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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 16 of 20

Word Choice & Voice

Choose words and tone for your audience

What your child practices

Children practice choosing precise, descriptive and subject-specific words, and matching tone, sentence style and personal voice to the audience and purpose.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 7L6; 7SL6 · precise and subject-specific words, voice and formal or informal tone

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Pick precise words: delicious instead of nice, whispered instead of said.
  2. Match your tone to the audience: warm and respectful for a thank-you note, casual for a friend.
  3. Use subject words in reports and simple words in casual stories.

Example: Which word replaces “said” to show a quiet voice: shouted, whispered or answered? You need a word that means speaking softly. Whispered means speaking very quietly. Answer: whispered

Word Choice & Voice in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 16 of 20 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Plan & Organize Writing and before Posters & Presentations.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    A persuasive speech for a skate park should use…

    • a joke in every sentence
    • no reasons
    • a confident tone with strong reasons
    • a bored tone

  2. Question 2

    Which word is a discipline-specific word in science?

    • habitat
    • thing
    • very
    • pretty

  3. Question 3

    Which change best improves the tone of “Give me your pencil now”?

    • I need it, give it.
    • May I please borrow your pencil?
    • Hurry up.
    • Pencil.

  4. Question 4

    A writer says “I have a lot of feelings about the first snow.” To add voice and detail, they could add…

    • a specific memory or image
    • a longer title
    • a heading
    • more punctuation

  5. Question 5

    Which word is the most precise replacement for “nice” in “a nice meal”?

    • okay
    • delicious
    • good
    • fine

  6. Question 6

    Which is the best way to find a more exact word?

    • Use a rhyme
    • Choose the first word you see
    • Pick any long word
    • Use a thesaurus and check the meaning in a dictionary

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