each reading passage is a related essay that students can work with offline.

Passages vary in length and are categorized into the following main genres: General Prose, Informational Prose, Poetry, Speech, and Information and Chart. Each passage is also assigned a difficulty level (Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced), relative to reading levels appropriate for students at the high school level. In addition to asking questions of a factual nature, the Critical Reading/Essays unit tests students’ ability to make an inference, draw a conclusion, use contextual clues to identify vocabulary, and interpret negatives.

Units: (click to view Sections)

1. Critical Reading/Essays
   
   Sections:
   

   1. Poetry
   2. Informational Prose
   3. General Prose
   4. Prose and Poetry
   5. Speech
   6. Information and Chart
   7. Biography, Autobiography and Memoir
2. Grammar: Sentence Structure
   
   Sections:
   

   1. Compound, Complex and Conditional Sentences
   2. Sentence Modifiers
   3. Parallel Construction
   4. Clarity in Writing
3. Grammar: Punctuation
   
   Sections:
   

   1. Commas
   2. Apostrophes
   3. Other Punctuation
4. Grammar: Usage
   
   Sections:
   

   1. Subject-Verb Agreement
   2. Verb Tense and Usage
   3. Pronouns
   4. Adjectives and Adverbs
   5. Confusing Words
   6. Identifying parts of speech: Nouns
   7. Identifying parts of speech: Verbs
   8. Identifying parts of speech: Prepositions
   9. Identifying parts of speech: Conjunctions
   10. Identifying parts of speech: Adjectives
   11. Identifying parts of speech: Pronouns
   12. Identifying parts of speech: Adverbs
   13. Identifying parts of speech: Articles
   14. Identifying parts of speech: Gerunds
5. Vocabulary
   
   Sections:
   

   1. Synonyms - Group A
   2. Synonyms - Group B
   3. Synonyms - Group C
   4. Synonyms - Group D
   5. Synonyms - Group E
   6. Synonyms - Group F
   7. Vocabulary in Context - Nouns
   8. Vocabulary in Context - Verbs
   9. Vocabulary in Context - Adjectives and Adverbs
   10. Vocabulary in Dual Context
6. Spelling
   
   Sections:
   

   1. Spelling Words - Group A
   2. Spelling Words - Group B
   3. Spelling Words - Group C
   4. Spelling Words - Group D
7. Critical Listening Selections
   
   Sections:
   

   1. Informational Prose
   2. Biography, Autobiography and Memoir
8. Introduction to Literature
   
   Sections:
   

   1. Literary Forms and Techniques
   2. Figurative Language
   3. Poetry
   4. Analyzing Critical Lens Quotations
9. Literature: The Great Gatsby
10. Literature: Macbeth
11. Literature: Lord of the Flies
    
12. Literature: The Crucible
    
13. Literature: The Catcher in the Rye
    
14. Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird
    
15. Literature: Romeo and Juliet
    
16. Literature: The Outsiders
    
17. Literature: Fahrenheit 451
    
18. Literature: The Glass Menagerie
    
19. Literature: Night
    
20. Literature: The Scarlet Letter
    
21. Literature: The Sun Also Rises
    
22. Literature: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    
23. Literature: Speak
    
24. Literature: Death of a Salesman
    
25. Literature: Streetcar Named Desire
    
26. Literature: The Pearl
    
27. Literature: Their Eyes Were Watching God
    
28. Literature: Of MIce and Men
    
29. Literature: All My Sons
    
30. Literature: Selected Works of Edgar Allen Poe
    
31. Literature: Hamlet
    
32. Literature: The House on Mango Street
    
33. Literature: As I Lay Dying
    
34. Literature: A Separate Peace
    

Themes:

1. Identifying Factual Information
2. Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions
3. Understanding Vocabulary Usage Based on Context
4. Identifying Main Idea or Theme
5. Identifying Mood, Tone and Style
6. Identifying Multiple Levels of Meaning
7. Literary Terms and Devices
8. Grammar
9. Spelling
10. Vocabulary