3.10.D
The Standard
describe how the author's use of imagery, literal and figurative language such as simile, and sound devices such as onomatopoeia achieves specific purposes
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students find sensory details, similes, sound words, and literal or figurative phrases in a text. They explain how each choice shapes a picture, sound, feeling, or idea for the reader.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a short passage, students can identify a sensory detail, simile, sound word, or literal phrase. They can explain its specific effect using evidence from the passage.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call every comparison a simile, even when it does not use “like” or “as.” They may confuse any noisy event with onomatopoeia or explain an effect only as “making it interesting.”
How to Assess It
- Use this exit ticket: Read, “Boom! Thunder shook the windows, and rain fell like silver strings.” Underline two craft choices and explain what each helps you imagine or feel.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs phrase cards to sort into literal language, similes, sensory details, and sound words, then match each phrase to its purpose.
Ask students to explain which phrase in a read-aloud creates the clearest picture and why.
Play device detective bingo by reading examples aloud, then have students name each device and state its effect before covering a square.
Examine comic book panels or advertisements, then identify sound words and comparisons that clarify action or grab attention.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- 5.10.D
describe how the author's use of imagery, literal and figurative language such as simile and metaphor, and sound devices achieves specific purposes;
- 4.10.D
describe how the author's use of imagery, literal and figurative language such as simile and metaphor, and sound devices such as alliteration and assonance achi...
- 6.9.D
describe how the author's use of figurative language such as metaphor and personification achieves specific purposes;
- 8.9.D
describe how the author's use of figurative language such as extended metaphor achieves specific purposes;
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