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Writing With Devices for Effect (Grades 6–8)

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Grades 6–8 Language · Word Choice

Writing With Devices for Effect (Grades 6–8)

Devices for effect in writing for Grades 6 to 8: choose a rhetorical question, personification, a word with the right connotation, a list of three, and alliteration to suit a purpose and an audience, then write sentences with a metaphor and with a rhetorical or literary device and explain its effect. With an answer key.

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Figurative Language in Your Own WritingA teaching handout to hand out before this sheet: the rule, worked examples and common mistakes.
Pages
2
Last updated
Time
About 20 minutes
Answer key
Included
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Related curriculum

Choose the word that says exactly what you mean, such as a precise verb (tiptoe, not walk) or a precise word for a feeling (relieved, not happy), and tell formal language for school and letters from informal language for friends. In Grades 6 to 8, tell a formal style from an informal one and keep a formal style to the end of a piece.

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Reviewed by Mr. James Anderson, Teacher and Mr. Michael Sullivan, Teacher. How we check worksheets

How to use this sheet

  • Have the child use each word in a sentence, and see if a synonym fits the same sentence.
  • Put the words on a line from weakest to strongest, such as warm, hot and boiling.
  • For connotation, ask how each word would make a reader feel about the person or thing.

Common mistakes

  • Mixing up synonyms and antonyms. Synonyms are the same; antonyms are opposites.
  • Choosing a synonym that means nearly the same but does not fit the sentence, such as "huge" for "tall".
  • Thinking synonyms mean exactly the same. Many differ in strength or feeling, such as thin and skinny.

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