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6th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 2 of 12

Connotation & Tone

Word choice changes meaning

What your child practices

Words can share a dictionary meaning (denotation) but carry different feelings (connotation), like “cozy” and “cramped.” Students choose words for effect and identify a writer's tone.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 6.1; 6.27 · connotation and tone

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Denotation is a word’s dictionary meaning. Connotation is the feeling it carries.
  2. Cozy and cramped both mean small, but cozy feels good and cramped feels bad.
  3. Tone is the writer’s attitude, shown by word choice: cheerful, angry, worried, playful.

Example: Which has the more positive connotation: “thrifty” or “stingy”? Both mean careful with money. Stingy sounds selfish. Thrifty sounds wise. Answer: thrifty

Connotation & Tone in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 2 of 12 in 6th grade English Language Arts, after Point of View and before Make Your Case.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Sort each word: positive or negative connotation?

    Sort into: 😊 Positive · 😒 Negative

    • 🔤stingy
    • 🔤lazy
    • 🔤slender
    • 🔤determined
    • 🔤stench
    • 🔤cozy

  2. Question 2

    What is the tone of this comment?

    Pool fees went up again this year, and once again nobody asked the families who actually use the pool.

    • joyful
    • frustrated
    • amused
    • grateful

  3. Question 3

    Which word has the most negative connotation?

    • young
    • youthful
    • childish

  4. Question 4

    Which sentence makes the room sound unpleasant?

    • The room was cozy and softly lit.
    • The room was cramped and dim.
    • The room was small and had one lamp.

  5. Question 5

    “stroll” and “trudge” have the same denotation (dictionary meaning). What is it?

    • little in size
    • to move along on foot
    • a smell
    • like a young person

  6. Question 6

    A writer wants readers to admire a scientist. Which word fits best? “Dr. Okafor is a _____ scientist.”

    • notorious
    • renowned
    • well-known

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