Virginia SOL 10.RV.1.D

ELA10th GradeReading and Vocabulary

The Standard

Discriminate between the connotative and denotative meanings and interpret the connotation(s).

Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Vocabulary Development and Word Analysis

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students separate a word's dictionary meaning from the feelings and associations it carries. They use context, tone, and word choice to explain whether an implied meaning is positive, negative, or neutral.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can explain that words such as “determined” and “stubborn” share a basic meaning but suggest different attitudes. They use evidence from the passage to describe how a word shapes tone or reader response.
Common Misconceptions: Students may confuse connotation with figurative language or treat any personal association as the accepted connotation. They may also label words as always positive or negative without checking the context.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Explain how replacing “confident” with “arrogant” changes the attitude in this sentence: “The candidate sounded confident during the debate.”

Lesson moves

Give groups word cards such as slender, skinny, and thin, then have students sort them by shared meaning and emotional shade.
Discuss how changing “walked” to “stalked” changes a character, then write two sentences explaining the effect.
Play Connotation Swap, where teams replace a neutral word with positive and negative alternatives while keeping the basic meaning.
Compare two product advertisements and highlight words that create positive associations without making specific factual claims.

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