Connotation and Figurative Language REVIEW

Read this excerpt from THE ROBOT AND THE CAVE by Christopher Rowe

"This thing weighs a ton," said Stephanie, struggling not to drop the burden she shared with her uncle.

"He weighs sixty-eight pounds," said Steph's uncle. Uncle Guillermo always referred to the SER, or Submersible Exploratory Robot, as a "he." He motioned for Steph to stop and they carefully set the machine down, softly as a feather. "The trail is smoother from here. Let's power him up and let him walk the rest of the way himself."

What type of figurative language is "this thing weighs a ton"?

• hyperbole

• metaphor

• simile

• alliteration

Excerpt from "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros

“It has to belong to somebody,”Mrs. Price keeps saying, but nobody can remember. It’s an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope. It’s maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn’t say so.

How does Rachel exaggerate the negative qualities of the sweater? Select TWO (2) answers.

• Rachel uses descriptive words to talk about the color of the sweater and it's buttons.

• Rachel uses a hyperbole and says the sweater is "maybe a thousand years old" to tell how old the sweater looks.

• Rachel uses a metaphor to compare the stretched out sleeves to a jump rope.

Excerpt from "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros

“Whose is this?” Mrs. Price says, and she holds the red sweater up in the air for all the class to see. “Whose? It’s been sitting in the coatroom for a month.”

“Not mine,” says everybody. “Not me.”

“It has to belong to somebody,”Mrs. Price keeps saying, but nobody can remember. It’s an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope. It’s maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn’t say so.

Select TWO (2) pieces of evidence that shows how Rachel feels about the red sweater.

• “It has to belong to somebody,”Mrs. Price keeps saying, but nobody can remember.

• It’s an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.

• It’s maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn’t say so.

• Mrs. Price says, and she holds the red sweater up in the air for all the class to see.

Excerpt from "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros

Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That’s how being eleven years old is.

What kind of figurative language is Rachel using here?

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Alliteration

• Hyperbole

What is connotation?

• the feelings associated with a word

• the dictionary definition of a word

• how a word is spelled

• how a word is pronounced

What is denotation?

• the feelings associated with a word

• the dictionary definition of a word

• the way a word is spelled

• the way a word is pronounced

Gaston sat self absorbed, taking in the attention he received. The tavern was filled with admiring fans singing the praises of his brawn and mighty muscles. He felt deserving of every bit of flattery, as he believed himself to be the strongest, most perfect specimen of a man that ever lived. He smiled at the thought of the day a very lucky woman would be proud to be called Gaston’s wife.

What is the overall tone of the passage?

• conceited

• inspirational

• ambiguous

• modest

Gaston sat self absorbed, taking in the attention he received. The tavern was filled with admiring fans singing the praises of his brawn and mighty muscles. He felt deserving of every bit of flattery, as he believed himself to be the strongest, most perfect specimen of a man that ever lived. He smiled at the thought of the day a very lucky woman would be proud to be called Gaston’s wife.

How does word choice affect the tone of the passage?

• The phrases "self-absorbed" and "deserving of every bit of flattery" affect the conceited tone of the passage.

• The phrases "strongest, most perfect specimen" and "taking the attention he received" affect the modest tone of the passage.

• The phrase "admiring fans singing his praises" affect the inspirational tone of the passage.

• The phrase "smiled at the thought" affect the ambiguous tone of the passage.

Read the following sentence:

According to a Jesuit priest in the 1600s, the time a potato takes to cook was used as a way to divide time, so one might say that it took someone three pots of potatoes to build a roof.

Which word, if it replaced "divide" in the sentence above, would CHANGE the meaning of the sentence?

• determine

• break

• measure

• indicate

Read the following sentence.

The rural poor did not have access to the best land. What they were left with was cold weather, hilly and unforgiving farmland, and hunger.

What is the definition of the word "unforgiving" as is it used in the selection above?

• harsh

• hateful

• insensitive

• insulting