CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.4
The Standard
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Informational Text
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students determine what words and phrases mean within a particular passage, including implied, figurative, and subject-specific meanings. They track a key term across a text and explain how the author adjusts its meaning or effect.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain a word’s meaning in a specific passage and support that reading with context clues. The student can trace a repeated term across sections and explain how the author sharpens, broadens, or changes it.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may choose the first dictionary definition without checking the surrounding sentences. They may confuse connotation with figurative language or assume a repeated term keeps one fixed meaning throughout a text.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Choose one key term from today’s article. Define it in context, cite one clue, and explain how its meaning or effect changes later in the text.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs four printed excerpts containing one repeated term; students highlight context clues and arrange excerpts to show how its meaning changes.
Write one paragraph explaining how the meaning of “freedom” shifts across two sections of a speech, using one quotation from each.
Play Context Clue Relay: teams match sentence cards to literal, figurative, connotative, or technical meanings, then defend one disputed match.
Compare how “risk” is used in a medical consent form and an insurance advertisement, then list the effect of each wording.
Free download
Printable RI.11-12.4 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.4, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Reading: Informational Text progression map.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the cou...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.