What are some strategies for figuring out the meaning for unfamiliar words in a text? :

From his studies of coptic, champollion knew that the egyptian word for "sun" was pronounced rah. he wrote down the first two letters of that sound, ra. next he put a question mark for the unknown middle hieroglyph. then, at the end, he wrote ss, the sound of the last two hieroglyphs. he studied the combination: ra ? ss. suddenly he remembered a famous pharaoh whose name appeared in ancient greek chronicles and also in the biblical book of exodus: rameses, or ramesses. could this be a hieroglyphic representation of ramesses' name? based on the excerpt, what detail did champollion need to conclude that the hieroglyphics might represent ramesses’s name?

Athesis statement can be controversial

Read the excerpt from the poem "growing up italian" by maria mazziotti gillan and answer the question that follows. when i was a little girl, i thought everyone was italian, and that was good. we visted our aunts and uncles, and they visted us. the italian language smooth and sweet in my mouth. in kindergarten, english words fell on me, thick and sharp as hail. i grew silent, the italian word balanced on the edge of my tongue and the english word, lost during the first moment of every question. source: gillan, maria mazziotti. "growing up italian." poetrymagazine. com. poetry magazine, n. d. web. 30 mar. 2011. what is the tone of this poem? what does the tone reveal about the speaker of the poem and the conflict she faces? based on this excerpt, what can you predict about the theme of the poem?