Vocabulary Strategy: Interpret Figures of Speech in ContextWriters often use figures of speech, or language that communicates meanings beyond the literal meaning of words to help them express ideas in imaginative ways. Here are three common figures of speech.

Write an example of each using your own words label each one simile, metaphor, personification

Language Conventions: Improving ExpressionSome authors of chose formal language, or Standard English to describe the characters, the setting, and the narrator’s thoughts. Some use informal language, such as “shuddup,” to mimic how some teenagers actually sound. Another author might use slang, or made-up words and ordinary words with new meanings, to create situations and characters that are authentic to a particular place and time. When to use slang or informal language

• Consider your audience and assignment. Is it something you will turn in for a grade like a test or essay – use formal language. Is it a story or journal entry where you can write what you choose. Informal maybe a better fit. You will use slang if it will make a character seem like a real person or in speaking to your friends.

Identify the formal speaking words, informal language, and slang (underline, circle, box)

As Karla passed the principal’s office, she thought about how she admired that Ms. Hansen was quiet, but kind and direct. Karla’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard Ms. Hansen’s door open behind her.“Hey,” Karla heard Ms. Hansen say. “Where ya headed?”“To get some grub,” said Karla as she turned around. “Whatcha been doing today?” asked Ms. Hansen. “Been better,” sighed Karla. “Epic fail.”

Connotations and Denotations

Connotations are the feeling or emotion behind a word such as spooky, fondly, or hesitant. In speaking you can easily tell the connotation with facial expressions and voice tone. In reading the way the reader says it in their brain will show if the reader can determine the connotation.

Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word. If we use spooky, fondly, and hesitant there would be no feeling behind the word.

Practice on your own write the definition of spooky, fondly, and hesitant. Then Write a sentence showing connotation with each word.

Ex: Excited: feelings of happiness with a burst of energy.Sentence: I was SO excited when I found out I got an A I was jumping up and down and cheering.

Vocabulary Strategy: Part-to-Whole Analogies

An analogy presents a relationship between pairs of words. Sometimes writers use analogies to explain unfamiliar ideas. A typical analogy begins with a pair of items that are related in some way. One of the most common analogies is part to whole. Here is an example, displayed first as a sentence and then with special symbols:

Baseball card is to collection as tiger is to menagerie. (zoo cage)baseball card : collection :: tiger : menagerie (zoo cage)

Both versions express a part-to-whole relationship: baseball card and tiger are parts; collection and menagerie are wholes. In the second version, the single colon stands for “is to” and the double colon stands for “as.” Examining the full analogy helps you understand how the word pairs are related.

Practice and Apply Complete each part-to-whole analogy by choosing the letter of the best answer.

1. Petal is to _________ as child is to family a. flowerb. car

2. Chapter: book as ____________ is to sailor a. navyb. uniform

3. Ohio is to ________ as lettuces is to salad a. worldb. United States

4. Elbow: arm as people: ______ a. businessb. population

Write 2 analogies on you own with 2 possible answers like the 4 questions above. It will be used in a review assignment.

Language Conventions: Spell Words Correctly

The main reason for writing is to communicate ideas with others. That’s why it is extremely important for writers to use and spell words correctly.Many common words, such as loose and lose, are spelled differently and sound slightly different, but they are close enough to be easily confused or misused. Look at this example from “Wild Animals Aren’t Pets”:

With animals running loose and darkness closing in, authorities arrived with no good choices to protect the public.

The word loose is commonly misspelled as lose, which is a different word with a different meaning. If the writer had misspelled loose as lose, readers would have been confused and distracted. The following words are often confused:

Practice and Apply Choose the word from each commonly confused pair that correctly completes each sentence.

1. Wilma would not (except/accept) Betty’s offer for a ride to school.

2. Do not explain any (further/farther) to the police until your lawyer is present.

3. The lawyer will (advice/advise) you of your rights.4. The old slide did not look like it could (bear/bare) the

weight of a child anymore. 5. Russel slammed his foot in the (brake/break) to avoid

hitting the other car. 6. The judge’s decision will have an (effect/affect) on

other similar cases.7. Mia (past/passed) the library on the way home.8. It is better to have loved and lost (than/then) to have

never loved at all.

FIND 2 more pairs of words that get confused easily.

Analyze Word Choice and ToneA piece of writing usually has a particular style. A style is a manner of writing; involves how something is said rather than what is said. Style is shown through elements such as:

• word choice—the way words and phrases are used to express ideas

• sentence structure—the types, patterns, and lengths of sentences used, including fragments (pieces of sentences)• dialogue—realistic conversation between character

• tone—the writer’s attitude toward the subject, such as serious, playful, mocking, and sympathetic

The author’s choice to tell “Eleven” from Rachel’s point of view affects the style of the writing. For example, reread the first paragraph. Note that the writer uses a combination of long and short sentences and conversational words as if Rachel were talking directly to you. When Rachel describes how she feels about turning eleven, the tone might be described as annoyed or grumpy. These style elements draw us into Rachel’s world and help us see the story from her perspective.

What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t. You open your eyes and everything’s just like yesterday, only it’s today. And you don’t feel eleven at all. You feel like you’re still ten. And you are—underneath the year that makes you eleven.

Identify and write down the sentence that shows tone (feelings), sentence structure (long, short, or different looking sentences from the rest of the paragraph), and word choice (the words that you can tell have a lot of meaning for the writer), and dialogue (the sentence that shows she is talking to you or another character)

Language Conventions: Punctuating Dialogue

Dialogue is written conversation between two or more characters. In fiction, dialogue is usually set off with quotation marks. Keep the following rules in mind when you write dialogue:

• Put quotation marks before and after a speaker’s exact words.

• Place punctuation marks, such as commas, question marks, and periods, inside the quotation mark.

• If a speaker tag, such as she said, comes before the quotation, set a comma after the speaker tag.

• If a speaker tag follows the exact words of the quotation, set a comma after the quotation but before the closing quotation mark.

Note how the following dialogue from “Eleven” follows the rules for punctuating dialogue:“Whose is this?” Mrs. Price says, and she holds the red sweater up in the air for all the class to see. “Whose? It’s been sitting in the coatroom for a month.”“Not mine,” says everybody. “Not me.”“It has to belong to somebody,” Mrs. Price keeps saying, but nobody can remember.

Copy and place the quotations around the speaking/dialogue.

Now, Rachel, that’s enough, says the teacher, because she sees I’ve shoved the red sweater to the tippy-tip corner of my desk and it’s hanging all over the edge like a waterfall, but I don’t care.       Rachel, Mrs. Price says. She says it like she’s getting mad. You put that sweater on right now and no more nonsense.

       But it’s not—       Now! Mrs. Price says.

Determine the Meaning of Figurative LanguagePoets often use figurative language to express ideas. A simile is a comparison of two things that uses the words like or as. A metaphor is a comparison of things that does not use like or as. Similes and metaphors help readers see ideas in an imaginative way. The poem “A Voice” opens with a simile: Even the lights on the stage unrelenting as the desert sun couldn’t hide the other students, . . .The simile emphasizes how unforgiving and severe the stage lights seem. This comparison helps readers understand how the speaker’s mother felt. To determine the meaning of a simile or metaphor, ask yourself:

• What two ideas is the poet comparing?• What feelings and attitudes does the simile or metaphor help explain?

Look for other examples of figurative language copy and highlight yellow for simile, pink for metaphor, orange for any other figurative language you find.

WORDS LIKE FREEDOM by Langston HughesThere are words like Freedom Sweet and wonderful to say.On my heartstring’s freedom sings All day every day.There are words like Liberty That almost make me cry.If you had known what I know You would know why.

Analyze ToneTone is another way a writer expresses ideas. A writer’s tone is his or her attitude toward a subject. Tone is often described with a single adjective, such as angry, playful, or mocking. Writers establish tone through thoughts, actions, images, and word choices.An inference is a logical guess. Readers can identify and put together clues, such as the poet’s choice of words and images, to make inferences about a poem’s tone.

In “A Voice,” the simile “In your house that smelled like rose powder, you spoke Spanish formal . . .” provides a clue about the home of the speaker’s mother. From this, readers can infer that the speaker, or the voice that “talks” to the reader, has a deep understanding of what her mother’s home life was like. The speaker’s tone can be described as understanding. Use the following clues to make inferences about tone in the poems:

• Identify the topic. • Pay attention to images and descriptions. Are they

serious, silly, or frightening? • Decide how the speaker feels about the subject. Does

he or she feel happy, sad, or angry?

What is the tone of the following passage? Explain how you know.

Even the lights on the stage unrelenting as the desert sun couldn’t hide the otherstudents, their eyes also unrelenting, students who spoke English every night.

COMPARE TEXTSAnalyze Texts: Sources

Research sources can be grouped based on how closely those who created them are or were to the events being described. Primary sources are materials created by people who witnessed or took part in a particular event. Secondary sources are records of events that were created some time after the events occurred. Unlike primary sources, secondary sources are made by people who were not directly involved in an event or present when it occurred. This chart shows examples of primary and secondary sources:

A person writing his or her memoir likely uses a number of primary sources while writing. The memoir itself is also a primary source. Someone writing a biography might use some primary sources, but the majority of the research will come from secondary sources. A biography is considered a secondary source.

Compare and Contrast: Memoir and Biography

When you compare and contrast a memoir (when a person write their story about their life) and a biography (about a person’s life written by someone else in a factual way), you analyze the way each writer presents the subject and the events and influences in the subject’s life. Here are some questions you can ask to compare and contrast a memoir and a biography:

• What is each author’s purpose for writing? Do the authors share the same purpose, or are their purposes different?• How are the authors’ presentations of events alike and different?

• How is the impression you get of the person alike and different in each text? Does the author of the memoir sound very different from the person written about in the biography? Does one text seem more accurate or reliable?

Identify each paragraph as memoir or biography and how did you know? Fill in the chart with difference between memoir and biography.

At that point, Colin had no intention of making the army a career. He wanted only to find a way to escape from New York City for a while and, in his own words, “have some excitement.” Besides, joining the ROTC would help him find work. He expected to serve no more than two years in the army after graduating from college “and then come home and get a real job.” But as it turned out, he had stumbled onto his life’s calling. ____________________

Mama found a job as a seamstress, and she too spent many long hours doing her work. “It wasn’t a matter of spending a great deal of time with my parents discussing things,” Colin remembered. “We didn’t sit down at night . . . and review the work of the day. It was just the way they lived their lives.”___________________________________

Vocabulary Strategy: Analogies

An analogy presents a relationship between pairs of words. Sometimes writers use analogies to explain unfamiliar ideas. A typical analogy begins with a pair of items that are related in some way. One common word relationship is item-to-category. Here is an example, displayed first as a sentence and then using special symbols:

Claustrophic is to fear as newspaper is to periodicals.claustrophobic : fear :: newspaper : periodicals

An item-to-category analogy relates an individual item (claustrophobic; newspaper) to its category (fear; periodicals). In the second version of each analogy, the single colon stands for “is to” and the double colon stands for “as. ”Examining each full analogy helps you understand how the word pairs are related.Practice and Apply Complete each analogy by choosing the best answer

1. Horse is to animal as _________ is to plant a. tomato b. leaf

2. Kitchen: room as ________: record a. diary b. property

3. Fingerprint: __________ as oil: painting a. identification b. smudge

4. Jewel: sparkle as _____________: prestigious a. award b. punishment

Language Conventions: Correct Vague PronounsPronouns are words used in place of a noun or another pronoun, such as he, she, or it. The word that the pronoun refers to is its antecedent (the person or object being talked/written about). Sometimes errors in writing occur when pronouns do not clearly refer to an antecedent. Here’s an example:

In the new movie about aliens, they have some great computer-generated imagery. (circle the pronoun- why is this unclear as to who wrote it)_________________________

_____________________________________________________________

The pronoun they is vague because the antecedent is unclear; does it refer to the aliens or to the people who made the movie? To get rid of the vague pronoun, the sentence could be rewritten like this .

The new movie about aliens has some great computer-generated imagery . (there are no pronouns in the sentence)

Sometimes a vague pronoun tries to refer to a general idea rather than a specific event. For example, It Worked for Me begins with a recollection of an event that led to Colin Powell’s first job (lines 1–10).

Line 11 begins “That was the beginning of a close friendship . . .” The pronoun That is vague because it does not refer directly to any particular event or person.

Sometimes a pronoun is vague when it could refer to more than one antecedent, like this:

When Julian and his father played chess, he often won. The vague pronoun he makes it hard to tell who won. The word he needs to be replaced with the name of the person who won: When Julian and his father played chess, Julian often won.

Circle the pronoun and rewrite the sentence to make more sense (give the pronoun a name)

1. Jean saw him.2. Give her  the book.3. Are you talking to me?

Write 2 vague pronoun sentences of your own (will be used for an assignment)1.2.

Determine Meanings of Words and Phrases

The mood of a story is the overall atmosphere or feeling that a writer for the reader. Mood can be described as cheerful, romantic, somber, peaceful, eerie, and so on. Writers create mood by: • carefully choosing words to describe the setting, characters, and plot

• using imagery that appeals to the five senses to help readers imagine how things look, feel, smell, taste, and sound• showing what the characters think and how they talk

Using your understanding of these techniques can help you determine the meanings of words and phrases that contribute to the mood of a story.

For example, John’s mother says, “Eat and be quiet. Audrey’s coming, so let’s stop this here kind of talk.” This dialogue helps the reader identify the mood as somber.

Identify the mood of different scenes, noting the techniques the writer uses to achieve that mood.

1.“I listen,” she said. Her eyes lit with a sudden spark that seemed to come from their absolute brown depths. ____________

2. Her last word sunk so low that he could not exactly hear it. ______________________________

3. A voice too distant to be understood bawled a military command. _________________________

4. There were horns again and a crescendo (a loudening) of boos. ___________________________

Write 3 sentences with a different mood in each one

1.2.3.

Language Conventions: Varying Sentence PatternsAuthors use a variety of sentence patterns to make their writing smooth, clear, and interesting to read. A sentence pattern refers to how a sentence is structured. Review the sentence patterns and examples shown in the chart.

Writers pay attention to sentence patterns because the right combination of short and long sentences creates rhythm. A rhythm of action and reflection is established, and the reader is immediately engaged.

Practice and Apply Change the sentence pattern of each sentence or group of sentences. First, identify the original pattern used in each sentence. Then revise, using a different sentence pattern for each item.

1. John hadn’t slept very well the night before because the sounds of car horns and loud voices kept waking him up.

2. Audrey came down the stairs. She acted prim. The dress she had chosen looked fresh and cool.

3. Their mother came onto the porch. She called to them. She followed them down the street.

SYMBOLISM: the meaning of symbols

Symbols are put into stories by the author that give an ordinary object, person, or idea an additional meaning that its regular meaning. An example would be in the novel Frankenstein, every time there was rain, the monster would appear. Rain became the symbol for the monsters presence. There are many ways to add symbolism into stories. Read below and determine what the symbol is and it additional meaning given by the author.

Everyday she would tend to her marigolds flowers. Even though it was the only thing of beauty in this poor neighborhood we live in. I hated them. I hated them so much that one day when I was hungry and mad at the world for the state of poverty we lived in, and left to watch my younger brothers and sisters alone, I went to over to those marigolds and destroyed them. I tore them to tiny pieces. It was in that moment, that my childhood was gone. I had taken the beauty away from everyone. Including myself.

Identify the symbol and what was the meaning.______________________________________________________________________

Vocabulary Strategy: Cause-to-Effect AnalogiesAn analogy presents a relationship between pairs of words. Sometimes writers use analogies to explain unfamiliar ideas. A typical analogy begins with a pair of items that are related in some way. One common word relationship is cause to effect. Cause-to-effect analogies show a cause,something that happens, and the effect,

something that happens as a result. Here is an example, displayed first as a sentence and then with special symbols:

Both versions express a cause-to-effect analogy: weary and virus are the causes; sleep and pestilence are the effects. In the second version, the single colons stand for “is to” and the double colon stands for “as.” Examining the full analogy helps you understand how the word pairs are related.

Practice and Apply Complete each cause-to-effect analogy by choosing the best answer.

1. Drought: famine as ________is to despair 3. Recklessness: ____________as pain: discomfort

2. Crime: imprisonment as __________ : accomplishment 4. Quarrel: discord as merriment:_________