CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.4

ELA8th GradeCraft and Structure

The Standard

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literature

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do: Students figure out what words and phrases mean within a literary passage, including nonliteral meanings and emotional associations. They explain how particular words, comparisons, and references affect meaning and tone.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students use context to explain a word or phrase in their own words. They cite specific language and explain how its associations, comparison, or reference shape meaning and tone.
Common Misconceptions: Students may choose a dictionary definition without checking the surrounding lines. They may label any comparison as an analogy, miss familiar allusions, or name a tone without linking it to specific words.
How to Assess It: Give students a short literary paragraph with one figurative phrase and one allusion. Ask: “What does each mean here, and how does each affect the tone?”

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs color-coded cards with quoted phrases, context clues, possible meanings, and tone labels to match and justify.
Ask students to replace one loaded word in a paragraph, then write how the new word changes the reader’s impression.
Play Tone Detective by revealing one sentence at a time while teams identify words that support their tone claim.
Compare language from a song lyric and an advertisement, noting how each uses associations or familiar references to influence its audience.

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