5.10.F
The Standard
examine how the author's use of language contributes to voice
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 identify words, phrases, sentence patterns, and punctuation that reveal a writer’s personality or attitude. They explain how those choices create a distinct voice.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students describe the voice with a precise word, such as playful, formal, impatient, or thoughtful. They cite words, phrases, or sentence patterns and explain how those choices shape the voice.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may confuse voice with the text’s topic, mood, or a character’s dialogue. They may label a voice as “funny” or “serious” without citing specific language choices.
How to Assess It
- Use a short paragraph as an exit ticket. Ask, “What word best describes the voice, and which two language choices create it?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs word and sentence cards to sort into playful, formal, dramatic, and casual voices, then defend one choice.
Ask students to rewrite a plain sentence twice, once with an excited voice and once with an annoyed voice.
Play Voice Detective by reading short passages while teams identify the voice and highlight two clues that support their answer.
Compare two restaurant reviews of the same meal and discuss how word choice reveals each reviewer’s personality and attitude.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- 3.10.F
discuss how the author's use of language contributes to voice; and
- 8.9.F
analyze how the author's use of language contributes to the mood, voice, and tone; and
- 6.9.F
analyze how the author's use of language contributes to mood and voice; and
- 4.10.F
discuss how the author's use of language contributes to voice; and
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.