Maryland ELA L.7.4.b

ELA7th GradeLanguage

The Standard

L.7.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel). Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).

Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).

Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Break unfamiliar words into Greek or Latin parts they know. Use those parts and the sentence around the word to make a meaning guess.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student spots bell, meaning war, in bellicose and predicts that it means eager to fight. They use the sentence to check that guess.
Common Misconceptions: Students may mistake any familiar chunk of letters for a root, such as reading bell in doorbell as war. They may assume rebel and bellicose mean the same thing because they share a root.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: In “The bellicose captain threatened to attack,” underline the root in bellicose. Explain your meaning guess using both the root and the sentence.

Lesson moves

Give pairs cards marked belligerent, bellicose, rebel, and doorbell; ask them to sort related words and explain the odd one out.
Ask, “How does bell help you understand rebel, and why is a rebel not always bellicose?” Have students write two sentences.
Play root match with cards for bio, geo, graph, biography, and geography; teams explain each match to earn a point.
Show a photo of a telescope; ask students how tele, meaning far, and scope, meaning look, fit what the tool does.

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