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L.ELA.11.40.a

Description: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., hyperbole or paradox) in context and analyze their role in the text.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 4A, 4B, 5A

Exemplars

4A: Interpreting Word Meaning

4A: Interpreting Word Meaning

Description: Interpreting Word Meaning

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: K-24

K-24

Grade level: 11
Word count: 2211 words
Author: H. G. Wells
Synopsis: Are inhabitants of Mars watching Earth and making plans that will pose a mortal threat to the human race?
Excerpt: That last stage of exhaustion, which to us is still incredibly remote, has become a present-day problem for the inhabitants of Mars. The immediate pressure of necessity has brightened their intellects, multiplied their powers, and hardened their hearts. And looking across space with instruments, and intelligences such as we have scarcely dreamed of, they see, at its nearest distance only 35,000,000 of miles sunward of them, a morning star of hope, our own warmer planet, green with vegetation and gray with water, with a cloudy atmosphere eloquent of fertility, with glimpses through its drifting cloud wisps of broad stretches of populous country and narrow, navy-crowded seas.

Question: In this excerpt, what does the author mean by the phrase, "a morning star of hope"?
  1. Earth presents a possible solution to the problem of preserving Martian existence.
  2. Mars will become the star of the universe if the warfare mission is successful.
  3. The scientist who makes the mission possible is considered a star in the scientific field.
  4. Astronomers on Earth describe Mars as a star when observed in the early morning.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Explain how a character's actions or attitude can change the meaning of a word or phrase.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

4B: Interpreting Analogies

4B: Interpreting Analogies

Description: Interpreting Analogies

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: K-13

K-13

Grade level: 11
Word count: 2110 words
Author: Katherine Menard
Synopsis: A growing segment of the population is becoming more knowledgeable about food sources and purchasing produce directly from local farmers.
Excerpt: One of the most significant elements of CSAs is the concept of shared risk. This is most obvious in the way a CSA operation is financed. Shareholders' up-front payments, like all investments, are based on potential, not actuality. Nobody can predict with certainty how much the farm will produce in a given year.

Question: When a consumer joins a CSA, the process can be compared to
  1. buying a stock whose profitability is determined by future conditions.
  2. joining a club that requires members to spend a certain amount on food.
  3. taking a part-time job that helps people in your community.
  4. coaching a sports team to get the best results during the season.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Describe how metaphor, simile, hyperbole, or personification is used in a selection and explain how it enhances or distracts from the selection.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

5A: Examining Text Structure

5A: Examining Text Structure

Description: Examining Text Structure

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: K-39

K-39

Grade level: 11
Word count: 1650 words
Author: Christopher Morley
Synopsis: If you have ever been asked to write a certain number of words on a topic, you'll certainly understand the frustration expressed by the newspaper reporter who penned this essay.
Excerpt: (We ask you to observe our self-restraint. We might have said "drenching downpour of silver Long Island rain," or something of that sort, and thus got several words nearer our necessary total of 1100. But we scorn, even when writing against time, to take petty advantages. Let us be brief, crisp, packed with thought. Let it stand as drench, while you admire our proud conscience.)

Question: Irony occurs when words are used to convey a meaning that is the opposite their usual meaning. What is ironic about this part of the essay?
  1. Morley says he is writing succinctly, yet he rambles on for a paragraph about doing so.
  2. Morley describes a drenching downpour, yet there is no proof it has rained.
  3. Although he meets his own deadlines, Morley encourages others to take more time to write.
  4. While he has a talent for writing, Morley has decided to seek work that does not require any writing.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Explain an author's use of description in a selection, and how the description shaped the way you viewed and understood the person, object, or event described.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions