STANDARDS FOR ELA: GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Adage- A traditional saying that expresses something considered to be a general truth. (e.g., Don't count your chickens before they
hatch). An adage that describes a general rule of conduct is a maxim. See also maxim
Affixes - A general term that refers to both suffixes and prefixes.
Alliteration- The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words that are next to each other or near each
other to create a feeling or mood. (e.g., Fly away, my fine feathered friend.)
Allusion- A literary device that stimulates ideas, associations, and extra information in the reader's mind with only a word or two.
Allusion means reference and relies on the reader being able to understand the allusion and being familiar with all of the meaning
hidden behind the words.
Article - A written composition in prose, usually nonfiction, on a specific topic, forms an independent part of a book or other
publication, such as a newspaper or magazine.
Author's purpose- When an author writes, he or she has a purpose in mind. Writers usually write to inform, to persuade or to
entertain. It is an understanding of the author's intention, style, presentation, and impact he/she has on the audience.
Beauty of text - The author's ability to express emotion or mood through his or her writing.
Cause and effect- An action-reaction combination. The cause is the reason something happens, and the effect is what happens as a
result.
Central idea/Theme - Another way of saying "theme." A theme is the focus, or the lesson learned.
Characteristics- The distinguishing features by which a person or thing can be identified.
Chronology- The arrangement of events or dates in the order of their occurrence.
Cliché’s- A trite expression, often a figure of speech whose effectiveness has been worn out through overuse and excessive
familiarity. (e.g., Live and learn. What goes around comes around.)
Closed syllables-Contain a vowel between two consonants, and a vowel in a closed syllable has a short sound (e.g., pat, pet, pit, pot
and putt).
Compare and contrast- A written exercise about the similarities and differences between two or more people, places or things.
Coordinating conjunctions - Conjunctions that join different parts of a sentence together (e.g., and, but, or). The following is an
example of a sentence using coordinating conjunctions: Bob and Ted or Carol and Alice can go with us, but not Tom, Dick, or Harry.
Correlative conjunction- Pairs of words that are used to link words together. When using correlative conjunctions the words,
phrases, or clauses must be the same type. Nouns must be put together with other nouns, verbs with other verbs, adjectives with
other adjectives, etc. Some correlative conjunctions are: both...and, either...or, neither...nor, whether...or, not only...but, also. The
following is an example of a sentence using correlative conjunctions. (Both my sister and my brother work with computers.)
Cultural literature - Literature that represents any distinct cultural group through accurate portrayal and rich detail.
Deduce- To arrive at a conclusion by reasoning, inferring or from facts.
Delineate- To describe, portray, or set forth with accuracy using details.
Demonstratives – States the distance from the speaker. Demonstratives can be used as pronouns or adjectives (e.g., that, this,
these, those). The following indicates an example of sentences using demonstratives (e.g., That is the place. That restaurant is really
good).
Domain-specific words and phrases – Vocabulary specific to a particular field of study (domain), such as the human body (CCSS, p.
33); in the Standards, domain-specific words and phrases are analogous to Tier Three words (Language, p. 33).
Editing – A part of writing and preparing presentations concerned chiefly with improving the clarity, organization, concision, and
correctness of expression relative to task, purpose, and audience; compared to revising, a smaller-scale activity often associated with
surface aspects of a text. See also revising, rewriting.
Emergent reader texts - Texts consisting of short sentences comprised of learned sight words and consonant, vowel, consonant
words; may also include rebuses to represent words that cannot yet be decoded or recognized. See also rebus
Evidence – Facts, figures, details, quotations, or other sources of data and information that provide support for claims or an analysis
which can be evaluated by others; should appear in a form and be derived from a source widely accepted as appropriate to a
particular discipline, as in details or quotations from a text in the study of literature and experimental results in the study of science.
Explicit instruction- Explicit instruction involves direct explanation. The teacher's language is concise, specific, and related to the
standard. The actions of the teacher are clear, unambiguous, direct and visible. This makes it clear what the students are to do and
learn.
Explicitness- Fully and clearly expressed; leaving nothing implied.
Fables - Stories that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature that are given human qualities
and illustrate a moral lesson which may at the end be expressed in a maxim. See also maxim.
Fairytales - Stories that are made up and are written specifically for children. These stories involve fantastic forces and beings such
as fairies, wizards, goblins, and giants. They usually include magical or enchanting events that lead to a happy ending.
Figurative language- The use of words that go beyond their ordinary meaning. (e.g., It is raining cats and dogs.)
Final le- If a word ends in a consonant followed by le, those three letters form the last syllable (e.g., ta/ble, an/gle, bun/dle).
Focused question – A query narrowly tailored to task, purpose, and audience. (e.g., A research query that is sufficiently precise to
allow a student to achieve adequate specificity and depth within the time and format constraints.)
Folk tales - A tale or legend originating among a group of people and typically becoming part of oral tradition.
Formal English – See Standard English.
Future perfect - Action is completed with respect to the future. (e.g., I will have seen it.)
Future progressive - To describe a continuing action in the future. (e.g., Max and Kendall will soon be regretting their decision to
dance after eating.)
General academic words and phrases – Vocabulary common to content texts but not commonly a part of speech; in the Standards,
general academic words and phrases are analogous to Tier Two words and phrases (Language, p. 33).
Grapheme - All of the letters and letter combinations that represent a phoneme. (e.g., f, ph, and gh for the phoneme /f/).
Hyperbole- An exaggeration of the truth, usually meant to be numerous or funny. (e.g., I can eat a million ice cream cones.)
Idiom- A phrase or expression that differs from the literal meaning of the words; regional or individual expressions with a unique
meaning. (e.g., It's raining cats and dogs.)
Independent(ly) – A student performance done without scaffolding from a teacher, other adult, or peer; in the standards, often
paired with proficient(ly) to suggest a successful student performance done without scaffolding; in the reading standards, the act of
reading a text without scaffolding, as in an assessment; see also proficient(ly), scaffolding.
Inflectional forms - An alteration of the form of a word by the addition of an affix, (dogs from dog,) or by changing the form of a
base, (spoke from speak,) that indicates grammatical features such as number, person, mood, or tense.
Juxtapose- To place side by side, especially for comparison and contrast.
Key Details - Support the main idea by telling who, what, when, where, why, how, how much, or how many.
Legends - Stories that are about people and their actions or deeds. Oftentimes, people are mentioned in history. The stories are told
for a purpose and are based on some facts but are not completely true.
Lexile reader - A measure that represents a person's reading ability on the Lexile scale. The Lexile reader measure can also be used
to monitor growth in reading ability over time.
Lexile text - A measure that represents a text's difficulty level on the Lexile scale. When used with the Lexile reader, they can help a
reader choose a book or other reading material that is at an appropriate difficulty level.
Literal meaning- The reader can give the exact meaning of the word. The reader may use a synonym (a different word with the same
meaning) of that word to figure out its meaning.
Main Idea - The "key concept" being expressed.
Main Topic - The broad, general theme or message, sometimes called the subject.
Maxim - A saying, general truth or rule giving a guide to good behavior (e.g., "He who hesitates is lost.") See adage
Mentor Text - A written piece used in education as an example of quality writing.
Metaphor- A comparison of two different things to show a likeness between them. Metaphors do not use the words like or as when
making comparisons, as do similes. Sometimes they say that one thing is another. (e.g., Her teeth are pearls.)
Modal auxiliaries - Helping verbs (e.g., as, will, shall, may, might, can, could, must, ought to, should, would, used to, need.) These
auxiliary verbs are used in conjunction with main verbs to express shades of time and mood. (e.g., Time: I used to live in Texas! I may
go back someday. Mood: You can't talk now. You must be quiet!)
More sustained research project – An investigation intended to address a relatively expansive query using several sources over an
extended period of time, as in a few weeks of instructional time.
Morphology- Deals with morphemes (the minimal units of linguistic form and meaning), and how they make up words.
Multimedia- The use of several different types of media. Multimedia elements may include (e.g., audio, video, electronic books).
Myths - Stories that are made up and try to explain how our world works and how we should treat each other. The stories are
usually set in times long ago, before history as we know it was written. Myths can include gods or super-beings that use their powers
to make events happen.
Nonliteral meaning- The reader must be able to determine what the word means without using its literal meaning. This is called
figurative language. See figurative language.
Non-prose- Text designated as "NP" is any book whose content is at least 50 percent nonstandard prose (e.g., poems, plays, songs).
Nuances - A subtle expression of meaning, feeling, or tone. (e.g., A rich artistic performance, full of nuance).
Onomatopoeia- Describes a word in which the sound of the word tells the meaning. It makes the sound it represents. (e.g., Lightning
goes zap.)
Open syllables- End in a vowel, and the vowel has a long sound (e.g., as in be, or the last syllable of halo).
Past perfect - Action is completed with respect to the past. (e.g., I had seen it.)
Past progressive - To describe a past continuing action or to describe an action that takes place simultaneously with any past action.
(e.g., Max and Kendall were twirling around.)
Perfect verb tense - Includes Present perfect, Past perfect, and Future perfect verb tenses. Action already completed plus, have, had
or will have. (e.g., I will have seen it.)
Personification- The technique of giving non-human thing human qualities such as hearing, feeling, talking, or making decisions.
Writers use personification to emphasize something or make it stand out. Personification makes the material more interesting and
creates a new way to look at things.
Phoneme - In language, a sound that when combined with others make words.
Phonics- A system for pronouncing written symbols that represent the way words sound. It is both a reading and spelling tool. There
are 26 letters in the English alphabet but 40 sounds in the English language. Phonics, pronunciation, and syllabication go hand-inhand since most people try to sound out unfamiliar words by saying them syllable-by-syllable.
Point of view – Chiefly in literary texts, the narrative point of view (as in first- or third-person narration); more broadly, the position
or perspective conveyed or represented by an author, narrator, speaker, or character.
Position based spelling - Refers to the common spelling rules taught to elementary students to help decode the spelling of an
unfamiliar word (e.g., I before e, except after c, unless it says a as in "neighbor" and "weigh").
Present perfect - Action is completed with respect to the present. (e.g., I have seen it.)
Present perfect progressive - To describe an action that began in the past and continues in the present with the probability of
continuing in the future. (e.g., Max and Kendall have been arguing for five minutes.)
Present progressive - To describe an action that is taking place at the time you are writing about it. (e.g., Max and Kendall are
dancing.)
Print or digital (texts, sources) – Sometimes added for emphasis to stress that a given standard is particularly likely to be applied to
electronic as well as traditional texts; the Standards are generally assumed to apply to both.
Proficient(ly) – A student performance that meets the criteria established in the standards as measured by a teacher or assessment;
in the standards, often paired with independent(ly) to suggest a successful student performance done without scaffolding; in the
reading standards, the act of reading a text with comprehension; see also independent(ly), scaffolding.
Progressive tenses - Present progressive, Past progressive, Past perfect progressive, and Future perfect progressive All describe a
continuing action.
Prose- An ordinary form of spoken and written language whose unit is the sentence, rather than the line as it is in poetry.
Proverb- A simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense and
practical experience.
Qualitative measure- Levels of meaning, structure, language, conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best
measured by an attentive human reader.
Quantitative measures- Readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.
Quest - In mythology and literature, a quest is a journey towards a goal. In literature, the quest requires great exertion on the part of
the hero, usually requiring him or her to overcome many obstacles, typically including much travel.
Rebus – A mode of expressing words and phrases by using pictures of objects whose names resemble those words.
Recount - To tell about something that happened in the past: What happened, who was involved, where it took place, when it
happened and why it occurred. Recounts are usually told in the order that the event occurred.
Relative adverb- An adverb which introduces a relative adverb. Relative adverbs are: when, where, why, whatever, whenever (e.g., I
understand the reason why Margo got the lead.)
Relative pronoun- A pronoun that introduces relative clause. Relative pronouns in English are: which, that, who, whom, and whose.
Who and whom refer only to people. Which refers to things, qualities, and ideas, never to people. That and whose refer to people,
things, qualities, and ideas. (e.g., The house that Jack built is large.)
Retell - Can occur at any time to make sure the reader understands the story by telling the main points in his or her own words.
Revising – A part of writing and preparing presentations concerned chiefly with reconsideration and reworking of the content of a
text relative to task, purpose, and audience; compared to editing, a larger-scale activity often associated with the overall content and
structure of a text. See also Editing, Rewriting.
Rewriting – A part of writing and preparing presentations that involves largely or wholly replacing a previous, unsatisfactory effort
with a new effort, better aligned to task, purpose, and audience, on the same or a similar topic or theme; compared to revising, a
larger-scale activity more akin to replacement than refinement. See also Editing, Revising.
Rhetoric- The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing.
Root words- A root is a word or word part from which other words grow, usually through the addition of prefixes and suffixes. Some
common Greek root words include (e.g., root-aster/astro, meaning-star, examples-asteroid, astronomy/root-auto, meaning-self,
examples-automatic, autopsy/root-dict, meaning-say, examples-dictate, diction.) Some common Latin root words include (e.g., rootaudi, meaning-hear, examples-audible, audience/root-bene, meaning-good, examples-benefit, benign/root-dict, meaning-say,
examples-dictate, diction.)
Scaffolding – Temporary guidance or assistance provided to a student by a teacher, another adult, or a more capable peer, enabling
the student to perform a task he or she otherwise would not be able to do alone, with the goal of fostering the student’s capacity to
perform the task on his or her own later on.
Shades of meaning - Phrase used to describe the small, subtle differences in meaning between similar word and phrases (e.g., “Kid"
and "youth" both refer to young people, but carry differing views and ideas about young people.)
Short research project – An investigation intended to address a narrowly tailored query in a brief period of time, as in a few class
periods or a week of instructional time.
Simile- A comparison of two unlike things using the word like or as. (e.g., The lion purred like a kitten.)
Source – A text used largely for informational purposes, as in research.
Standard English – In the Standards, the most widely accepted and understood form of expression in English in the United States;
used in the Standards to refer to formal English writing and speaking; the particular focus of Language Standards 1 and 2 (CCSS, pp.
26, 28, 52, 54).
State of being- A word used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate.
Story element- Characters, problem, solution, theme, setting, and plot.
Subordinating conjunctions - A type of conjunction that is used to introduce a dependent clause that cannot stand alone as a
sentence or that depends on an independent clause for its meaning (e.g., that, if, though, although, because, when , while, after,
before, so and so forth: I doubt that he knows me.)
Summarize - To give the main points or express briefly.
Technical information - Information that includes scientific information, relating to research, development, engineering, testing,
evaluation, production, operation, use, and maintenance of equipment.
Technical subjects – A course devoted to a practical study, such as engineering, technology, design, business, or other workforcerelated subject; a technical aspect of a wider field of study, such as art or music.
Technical text - Text that may be as simple as a recipe or as complex as an integral equation. The text may contain definitions of
technical terms, descriptions of products, instructions and examples.
Temporal words - Words to describe the position of an event in time (e.g., before, after, during, between, by).
Text complexity – The inherent difficulty of reading and comprehending a text combined with consideration of reader and task
variables; in the Standards, a three-part assessment of text difficulty that pairs qualitative and quantitative measures with readertask considerations (CCSS, pp. 31, 57; Reading, pp. 4–16).
Text complexity band – A range of text difficulty corresponding to grade spans within the standards; specifically, the spans from
grades 2–3, grades 4–5, grades 6–8, grades 9–10, and grades 11–CCR (College and Career Readiness).
Text structure- Refers to how the information within a written text is organized.
Textual evidence – See Evidence
Tone- The attitude the writer expresses toward a subject, a character, or the reader. The choice of words and details convey the
tone.
Twin text /Paired test - Two books, one fiction and one nonfiction (informational) on the same or related topic.
Two vowel sounds- Divide words between two vowel sounds (e.g., a/re/a, re/li/a/ble, fi/as/co).
V/CV- When there is a consonant between two vowels, the consonant usually goes with the second syllable (e.g., na/ture, de/ny,
be/low,a/go, spo/ken, e/vil, a/bove). The first syllable is open and has a long vowel sound. The exception is if the consonant is an r;
it usually stays with the first vowel (e.g., per/il, bar/i/tone).
VC/CCV- When there are three consonants between two vowels, divide between the first consonant and the blend or digraph that
follows it (e.g., spar/kler, stran/gled., cas/tle, nor/thern, ham/ster).
VC/CV- When two consonants appear together, you will usually divide between them (e.g., com/mon, mix/ture, hun/ger, pic/nic).