Lesson 4: Understanding Language

Read and Practice

Tone: Expressing an Attitude

Begin by reading the unit overview on page 47 in the Daybook and the top of page 48. Then read from In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson and complete the practice exercises on pages 48–51.

Several words on pages 48–51 may be new to you:

• lyric
• creed
• pauper
• excel
• hue

As you read, find these words in the context of the sentence and try to predict their meanings. Check your predictions with a dictionary if you are uncertain of their meanings, then check your answers.

Self-Check: As you read pages 48–51 and complete the activities, ask yourself the questions below. Once you have responded, check your answers.

1. How do the traits of the characters help to develop the tone (the author’s feeling about) the subject? (Remember that traits are how you would describe the character.)
2. Are the author’s characters positive or negative?
3. How would you describe the author’s attitude toward her subject?

How the author presents the information helps you determine her tone. Bette Bao Lord sets the tone in this selection in several ways:

• The author’s choice of subject (something she sees as worthy, interesting, and positive)
• How Shirley reacts to the teacher’s speech
• The author’s use of words like “thrilled,” “be somebody,” “excited,” etc.
• The author’s use of repetition (“you can” and “you must”)

Writing

When you do your own writing, think about specific words that you can use to create a positive or negative tone in your writing. The emotional content makes up the connotation of a word. The connotation is the way you feel when a certain word is used. It is different from the denotation of a word, which is the dictionary definition.

In an earlier lesson, you learned about a resource called a thesaurus. A thesaurus can help you find just the right word with just the right connotation to develop tone in your writing. For example, if you look up the word “shroud” and the word “cape,” you will find that they are both types of garments used to cover a person. However, a shroud is used to cover a dead body and carries a negative connotation. A cape carries a different connotation, a positive one. You can choose just the right words in your own writing by thinking about connotation.

Write: In completing the writing activity (page 51), you should use words that make people feel positive and negative to give your writings different tones. If you had trouble doing this, go back and think about how a person who hates the sport you love would describe it and what types of words he or she would use.

Metaphors: Vivid Comparisons

Figurative language is the opposite of literal language. In this section (pages 52–54 in the Daybook), you will be working with poetry to help you recognize and use metaphors and similes in your writing. These are two types of figurative language. When you were little, you understood everything on a literal level. If your mother told you she had to “run an errand,” you might have thought she would really be “running.” However, as you matured, you learned that very often people don’t expect you to take everything literally. They often speak figuratively and expect that you will understand what they mean.

You might describe a woman standing up for her child who is being teased by a bully by saying “The mother was a lioness protecting her cub.” The speaker is not trying to fool you into thinking that the woman has somehow become a lion. The speaker is comparing the woman’s characteristics to ones you know about a lion in order to help you visualize what is happening. This type of comparison is called a metaphor. A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things for effect.

A simile is like a metaphor except for one thing. It creates a comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.” For example, “The mother was like a lioness protecting her cub.” Remember, this comparison is for effect. If I say, “The concrete was a slab of ground rock,” that is not a metaphor, because the concrete is a slab of ground rock.

As you complete pages 52–54, think about how the things in the poem are compared and why the author decided to use these comparisons. Poetry often relies on figurative language to create vivid images for the reader. You can use these same techniques to make your own writing more vivid.

Avoiding Clichés: Beware of using similes that are clichés. A cliché is an overused word or phrase that loses its effectiveness because it is so overused. For example, “She was as pretty as a picture” is a cliché simile. Not all clichés are similes, but you will find many overused similes that lose their effectiveness. Such a simile is used so often that we no longer stop to consider what it really means. Avoid using clichés in your writings. Here are some clichés you might recognize:

• They lived happily ever after.
• She was as mad as an old wet hen. (simile)
• He was quiet as a mouse. (simile)
• They jumped for joy.
• That’s cool.
• Time flies when you’re having fun.
• I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
• Father was as proud as a peacock. (simile)

Advertisements may become so well known that we stop thinking about what they really mean and sometimes even forget what product they were originally advertising. Quotes from movies or TV shows can also become overused:

• You deserve a break today.
• Go ahead, make my day.

Personification: Appearing Human

Some words on pages 55–58 may be new to you:

• centipedes
• arroyo
• tender

As you read, find these words in the context of the sentence and try to predict their meanings. Check your predictions with a dictionary if you are uncertain of their meanings, then check your answers.

On pages 55–57, you will read the poem “Desert Tortoise”to help you understand and use personification. Personification, another type of figurative language, gives a human characteristic to something not human. For example, you might write “The wind whispered through the trees.” People whisper, but the wind doesn’t. However, when we link this human characteristic to the wind, it helps us understand how the wind is blowing, because we know what a whisper is. Remember, this is figurative language—we are not trying to make our readers think that somehow the wind has become capable of actually whispering. (Although that might be fun to use in a scary story!)

In this exercise, you are again asked to think of how things compare to each other. When we look at ways things are the same, we compare them. When you are asked to contrast two things, you are looking at their differences. Sometimes the word “compare” is actually used for both similarities and differences. Keep this in mind as you work through these activities on personification.

Write: Now try using personification in your own writing for the activity on page 58. When you write dialogue, try to make the animal’s personality come out through the words you choose and how you put the sentences together. For example, if your animal is plainspoken, he might say, “I went to the shore.” If you want your animal to sound more formal, he might say, “I journeyed afar toward the distant shore.” Have fun giving your animal human characteristics. Maybe someday you’ll be writing scripts for animated movies!

In your response to the activity on page 58, you should do the following:

1. Use first-person point of view (written as if you are the narrator).
2. Tie human traits to the animal.
3. Include several examples of personification.

Sensory Language: Appealing to the Senses

In lesson 3, you learned that an author uses words that appeal to the senses (sight, sound, taste, smell, and feeling) to help bring you into the setting. We call these sensory images. Look for these types of words as you read. They help you to visualize where the story takes place.

Several words on pages 59–62 may be new to you:

• savoring
• grimaced
• caress 
• plummeted

As you read, find these words in the context of the sentence and try to predict their meanings. Check your predictions with a dictionary if you are uncertain of their meanings, then check your answers.

As you read from Silverwing and do the activities on pages 59–62, you will notice many wonderful examples of sensory images. You will be able to visualize what the author is writing about, because you will be able to “see” the writing. As you read, I also want you to realize how the author has chosen just the right words. For example, author Kenneth Oppel writes:

Airborne now, the beetle was a whirl of shell and wing.

Instead, Oppel could have written:

The bug flew in the air.

Both sentences mean the same thing, but the first is filled with wonderful “just right” words. Try to do the same thing in your own writing. It takes practice, but the more you try to use “just right” words, the easier it will become. Your writing will begin to sound just like you!

Write: On page 62, use sensory language to write more of Shade’s story. You will describe a new experience that the bat has as he hunts for food. Your writing should include different types of sensory language. Use information provided by the author as you extend this story. You might want to use a web again for this writing.