ELA 9 · Words and figurative language
Words that carry more than they say
About a fifth of the reading questions ask what a word, a phrase or a comparison means where it sits in the passage — sometimes its dictionary meaning, more often what it suggests. Both are worked out from the sentences around it, not from memory.
- 1. The words, first
- 2. Connotation and context clues
- 3. Similes, metaphors and more
- 4. Symbolism and irony
- 5. What costs marks
The words, first
The idea: Denotation is what a word points at; connotation is how it feels about it.
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Denotation | A word's dictionary meaning. |
| Connotation | The feelings and judgements a word carries beyond that. Thrifty and stingy both mean spending little; one is praise. |
| Context clue | A hint in nearby words that shows what an unfamiliar word means: a definition, a similar word, a contrast or an example. |
| Figurative language | Words used to mean more than they literally say, usually to create a picture or a comparison. |
| Simile | A comparison of two unlike things using like or as. |
| Metaphor | A comparison that says one thing is another. |
| Personification | Giving human actions or feelings to something that is not human. |
| Hyperbole | Deliberate exaggeration. Nobody is meant to believe it literally. |
| Symbol | An object, place or action that stands for an idea bigger than itself. |
| Verbal irony | Saying the opposite of what you mean. |
| Situational irony | An outcome that is the opposite of what the story led you to expect. |
| Dramatic irony | The reader knows something a character does not. |
Connotation and context clues
The idea: Two words can point at the same thing and judge it differently. On a vocabulary question, the sentence around the word is the answer key.
| Approving | Neutral | Disapproving |
|---|---|---|
| thrifty | careful with money | stingy |
| confident | sure of himself | arrogant |
| curious | interested | nosy |
A writer who calls a neighbour nosy has told you what they think of her without saying so. Connotation questions are really attitude questions.
The trail was so treacherous after the rain that even the guide, who had walked it for thirty years, tested each step before trusting his weight to it.
A model reading. You may not know treacherous, but the sentence tells you: an expert with thirty years' experience still tests every step. So the trail is dangerous, its footing not to be trusted. The clue is an example of how people behave on it.
The usual-meaning trap. In “The coach's plan was sound, so the team stuck with it,” sound means reliable, not a noise. That is why questions say “as used in the passage”. Put each option into the sentence in place of the word, and keep the one that still makes sense.
Similes, metaphors and more
The idea: Every comparison brings something with it. Ask what the second thing adds to the first.
The hallway after the bell was a river, and Tomas was a stick in it.
A model reading. A metaphor — no like or as. A river is strong and moves one way; a stick has no say in where it goes. So the sentence says more than “the hallway is crowded”: Tomas feels small and carried along. That second part is what a question means by the effect of a comparison.
| Device | Example | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Simile | Her voice was as flat as a parking lot. | Not just quiet: empty and grey. |
| Personification | The old furnace coughed itself awake. | The furnace seems old and struggling, like a person on a cold morning. |
| Hyperbole | I have asked you a million times to close that door. | Frustration. The number is not the point. |
Not every like is a simile. “I like the snow” compares nothing.
Symbolism and irony
The idea: A symbol is an ordinary thing a story keeps returning to at important moments. Irony is always a gap, and the kind depends on what the gap is between.
In the first scene, Grandpa's watch is the one thing Nadia is not allowed to touch. After the funeral it sits on her desk, stopped at 4:10. In the story's last line, she takes it to be repaired.
A model reading. The watch appears at three key moments, which is what makes it a symbol rather than a detail. It stands for Grandpa and her time with him. Stopped, it matches her grief; taking it to be fixed shows her moving forward while keeping him with her. One mention would prove nothing — the pattern is the evidence.
| Irony | The gap is between | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal | What is said and what is meant | After losing 9–0, the captain says, “Well, that went perfectly.” |
| Situational | What was expected and what happens | The town's new “Drive Safely” sign is knocked flat by a speeding car on its first day. |
| Dramatic | What the reader knows and what a character knows | We know the surprise party is waiting inside; Jae, sure everyone forgot her birthday, almost goes home. |
Bad luck is not irony. A rained-out picnic is only disappointing, unless the story set up the opposite expectation first.
What costs marks
The idea: Most come from not putting the word back into its sentence.
- Giving a word's usual meaning when the passage uses a different one.
- The right denotation with the wrong connotation — an option that means the same thing but judges it differently.
- Calling every comparison a metaphor. With like or as, it is a simile.
- Naming a device without saying what it adds.
- Calling any surprise irony, or mixing up the three kinds.