RL5 Determining Word Meaning
RL5: Determining Word Meanings
I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are
used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical, and
deeply analyze the impact of specific word choice on meaning and
tone, especially with fresh and engaging literature (Shakespeare,
4 etc.).
I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are
used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical, and
analyze the impact of specific word choice on meaning and tone,
3 especially with fresh and engaging literature (Shakespeare, etc.).
I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are
2 used in a text, including figurative, connotative and technical.
I can determine the literal meaning of words and phrases as they
1 are used in a text.
1.
2.
3.
What figurative language trick is being used?
What does the quote mean?
What tone does the quote create? How?

Antithesis: the balancing of two contrasting
ideas, words, phrases, or sentences
 “with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage”

Personification: giving human characteristics
to non-human or inanimate things
 “The air bites…it is nipping” (1.4.1-2).

Metaphor: comparison made between two
unlike things that actually have something in
common.
 The rose walked into the ballroom.

Simile: same as above, but using “like” or “as”
 She looked like a rose in her red dress.

Pun: a word or phrase with two meanings
 “New study of obesity looks for larger test group”
 “Kids make nutritious snacks”

Double Entendre: a pun in which the second
meaning is naughty

Classical Allusion: references to people and
places of Greek and Roman literature
 He was powerful like Zeus.

Allusion: references to historical event or
another text
 Like Washington, he braved battle for a good
cause.

Parallel Construction: similar structure in a
pair or series of words, phrases, or clauses.
 “The more we do, the more we can do” (William
Hazlitt)

Anastrophe: out of order words
 “Echoed the hills” versus “the hills echoed”