Virginia SOL 12.W.2.A.vi
The Standard
Elaborating ideas clearly and effectively through syntactic structure, subordination of ideas, sensory/ concrete details, diction, and purposeful word choice.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students shape sentences so the main point stands out and supporting ideas have the right emphasis. They add concrete details and choose precise words that fit the reader and purpose.
What Mastery Looks Like
- The student writes a focused passage that emphasizes the main idea and places background information in subordinate clauses. Concrete details, varied sentence patterns, and precise words suit the intended reader.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think longer sentences always sound more sophisticated. They may bury the main point in a dependent clause, add irrelevant description, or choose awkward thesaurus words instead of precise ones.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Revise “The cafeteria was bad, and students complained because lunch was unpleasant” for the principal. Use one subordinate clause, two concrete details, and a precise verb.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs color-coded sentence strips with a main idea, supporting details, and subordinate clauses, then have them build and compare two versions.
Write two versions of a school policy message, one for students and one for parents, then explain each sentence and word choice.
Play Revision Relay: teams replace vague words, add concrete details, and subordinate weaker ideas in a short paragraph.
Rewrite a vague customer complaint as a clear email using precise diction, concrete evidence, and sentence variety for a store manager.
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Related Standards
- 11.W.2.A.v
Elaborating ideas clearly through purposeful and precise word choice.
- 5.W.2.A.ii
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- 10.W.2.A.vi
Elaborating ideas clearly through intentional word choice and varied sentence structure.
- 4.W.2.A.ii
Developing, selecting, and organizing ideas relevant to the topic, purpose, and genre using precise language and topic-specific words and phrases, descriptive d...
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