CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4

ELAGrades 9–10Craft and Structure

The Standard

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

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 use nearby details to work out what words and phrases mean in a passage. They explain how literal, figurative, and emotional associations build tone, setting, and meaning across the text.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can explain what an unfamiliar or figurative phrase means within a passage. The student can cite several word choices and show how they build tone, setting, or meaning together.
Common Misconceptions: Students often choose the first dictionary definition instead of using context. They may label a phrase as figurative without explaining its effect. Some discuss one word but ignore how several choices work together.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Choose two words from today’s passage that shape its tone. Define each in context, then explain their combined effect in three sentences.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs a passage and word cards, then have them replace key words and record how each replacement changes the tone.
Ask students to write: Which three words most strongly create the passage’s mood, and how do they work together?
Play Tone Detective by giving teams short excerpts to label, then award points for text evidence that proves each tone.
Compare two headlines about the same event, then identify how loaded words lead readers toward different reactions.

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