Character Traits

Determination Determination is a positive personal character trait. If there is something this person wants to do, he or she will not give up easily or get distracted by something else. Some people give up too easily. If you are determined to achieve a worthwhile goal, you will receive the rewards. A person who is determined has made up their mind to reach a goal even if there are obstacles to overcome, or the goal seems too hard. For example, a baseball player may be determined to catch a ball that seems too far away. He tries his best to catch that ball instead of giving up on it. The motto of the U.S. Marines, which goes something like: "The difficult, we do right away. The impossible takes a little longer."

What character trait did Shorty show in “Baseball Saved Us?” Give examples from the story. In the story “Baseball Saved Us” the main character is a boy nicknamed Shorty. Shorty showed the character trait of determination. He was determined to do his best even when it would have been easy to give up. For example, in the beginning of the story, all the kids would tease him because he was not very good at baseball. Shorty could have quit playing, but he was determined to get better. Another example was at the Camp, when Shorty was angry that the guard was staring at him. The story says, “he was determined not to strike out.” Even though it seemed unlikely, because of his determination, Shorty hit a home run! You can clearly see from these examples that Shorty was a boy with determination. He didn’t give up!

Open Ended Questions Your Answers Must: 1) Have a clear topic sentence that restates the question. 2) Have three examples from the text. 3) Use connecting words such as: For example, Another example, The story says, “ Quotation ” According to the story, The author tells you 4) Have an ending statement that restates the topic sentence. 5) Use ending words such as: So you can clearly see Now you can understand that