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LANGUAGE PRACTICE 3

Language Skills from Ch. 5-7 of Number the Stars

Exercise A: Context Clues

  1. Copy the examples from the chart below in the appropriate sections of your Cornell Notes on Context Clues.
  2. Fill in the blank column by finding the words that provide the context clue in your novel.

Page No. / Vocabulary Word with definition / Context Clue / Type of Context Clue
39 / imperious – overbearing, domineering / Synonym, description
52
______/ reluctantly– unwilling, hesitant
______/ ______/ description
______
65 / appliqued means decorated by fabric sewn to another fabric / description, definition

Exercise B: Connotative words.

  1. Reread your notes on Author’s Craft – subtopics connotation and denotation. You will use your notes to complete this activity.
  2. On p. 61 of Number the Stars, Lois Lowry uses personification to show how the gray water of the sea touched the damp brown grass: “the gray water licked there at damp brown grass…”
  3. Does the term “lick” have a negative, neutral, or positive connotation as used in this story?
  4. Explain your answer to No. 3, by discussing the difference between the denotation (definition) of the word “lick”, and its connotation as used in the story.

Exercise C: Multiple Meaning Words

It is important that a reader recognize that words in a text have multiple meanings. If a reader keeps this in mind, a good reader will use the context of a word before deciding on its meaning.

  1. Find and list all of the definitions of the word “lock”.
  1. Copy the sentence from p. 47 in Number the Stars where the word “lock” is used.
  2. Explainthe meaning of the word “lock” as used in the novel, by choosing the appropriate definition.

Exercise D: When a reader constructs meaning from text, he/she uses punctuation in a sentence to interpret what is happening in the sentence.

  1. Review your Cornell Notes on commas.
  2. Respond to each command.

On p. 50, copy the example of how commas are used in “direct address”:

On p. 53, copy the example of how commas are used to set off a word, phrase, or clause that interrupts the main thought of the sentence.

On p. 63, copy an example of how commas are used to set off the words of the speaker from the rest of the sentence.

Exercise E:When a reader constructs meaning from text, he/she uses punctuation in a sentence to interpret what is happening in the sentence.

  1. Start a Cornell Notes page for Punctuation – Dashes.
  2. Go to my webpage and copy the rules for the use of The Dash in sentences.
  3. Copy the rules and examples of dash usage in the right hand column.
  4. Create a subtopic in the left hand column that will help you find each rule.
  5. Go to p. 50 of Number the Stars. Copy the sentence where dashes are used. Identify the “Dash” rule that applies to this sentence. Explain using the context of the sentence in the story.

Exercise F: Figurative Language: MAKE SURE YOU COMPLETE THIS ACTIVITY WITH THOUGHT. YOU WILL BE ASKED TO FIND EXAMPLES OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE AND COMPLETE A SIMILAR EXPLANATION ON A TEST IN JANUARY.

  1. Go back to your Cornell Notes on Figurative Language. Make sure you reread the definitions of each type and understand each example by analyzing how the example meets each definition.
  2. Follow the directions below.

Find an example of hyperbole on p. 40. Explain why your example is “hyperbole” by explaining how your example meets the definition. Distinguish between the literal and figurative meaning.

Find an example of onomatopoeia on p. 41. Explain why your example is “onomatopoeia” by explaining how your example meets the definition.Distinguish between the literal and figurative meaning.

Find an example of personification on p. 46. Explain why your example is “personification” by explaining how your example meets the definition.Distinguish between the literal and figurative meaning.