Week 4: Week 4 — Word Meaning: Context, Figurative, and Connotative Language
Week of Mon, Nov 23 · week closes Sun, Nov 29
This week's items
Exact due times are in Canvas. Each week opens on its Monday and stays open. Practice is never late — but the MCAP window opens April 5, 2027, so keep pace.
Know these cold
- When you meet an unfamiliar word, the sentences around it usually explain it. Look for a definition, a restatement after a comma or dash, an example, or a contrast signaled by but or unlike.
- Many words have more than one meaning. The word table can mean a piece of furniture or, in a meeting, to postpone a decision. Choose the meaning that fits this sentence, not the one you know best.
- Word parts help. The Latin root bene means good, mal means bad, and dict means say. Knowing roots and prefixes can unlock words you have never seen.
- Figurative language means something beyond the literal words. A simile compares using like or as, a metaphor states the comparison directly, and personification gives human qualities to something not human.
- When a question asks about figurative language, ask two things: what is being compared, and what quality does the comparison highlight?
- Denotation is a word's dictionary meaning. Connotation is the feeling it carries. Thrifty and stingy both mean careful with money, but one sounds positive and the other negative.
- Tone is the author's attitude toward a subject, and it is built from many word choices together. One word can hint at tone; a pattern of words confirms it.
- On MCAP, test your answer by plugging it into the sentence in place of the word. If the sentence still makes sense and keeps the same feeling, you probably have it.
Meerk's quiz — open the Week 4 gate
10 questions, no time limit. One counted try: 85% opens the gate. Miss it and Meerk's Study Path opens: it teaches every miss back to you, then a mastery check — and it cannot finish before 25 minutes of real study. Then your second try opens. Work alone; the point is to know it, not to have seen it.
Stuck?
Raise your hand. Mr. James gets a message right away and can help you remotely. Nothing else is stored — just your last name, grade, and where you're stuck.
My Progress
Dinner Table Question
Ask at home: Is there a word that sounds kind when one person says it and hurtful when someone else does? What makes the difference?
En español: ¿Hay alguna palabra que suena amable cuando la dice una persona y ofensiva cuando la dice otra? ¿Qué hace la diferencia?