Virginia SOL 10.RL.2.C
The Standard
Analyze how authors use specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice to convey the author’s intent and viewpoint.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Craft and Style
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students examine exact words, sentence patterns, tone, and voice in a literary passage. They explain how those choices communicate the writer’s purpose and viewpoint.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students select precise evidence and name the craft choice they notice. They explain how that choice shapes tone or voice and supports a clear claim about purpose or viewpoint.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often label a tone without pointing to words or sentence patterns that create it. They may confuse tone with mood, or treat the narrator’s viewpoint as the author’s own viewpoint.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short passage and ask: “Choose one word choice or sentence pattern. Explain how it reveals the writer’s purpose or viewpoint.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a printed passage to color-code loaded words, sentence patterns, tone shifts, and signs of a distinct voice.
Ask students to write: “Which sentence best reveals the writer’s viewpoint, and what specific language makes that viewpoint clear?”
Play Craft Choice Match by having teams pair passage cards with effect cards, then defend each match using evidence.
Compare two social media captions about the same school event, then identify how wording and sentence style shape each writer’s viewpoint.
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Printable 10.RL.2.C Worksheet
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Evaluate how authors use specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice to convey the author’s intent and viewpoint.
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