Essential Vocabulary and
Commonly Confused Words
10th Grade
Week 1 Vocab
1. main idea—a single thought that serves as a paragraph’s focus,
all sentences in the paragraph relate to this idea
2. redundancy—wordy
3. transitional words—help a writer’s thoughts flow from one idea
to the next
4. supporting details—include sensory details, examples,
anecdotes, facts, statistics and quotations
5. paragraph—a collection of related sentences dealing with one
idea
6. formal/informal language—refers to a way of writing or
speaking in a style dependent on the audience, purpose and
occasion
• formal language—follows the rules of standard English
• informal language—uses casual, everyday language
Week 1 CCW
• a lot (many)
allot (to distribute)
• Accept (take or receive)
except (excluding)
• Affect (v: act upon/
influence)
effect (n: result)
• Already (previously)
all ready (prepared)
• Alright (informal form of all
right)
all right (formal version of
being ok.
• Altogether (entire/complete)
all together (everyone at the
same time)
• Break (divide into pieces)
brake (in car)
Week 2 Vocab
1. narrative—tells a story
2. tone—the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of the
work, the characters in it, or the audience
3. thesis statement—states the main idea of a composition
4. precise language- refers to the use of precise verbs, nouns,
and adjectives to make writing fresh and vivid; replaces
vague language
5. Six Traits—a focus on ideas and content, organization,
voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions to
create effective writing
Week 2 CCW
• capitol (city head)
capital (money)
the Capitol (Washington DC)
• Cent (money)
sent (give)
scent (smell)
• Cite (sources) site (place)
sight (seeing)
• Course (class) coarse (rough)
• Due (time)
dew (water)
do (action)
• Earn (deserve/receive)
urn (vase for ashes)
• Emigrate (to leave your
country) immigrate
• Flour (cooking)
flower (rose, daisy, etc)
Week 3 Vocab
1. mood—the overall emotion
2. theme—the insight about human life that is revealed
3. imagery—helps the reader see, hear, feel, taste, and smell what is being
described
4. autobiography—the account of the writer’s own life
5. irony—the discrepancy between appearances and reality; unexpected
• verbal irony—occurs when someone says the opposite of what he or
she means
• situational irony—occurs when what happens is the opposite of what
was expected to happen
• dramatic irony—occurs when the reader or audience knows
something that a character does not know; often used on the stage
6. author’s purpose—the intention of the writer: entertain, describe, explain, or
persuade
7. inference—a logical guess that is based on observed facts and one’s own
knowledge and experience
Week 3 CCW
• Hall (passage)
haul (tow/pull)
• Hear (sound)
here (now/place)
• Herd (group)
heard (sound)
• Its (possessive pronoun)
it’s (contraction for it is)
• Knot (tie)
not (no)
• Know (understand)
no (no)
• lead (guide)
led (past tense of lead)
• Lone (single/one)
loan (lend/give someone)
Week 4 Vocab
1. expository/informative writing—writing used to define terms, give
directions, explain processes, and tell how things work; presents or
explains facts and ideas
2. descriptive writing—sets a scene to introduce a character or to create a
mood
3. compare—to examine similarities
4. contrast—to show or emphasize differences
5. cause—an event or action that leads directly to another event or action
6. effect—the direct or logical outcome of an event or action
7. thesis statement—states the main idea of a composition
Week 4 CCW
Review weeks 1-3
Week 5
1.shift in tense and form—combines different
verb forms to show how events are related in
time to emphasize them differently
2.peer edit—the process of having a classmate
proofread and edit another classmate’s
writing
3.peer review—the comments and suggestions
a classmate makes about another classmate’s
writing
4.self edit—the process of proofreading and
editing one’s own writing
Week 5 CCW
• Made (forced/created)
maid (female servant)
• Meet (encounter)
meat (used as food)
• New (not used)
knew (understood/learned)
• Adapt (change to fit)
adopt (use ideas/family)
• advice (noun: guidance)
advise (verb: give guidance
Week 6 Vocab
1. precise language- refers to the use of precise verbs,
nouns, and adjectives to make writing fresh and vivid;
replaces vague language
2. vivid language—full of life; intense
3. persuasive techniques—to convince to think or act in a
certain way
• logical appeal—uses evidence such as facts or
statistics
• emotional appeal—uses words that arouse strong
feelings
• ethical appeals—establishes a writer’s qualifications
and sincerity using ethics
CCW Week 6
• Among (surrounded by)
between (in middle/divided)
• Anyway (no matter what happens)
anywhere (in, at, to any place)
• Nowhere (not anywhere)
somewhere (unspecified space)
• Borrow (take and give back)
lend (give on loan)
Week 7 Vocab
1. figure of speech—word or phrase that describes one
thing in terms of something else and that is not meant
to be taken literally
2. simile—a figure of speech that makes an explicit
comparison between two unlike things, using a word
such as like, as, than, or resembles
3. personification—a figure of speech in which an object
or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or
attitudes
4. metaphor—a figure of speech that makes a
comparison between two unlike things without the
use of such specific words of comparison as like, as,
than, or resembles
CCW Week 7
•
can (ability to)
may (permission)
• choose (to select between options)
chose (past tense of choose)
• dessert (sweet food after dinner)
desert (dry place/leave)
• Farther (distance)
further (advanced point)
Week 8 Vocab
• 1. archetype—a very old, imaginative pattern that
appears in literature across cultures and is repeated
through the ages; can be a character, a plot, an
image, a theme, or a setting
• 2. atmosphere—the mood or feeling created in a
piece of writing
• 3. mood—the overall emotion created in a piece of
writing
• 4. symbol—a person, a place, a thing, or an event
that has meaning in itself and that also stands for
something more than itself
Week 8 CCW
• Imply (suggest)
infer (derive by reasoning)
• Lay (v: place something)
lie (v: state of placement)
• Learn ( to aquire knowledge/skill)
teach (impart knowledge/skill
Week 10 Vocab
1. skim—to glance throughout without reading word for
word
2. scan—to look at closely
3. synthesize—to combine parts and elements to become
a whole
4. plagiarize—to pass off someone else’s work as your
own
5. critique—a critical analysis or review
6. cite—to quote
7. literal—follows the wording of the original
8. interpret—to explain or to translate
Week 10 CCW
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Loose – not bound
Lose – fail to keep
Quiet – no noise
Quite – completely, truly
leave – to go
Let – to allow or permit
Like – of the same form
as if – as it would be if…
• Majority – more than half a
number
• Most – greatest number
• Almost – very nearly all
• Of - preposition used to
add information
• Have – possess, own
Week 12 Vocab
1. parable—a relatively short story that teaches
a lesson or a moral about how to live the good
life
2.context clues—to find clues to the meaning of
a unfamiliar word
3.adverbial clause—a subordinate clause that
modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb
4.archaic—old language
Week 12 CCW
•
•
•
•
•
Our (people) hour (time)
Piece (section)
Peace (not fighting)
Plane (in the air) plain (not decorated)
Rain (water) rein (restraint) reign (power)
Rode (past tense of ride) road (street,
highway)
Week 13 Vocab
1.setting—the time and location in which a
story takes place
2.climax—the point in the plot that creates the
greatest intensity, suspense, or interest
3.repetition—unifying property of repeated
words, sounds, syllables, and other elements
that appear in a work
Week 13 CCW
•
•
•
•
Real (authentic)
really (actually)
Set (to put)
sit (physically be seated)
Than (comparison) then (happens next)
Good (used as adjective) well (used as adverb)
Week 14 Vocab
1. meter—a pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables in poetry
2.stanza—a group of consecutive lines that form
a structural unit in a poem
3. foot—a metrical unit of poetry
4. alliteration—the repetition of the same or
similar consonant sounds in words that a close
together
Week 14 CCW
•
•
•
•
•
Pier (dock)
Principal (of school)
Raise (lift)
Sale (deal, lower price)
Sail (glide in boat)
peer (gaze)
principle (standard)
rise (climb, go up)
sell(to put for purchase)
cell (small room)
Week 15 Vocab
1.poetry—a form of creative writing that
emphasizes language and imagery
2.genre—a kind or type of literature
3.analysis—a detailed examination
4.misplaced modifier—a modifying word,
phrase or clause that sound awkward because
it modifies the wrong word or group of words
5.dangling modifier—a modifying word, phrase,
or clause that does not sensibly modify any
word or words in a sentence
Week 15 CCW
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Since (used in time)
sense (logic)
cents (money)
Seen (past of see)
scene (picture/view)
Stationary (motionless)
stationery (writing paper/materials)
Week 16 Vocab
1. tragedy—a story in which a heroic character either dies or
comes to an unhappy end
2. antagonist—is the opponent who struggles against or blocks
the hero, or protagonist, in a story
3. superstition—any thought that is inconsistent with known
facts or rational thoughts
4. foot notes—a note of comment or reference at the bottom
of a page
5. culture—the skills, arts, etc. of a given people, in a given
period, civilization
6. assassination—the act of murder by an assassin
7. appendix—additional material at the end of a book that
serves as supplementary material
Week 17
1.sarcasm—a taunting or caustic remark,
generally ironic
2.understatement—a statement that says less
than what is meant
3.motive/motivation—the reason/s for a
character’s behavior (EOL p.1388)
4.imagery—the use of language to evoke a
picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a
thing, a place, or an experience