STAAR ELA I EOC Vocabulary

I felt like a young lad suffering from unrequited love, who, despite his burning desire, does not dare to do anything bolder than cast furtive glances at his beloved girl from a distance. For a thousand times I had let my imagination run wild and savored in my mind how sweet and fragrant apples would taste, but I would not walk close to them.

Which word means “given but not returned”?

• savored

• unrequited

• furtive

• sorrow

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

It turns out that, once kids have some proficiency in a task, the excitement and uncertainty of real competition may become the activity’s very appeal.

The word proficiency means —

• curiosity

• investment

• expertise

• discipline

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.4C

CCSS.L.6.4C

CCSS.L.7.4C

CCSS.L.8.4C

CCSS.L.9-10.4C

Which word means “supporting” or “recommending”?

• browsing

• lingerin

• bemoaning

• advocating

Tags

CCSS.L.1.6

CCSS.L.3.6

CCSS.L.4.6

CCSS.RL.1.4

A good book requires more from us in intelligence, imagination, and memory; and that makes it vulnerable to its glitzy competitors. The best books invite us to share in a sustained, complex, subtle effort to make sense of things, to understand some portion of our humanity and our universe. My own hunger for understanding set in long before I could read, back when ink marks on the page were still an impenetrable mystery, and yet even now, after devouring so many thousands of books, I am as ravenous as ever.

Which word is closest in meaning to “weak”?

• subtle

• impenetrable

• sustained

• vulnerable

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

“Title IX gave us some clout, but it didn’t give us our motivation,” said Jody.

Which definition most closely matches the use of the word clout?

• a significant amount of influence

• a hard punch

• a big hit in baseball

• a target

Tags

CCSS.L.5.5C

“At around fourteen I was a handful,” the old gent said. “So you know how busy I was around Halloween.

The word handful means someone who is —

• difficult to manage

• extremely generous

• useful around the house

• reluctant to help others

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

I would swing for hours in the fresh air and sunshine and become lost in pleasant reverie. That was my idea of recreation. I didn’t know what it was to be lonely.

The word reverie means —

• amusement

• laughter

• slumber

• daydreaming

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

Why do we yawn? Does it serve any real purpose (besides, perhaps subtly hinting to a teacher that his/her allotted talking time has elapsed)?

Which word means “passed” or “slipped by” –

• observed

• alloted

• subtly

• elapsed

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.2B

CCSS.L.6.2B

CCSS.L.7.2B

CCSS.L.8.2C

CCSS.L.9-10.1.C

Uncle Coran and Uncle Al man the field at improbably optimistic distances behind their brother. Their faces are indistinct in the coming darkness, their forms identical except that Uncle Coran wears a baseball glove on his left hand, while Uncle Al, who is left-handed, wears one on the right.

Which words best help you understand the meaning of the word indistinct?

• man the field

• behind their brother

• in the coming darkness

• wears a baseball glove

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

the red boats on the blue-black water,

the russet and gold of late summer’s sunburnt grasses,

the empty blue sky. We stop and listen to the stillness.

Which words best help the reader understand the meaning of the word russet in line 8?

• blue-black water

• boats, grasses

• gold, sunburnt

• empty blue sky

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.11-12.4