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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 13 of 14

Borrowed Words & Connotation

Bona fide, caveat, carte blanche and more, plus denotation and connotation.

What your child practices

Your teen works out foreign words and phrases often used in English (bona fide, caveat, quid pro quo) and tells a word's dictionary meaning from its connotation.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: E1.2(C); E1.2(B) · foreign words and phrases used in English, and denotation and connotation

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. English borrows phrases: bona fide (genuine), caveat (a warning), vice versa (the other way around).
  2. Ad hoc means made for one purpose, often on the spot. Quid pro quo means something for something.
  3. Denotation is the dictionary meaning. Connotation is the feeling a word carries.

Example: What does “vice versa” mean? “I help you, and vice versa” means you help me too. The order is reversed. Answer: the other way around

Borrowed Words & Connotation in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 13 of 14 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Media Analysis and before Drama, Satire & Fallacies.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    What does “de facto” mean?

    • by law only
    • against the facts
    • existing in fact, even if not official
    • in the future

  2. Question 2

    Which word has the most positive connotation?

    • stingy
    • miserly
    • cheap
    • thrifty

  3. Question 3

    What is a word's connotation?

    • its dictionary meaning only
    • the feelings or ideas it suggests beyond its literal meaning
    • its spelling
    • its part of speech

  4. Question 4

    Which word has the most negative connotation?

    • determined
    • persistent
    • stubborn
    • steadfast

  5. Question 5

    What does “RSVP” ask you to do?

    • reply to say whether you will come
    • bring a gift
    • dress formally
    • arrive early

  6. Question 6

    What does “raison d'être” mean?

    • a kind of fruit
    • a legal excuse
    • a reason to leave
    • the most important reason for existing

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