Vocabulary: context clues, word parts, and figurative language (grade 8) · lesson

Context clues

💡 A sentence often explains a hard word through an example, a result, or a contrast.

Look at the sentence after the word. It often gives an example or a result that shows the meaning.

A contrast clue shows two opposite ideas, often joined by "but" or "however." The new word may name one side, or both sides together.

Swap each choice into the sentence to check it.

🧠 Let's work it out

"The storm was brief; the sun was out ten minutes later."

What do you think comes next?

💡 Combine a prefix and a root to build a word's meaning, then check it in the sentence.

Prefixes change meaning: "inter-" means between, "re-" means back or again, "sub-" means under.

Latin roots carry core meanings: "spect" means look, "dict" means say, "cede" means go.

Add the meanings together. "Predict" is pre (before) + dict (say): to say before it happens.

🧠 Let's work it out

What is "submarine"?

What do you think comes next?

💡 Irony is a gap between what is said or expected and what is real, and a pun plays on two meanings at once.

Verbal irony is saying the opposite of what you mean. Seeing a flat tire and saying "Great, just great" is verbal irony.

Situational irony is when the opposite of what you expect happens. A fire station burning down is situational irony.

A pun is a joke that uses a word with two meanings or two words that sound alike.

🧠 Let's work it out

"The baker quit because he couldn't make enough dough."

"Dough" means bread mix and also money.
Two meanings at once makes it a pun.
Compare: a dentist who never brushes is situational irony. You'd expect the opposite.

What do you think comes next?

💡 Words with the same dictionary meaning can carry very different feelings.

Denotation is a word's dictionary meaning. Connotation is the feeling around it.

"Smell" and "stench" both name an odor, but "stench" is very negative. "Scent" is pleasant.

Pick the word that matches the feeling the writer wants.

🧠 Let's work it out

A family's apartment is small. Is it "cozy" or "cramped"?

What do you think comes next?