Analyzing Word Meaning and Tone

Analyzing Word Meanings

LAFS7.RI.2.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.

The Goliath Beetle

pgs. 90 - 91

Multiple Choice

1. Why has the author chosen to include the word metamorphosis in the text?

• A. It highlights the comparison between the beetle and a helicopter.

• B. It describes a biological process that the beetle undergoes.

• C. It expresses the author’s objectivity about an unusual insect.

• D. It explains why scientists are impressed with the beetle’s life cycle.

Multiple Choice

2. Which of the following is an example of the author using words that have a violent connotation?

• A. She describes the vertical black bands on the elytron that cover Goliath beetles’ wings.

• B. She compares the Goliath beetle cocoons to suits of protective armor.

• C. The author details the four stages of the Goliath beetle’s life cycle.

• D. She writes that Goliath beetles use their jaws to slash, impale, and chomp food

Open Ended

3. Describe the overall tone of the account and the word choices the author uses to convey it.

from “Prime Time for Cicadas”

pgs. 92-94

Multiple Choice

1. Read this sentence from paragraph 3.

The loud throb of their alien-sounding, high-pitched screeches fills the air.

What does the author’s word choice suggest about the sound that cicadas make?

• A. It is so fascinating that everyone should hear it.

• B. The sound is breathtakingly rhythmic and musical.

• C. The noise is both awful and annoying.

• D. The screeches are dangerous enough to lead to hearing loss.

Multiple Choice

2. Read this sentence from paragraph 7.

Researchers are especially interested in . . . periodical cicadas; these insects live only in this part of the world, and they appear just once every 17 years, on the dot.

Why has the author chosen to use the figurative phrase on the dot?

• A. to describe the small holes made by cicadas as they hatch

• B. to highlight their specific and extraordinary life cycles

• C. to identify the precise location where they may be seen

• D. to suggest the amazing regularity of when they will emerge

Multiple Choice

3. Why do you think the author chose to use the words prime time in the title?

• A. to reveal her knowledge about prime numbers and cicada instincts

• B. to focus on the importance of the insect’s well-timed life cycle

• C. to highlight how researchers solved a puzzling mystery about the insect

• D. to emphasize that cicadas must emerge in the evening in order to survive

Open Ended

4. Describe the tone of the article and how the author’s choice of words creates it.