Words carry baggage. In addition to their literal, denotative meaning, words also carry the weight of the associations and connotations attached to the word—the connotations of words writers use to create the tone of a piece. An...

The tone is easy to hear but more challenging to detect in written texts. Users of this interactive learn how to closely observe the diction and words writers use to convey their feelings about their subject. They examine passages that...

Words matter! That's the big idea behind an activity that asks scholars to replace words in FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech with synonyms. They then listen to a recording of President Roosevelt's address and compare his version to their own.

Accompany a reading of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea with a thorough literature packet. Although the materials are meant to prepare readers for a timed essay, the background information and the activities are...

Learn how to talk like a journalist. Throw around jargon like "lede" and "nut graf." A 20-slide presentation introduces viewers to words and phrases heard in the fast-paced newsroom.

Lesson five in the series focuses on syntax and the elements that make sentences enjoyable. Learners practice building different clauses and phrases and using figures of speech and rhetorical and literary devices.

To culminate a study of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, individuals craft a persuasive essay in which they assume the voice of a member of one of the political parties during the early 1920s, and advocate that their party offers the...

Your pupils will be expected to determine the meaning of words and how those words affect the meaning of a text. Help them master this skill with the ideas listed here. First, look over the two activities that could be used for your...

Get to know the meaning behind the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the legendary 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Groups of two take the roles of performer and questioner. Performers sing lines of the song while questioners...

Students formulate guiding questions to use as an aid for research and then use the guiding questions worksheet to help gather information necessary for meeting all criteria for completing the project. They then work together to collect...

As you read through the texts in this lesson, you will practice close reading strategies to help you understand a writer's tone. You'll be examining the writer's choice of diction, details, and irony to identify the writer's attitude.

An excellent resource for a writer struggling to come up with the exact words for which they are looking. Includes very helpful advice and information. Aimed at writers of children's literature, but can also apply to other genres.

Students engaging in these 14 word choice exercises will improve their word usage skills. Topics include spelling mistakes, sound alike words and word confusion. Select the correct word usage for each sentence.

A learning module that teaches students about tone, style, and figurative language in five mini-lessons: Introduction, Identifying Diction Indicating Tone, Identifying Figurative Language, Spotting Jarring Departures from Tone in Diction...

[Free Registration/Login Required] See the results of how users have highlighted an excerpt of Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Prologue." Diction is blue while tone is red and imagery is green. Click on any word to see the...

Provides guidelines for analyzing poetry. Students must make certain they have a basic understanding of a poem, then analyze the language used. A set of 26 questions is offered that students can reference to help them analyze a poem....