Okuzeka
Literature vocabulary · Core Concepts

Textual evidence

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounCore term

In literature, textual evidence means: Words, details, or passages from a text that support an interpretation, answer, or analytical claim.

In Turkish: metinsel kanıt

How it is used

Very common in classrooms and criticism. It is used when quoting or closely referring to a text in order to justify a reading.

Example sentences

  1. The marker asked for stronger textual evidence, because my paragraph summarized the chapter but never quoted the judge's final speech.

    The phrase means specific support taken from the text itself, not general memory or a broad summary of events.

  2. In the staff workshop, Ayşe modeled how one line of textual evidence can clarify a claim about the narrator's changing tone.

    Here, textual evidence is a quoted or closely cited line that makes an interpretation more convincing and precise.

Common collocations

  • provide textual evidence
  • cite textual evidence
  • strong textual evidence
  • themeA central idea or message about life that a literary work explores, such as love, loss, freedom or identity, and what the work suggests about it.
  • narratorThe voice that tells the story to the reader. It may be a character in the story or an outside voice, and it is not the same as the author.

More terms: Core Concepts

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: