RI.8.4

Common Core Standards Connotative Meanings
Grade:	8th Grade
Standard:	Literacy.RI.8.4
Description:	Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Connotative Meanings: Connotative meanings are the feelings or thoughts a word gives a reader. The connotative meaning of a word can be different from its dictionary meaning, or denotative meaning.

Words can have positive, negative, or neutral connotations. In a sentence, the feeling the reader gets can change when a word with a positive connotation is replaced with a word with a negative connotation.

Here are examples of words with positive/neutral and negative connotations used in the same sentence. Notice how they change the meaning of the sentence.

Positive/Neutral Connotation	Negative Connotation
The football team beat their rivals.	The football team dominated their rivals.
He could smell the aroma of the brownies.	He could smell the stink of the brownies.
Those earrings look inexpensive.	Those earrings look cheap.

Common Core Standards

Connotative Meanings

Literacy.RI.8.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.