7th Grade Academic Vocabulary

Language ArtsCompiled by Beth Price

Spring City Middle School

Spring 2009

analogy

An analogy is a comparison of similar

objects. An analogy suggests that since the

objects are alike in some ways, they will probably be

alike in other ways.

He looked down the street toward his house and saw his mother standing there, just like a lighthouse. Always waiting for him to arrive home safely. Always there to guide himhome from hiswanderings.

anecdote

An anecdote is a little story used to

illustrate or make a point.

Anecdote from Roald Dahl’s autobiography, Boy: Tales of Childhood, which illustrates differences in medical treatments now and in 1924:

(You need to be aware that the doctor has explained nothing to him and has given him no medicine. He only tells him to open his mouth.)

“The tiny blade flashed in the bright light and disappeared into my mouth. It went high up into the roof of my mouth, and the hand that held the blade gave four or five very quick little twists and the next moment, out of my mouth into the basin came tumbling a whole mass of flesh and blood.

I was too shocked and outraged to do anything but yelp. I was horrified by the huge red lumps that had fallen out of my mouth into the white basin and my first thought was that the doctor had cut out the whole of the middle of my head. . .”

assumption / assume

In a syllogism (logic), an assumption is a minor

premise, a statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be

drawn.

If I do not wake up, then I cannot go to work.

If I cannot go to work, then I will not get paid.

Therefore, if I do not wake up, then I will not get

paid.

autobiography

An autobiography is a biography of yourself written by yourself—your history in

your own words.

Autobiography is from the Greek roots:

auto self

bio life

graph to write

to write self life

clarify

When you clarify, you make your idea or statement

easier and clearer to understand by removing, rewriting, or explaining a

confusing part.

Confusing: The book was about insects that we read.

(Confusion: Did you read the insects?)

Clarified: The book that we read was about insects.

clause

You’re in the Seventh Grade

and don’t know a clause?

Santa and the Missus

clause

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject

and a verb and is used as part of a sentence.

kinds of clauses:

• Dependent

• Independent

• Adverb

• Adjective

• Noun

• Introductory

Does the clauseexpress a complete

thought?

How or where is the clause

being used in thesentence?

Independent (main) clause

An independent (main) clause is a group of words that

contains a subject and a verb,

and it can stand alone as a sentence. (It expresses a

complete thought).

subject

The capital city of the Aztec verb

empire was in central

Mexico.

dependent (subordinate) clause

A dependent clause is a group of words that contains

a subject and a verb,

however it cannot stand alone as a sentence because

it doesn’t express a complete thought.

Adverb (subordinate) clause

An adverb clause is a dependent (or subordinate)

clause that is being used to modify a verb, an adjective, or an adverb.

Adverb clauses tell:howwhenwhere

whyto what extentunder what condition

Adverb clauses are introduced by a subordinating

conjunction—a word that shows the relationship

between the adverb clause and the word or words that

the clause modifies.

Common subordinating conjunctions are:

after as though sinceas although because as if so that wheneverwhen before wherehow though unlessuntil whenever whetherwhile in order that as long asthan

examples of adverb clauses

You may sit wherever you wish.

(modifies the verb, sit)

Gabe can type faster than I can.

(modifies adverb, faster)

Happy because he had made an A, Tony hurried home to show the grade card to his mom.

(modifies an

adjective, happy)

introductory adverb clause

When winter sets in, many animals hibernate.

After you wash the dishes, I’ll dry them and put them away.

adjective clause

An adjective clause is a dependent (or subordinate)

clause that modifies a noun or pronoun.

Most adjective clauses begin with a relative pronoun:

that

which

who

whom

whose

1. The boy that won the contest is from my

school.

2. That documentary, which will be broadcast in the fall, was filmed in several countries.

noun clauseA noun clause is a

subordinate (dependent) clause that is used as a

noun in a sentence. It can be used as a subject, direct or indirect

object, object of preposition, or predicate nominative.

subject

How she won the race is an amazing story!

predicate nominative

Three dollars is what Daniel offered for the notebook.

direct object

David and Megan remembered who he was.

indirect object

The hostess gives whoever enters a menu.

object of a preposition

Eager to please the speaker, we listened to whatever she said.

compile

When you compile, you gather materials and put them together somehow.

For example, you could go to the library and compile a shelf of books that are about Christmas.

If you are doing a research paper, you could compile a list of the Internet sites, books, and magazine articles you used to find your information. (That list would be called a bibliography.)

convention

A convention is an established technique,

practice, or device that is used, for example, in

literature or in the theatre.

For example, read the following poem, and then discuss the conventions of grammar that are being used (or NOT being used) in the poem. Additionally, you could discuss the conventions of poetry that are being / not being used.

i remember some weeks agomeeting a middle aged spidershe was weepingwhat is the trouble i askedher it is these cursedfly swatters she repliedthey kill of all the fliesand my family and i are starvingto death it struck me asso pathetic that i madea little song about itas follows to wit

( from “pity the poor spiders” by Don Marquis)

culture

Culture is the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial,

religious, or social group.

For example, as you look at the picture of the Indian on the next slide,

what do you know about the Indian culture?

documentary

A documentary is a film or TV program that interprets

actual events. It usually includes interviews or footage of actual

events taking place.

A documentary’s primary purpose may be to inform, to persuade, to entertain, or to make money. Sometimes a documentary may have more than one purpose.

For example, a documentary about endangered animals in the rain forest may have the purposes of:

1) informing us of the problem

2) persuading us to react by supporting laws to

protect the animals3) raising money to protect

the animals

Can you think of a recent documentary that has been

on television?

Can you think of a recent documentary that has been

on television?

exposition (literary)

An exposition is an essay or writing that explains

something.

Read the first few paragraphs of the following exposition. What is it explaining?

“The method of embalming, or treating the dead body, that the ancient Egyptians used is called mummification. Using special processes, the Egyptians removed all moisture from the body, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay. It was important in their religion to preserve the dead body in as lifelike a manner as possible. . . .

The first step in the process was the removal of all internal parts that might decay rapidly. The brain was removed by carefully inserting special hooked instruments up through the nostrils in order to pull out bits of brain tissue.

Next, the embalmers removed all moisture from the body. They did this by covering the body with natron, a type of salt which has great drying properties, and by placing additional natron packets inside the body.”

expository writing

The word expository is related to the word expose, a verb that means “to allow to

be seen, or to reveal.”

When writing an expository, the writer tries to reveal information about a subject. He / she may include

facts,

show cause & effect, compare or

contrast, or explain instructions.

“Some early American settlements were in poor locations. Roanoke, for example, was on an island that proved hard to reach. Rough ocean currents and storms made the voyage difficult for ships to bring much-needed supplies. The site for a later colony, Jamestown, also had

problems. Jamestown sat on a marshy, disease-ridden piece of land. Because of its location, Jamestown’s settlers had to endure increased incidents of illness as well as a salty water supply. However, despite the negatives, Roanoke and Jamestown shared one important advantage:

The semi-hidden location of both colonies aided against surprise attacks.”

expression in oral language

The expressive qualities of your voice can enhance

communication with your audience. Verbal

elements you may want to consider are:

diction

Enunciate, or pronounce words clearly, when you

speak to help your listeners understand you.

emphasis or stress

Your voice naturally stresses some words and phrases when you speak. Emphasize words that are

important in your message.

mood or tone

Your speech should make your listeners feel certain emotions.

pause

Pauses are the small silences in your speech.

They can help to emphasize a point you are making.

They also can help listeners catch up with your speech.

pitch

Your voice naturally changes pitch—or modulates—when

you speak. Saying some words higher and others lower gives

listeners cues about your meaning. For example, you

might raise your pitch to connect two related ideas.

rate

Your rate, or tempo, of speaking is normally faster

than the speed you will need to use when giving a formal speech. Talking more slowly

during a speech helps listeners hear and

understand more easily.

volume

Although you may normally speak quietly, you need to

speak fairly loudly when you give a speech. Be loud enough

to be heard by all of your listeners. Consider speaking

more loudly or softly to emphasize certain points.

fluency

According to Tim Rasinski (an expert on the topic),

fluency is the ability to read with accuracy, with expression,

and at a good pace.

accuracy

Recognizing words and reading words correctly without any hesitation

rate or pace

Reading at a natural, conversational pace, or as

appropriate for the text

structural expression

Reading smoothly. appropriate phrasing and pausing. Adjusting your pitch and volume to the

circumstances (according to the type of text or the

audience).

interpretive expression

Recognizing that there are different purposes for

reading. Conveying the appropriate mood and

emotion. Distinguishing word meanings in context.

generalization

A generalization is a general statement that gives an

overall, general view, rather than focusing

on specific details.

Generalization: Your room is a mess.

Specific: Your clothes are not hung up and are lying all over your room.

imagery

A good writer will use imagery, or create images or pictures in writing, by providing vivid,

detailed descriptions.

“Our home was one room, about eighteen by twenty feet, the size of a living room. There was one small window in the wall opposite the one door. It was bare except for a a small, tiny wood-burning stove that was

crouching in the center.

The flooring consisted of two-by-fours laid directly on the earth, and dandelions were already pushing their way up through the cracks.”

inconsistency

If something is consistent, it is marked by harmony,

regularity, and steady continuity. It is free from

variation and free from contradiction.

If you have been inconsistent in your writing, you may have done

one of the following:

changed verb tense in your essay

At my grandparents house, I wake up before anyone else and quietly had grabbed the fishing pole and will be heading for the pond. “I was so excited,” I say to myself. “I was going to catch a fish.”

changed your point of view

I have always felt that hang-gliding was invented just for me. You feel so free, floating through the air, as I watch the Lego farm houses and people that are no larger than ants.

have statements that contradict

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart remains a mystery. Earhart, who was the first woman pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, crashed into the Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the world. Everybody knows what happened to her.

changed your topic

“Although living with a disability can be difficult, many disabled people lead independent lives. Jenna is one of those people. Left legally blind and deaf at age nine from an operation to remove a brain tumor,

Jenna had to learn to overcome her disabilities. With the help of a cane, a hearing aid, and a magnifying glass to help her read, Jenna is able to be self-sufficient.

I wouldn’t want to be blind. It would scare me to death. I would be as scared as I saw when I saw the horror movie,

The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre. Let me tell you. I was scared to death, and I screamed and screamed and screamed. I screamed so much, I almost threw up all over my little brother who was as calm as a cucumber. I don’t like cucumbers. I think they taste gross in a salad. Don’t you?”

infinitive

An infinitive is a verb form, usually preceded by “to,” that is used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.

Example-to go, to leave, to fly

examples of infinitives

1. I want to go home with you.

2. I need someone to help me with my homework.

3. To be kind is sometimes very difficult.

infinitive phrase

An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive and its

modifiers and complements.

infinitive phrase as adverb

1. The crowd grew quiet to hear the speaker.

(modifies grew)

2. The camel knelt at at the pool to drink.

(modifies knelt)

infinitive phrase as adjective

1. The best time to visit Florida is December through April.

(modifies time)

2. If you want information about computers, that is the magazine to read.

(modifies magazine)

infinitive used as noun

subject:

To install the ceiling fan took two hours.

predicate nominative

Isabella’s ambition is to become a doctor.

Direct objectAfter school, David and I liketo walk home together.

interpretation

An interpretation is an explanation of something.

It can also be how you perform a piece of literature (reading a poem, acting a part in a play, etc.)

For example, after reading A Christmas Carol, your teacher could ask you:“What is your interpretation of the Spirits?”

What he/she is asking you is: What is your explanation (the purpose) of the Spirits?

OR. . .You could act the part of Ebenezer Scrooge in a play. When you get on stage and act like Ebenezer, you are doing an interpretation, or explanation, of how your think he acted, looked, and talked. People who came to the play would critique your interpretation of the character of Ebenezer Scrooge.

OR. . . If you memorize a poem and recite it to the class, they could critique your interpretation. In other words, they would watch your facial expressions and body language, and they would listen to your voice, and then they would tell you how well your expressed the meaning of the poem when your read it.

irony

Irony is a contrast between expectation and reality. There are three common

types of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic.

verbal irony

Verbal irony involves a contrast between

what is said or written

and what is really meant.

For example, if a baseball player just struck out, and you called him “slugger,” you would be using verbal irony.

situational irony

Situational irony occurs when what happens is very

different from what we expected would happen.

For example, in “Casey at the Bat,” when Casey strikes out after we’ve been led to believe he will save the day, the poet is using situational irony.

BEAN: The Movie, is a movie that contains much situational irony. You may want to view the first 10 minutes or so of the film and see how many instances you can find.

dramatic irony

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or the reader

knows something a character does not know.

In “The Highwayman,” the reader realizes that King George’s soldiers have Bess tied up and that there is a trap set for the highwayman; however, the highwayman is not aware of either of these situations.

mood

Mood is the overall emotion created by a work of

literature--its emotional atmosphere.

Some adjectives that describe mood:

sad scary

hopeful exiting

negative optimistic

suspenseful

depressing

Think of several selections you have read this year.

What was the mood in each selection?

flashback

A flashback is an interruption in the action of a plot in order to tell what

happened at an earlier time.

The plot “flashes back” in time.

Not every short story or novel will have flashbacks. Can you think of one that has

flashbacks?

foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is the use of clues to suggest events that will happen later in the plot.

“Three Skeleton Key”

In “Three Skeleton Key,” the story of the three convicts who perished on the key foreshadows the danger the three lighthouse keepers will face.

tone

Tone is the attitude that a writer takes toward the

audience, a subject, or a character. Tone is conveyed through the writer’s choice

of words and details.

For example. . . The poem “maggie and mily and molly and may” is light and playful in tone. By contrast, the poem “Annabel Lee” is serious in tone.

You may think of other examples.

symbolism

A symbol is a person, place, thing, or event that has its own meaning and stand for something beyond itself as well. Symbolism is the condition or state of being a symbol.

Common symbols:

The dove isa symbol forpeace.

The skull and crossbonesis a symbol of danger.

Think of other symbols that you know.

parallel structure

If a sentence has parallel structure, the compound

elements match in form. In other words, you will use

the same kind of word or phrase in each of the

compound elements.

Example:

Not parallel: Julie likes fishing and to swim in a cool mountain stream.

Parallel: Julie likes fishing and swimming in a cool mountain stream.

projection

Projection means to control the volume,

clarity, and distinctness of a voice to gain greater audibility (to make people

hear you better).

prose

Prose is writing or speaking in the usual sentence form.

Prose becomes poetry when it takes on

rhyme and rhythm.

revision

Making changes in a piece of writing to improve its

completeness and clarity is called revision. Another word for revise is edit.

You revise your essay by:correcting grammar errorsdeleting ideas or wordsadding words or sentencesre-arranging ideas or sentencesre-writing a passageadding transitional wordsdividing it into paragraphs

sentence structure

The structure of a sentence refers to the kinds and the number of clauses it contains. The four kinds of sentences are: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

simple

My dad, my brother, and I verb prepositional phrase

drove out to the nearby woods

prepositional phrase

to gather pine cones.

subject subject subject

compound

My brother picked up all the

little cones, and my dad and I

threw medium and big ones

into the trunk of the car.

complex

When mom and Grandma saw how many we had, they laughed and said that we had enough to decorate ten houses.

complex

dependent clause

When Mom and Grandma

saw how many we had,

independent clause

they laughed and said we had

enough to decorate ten houses.

compound-complex

We had forgotten to ask what size pine cones to get, and since Dad had never made decorations, he didn’t know.

compound-complex

We had forgotten to ask what size pine cones to get,

and since Dad had never made decorations,

he didn’t know.

stereotype

Stereotypes are beliefs about all the members of

a particular group. Stereotypes are usually

based on too little evidence or on false or misleading information.

“dumb blonde” jokes

all Black people can sing and dance

well

strategy

A strategy is a detailed plan of action (scheme or plan) to accomplish

a specific goal.

For example, if a student has to sell 100 boxes of candy, he could adopt the strategy of selling at least 10 boxes per day, and in 10 days, he would have reached his goal.

If you have trouble memorizing definitions of new vocabulary words, you could use index cards. Put the definition on one side; put the word on the other. Use the cards as flash cards to practice learning the meanings. (strategy at school)

limerick

A limerick is a five-line humorous poem. The rhyme pattern is a a b b a. Lines 1, 2 and 5 contain 3 beats (7 to 10 syllables) and rhyme, and lines 3 and 4 have two beats (5 to 7 syllables) and rhyme.

There was an Old Person of Dover,Who rushed through a field of blue

clover;But some very large bees,Stung his nose and his knees,So he very soon went back to Dover.

lyric

A lyric poem is a poem that expresses the feelings or

thoughts of a speaker rather than telling a story.

“Dreams”

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.

Langston Hughes

narrative

A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story. It may have any of the elements that a short story has, including:

plot (intro, climax, etc.)

character

setting

foreshadowing

irony

point of view

flashback

mood

Think of a narrative poem that you have studied this year—or perhaps last year.

Can you find the elements of a short story in it? They should be there for you to find.

haikuHaiku is a Japanese style of

poetry. It has three lines, 17 syllables does not rhyme, is about nature, and has a specific number

of syllables in each line: 5, 7, 5

The crow has flown away:swaying in the evening sun,

a leafless tree.

Note: When translated from Japanese to English,often the haikusyllables are not “perfect.”

viewpoint

Viewpoint is another word for point of view or

standpoint. Another synonym might be opinion.

For example, if a news reporter walked up to you and asked, “What is your viewpoint of smoking in public?” he would be wanting to know your opinion about public smoking.

Do you agree with people smoking in public? Why?

Do you disagree? Why?Does it bother you? Why or

why not?What are the good things

about it? What are the bad things

about it?

Bibliography

Most clip art is taken from Microsoft Office Online.

Most definitions and some examples are taken from Holt’s Elements of Language, 2004 edition.

Some examples are my personal writings; some pictures were snatched from the Internet, various places.

Some definitions are taken from Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.

Some definitions and examples were taken from Holt’s Elements of Literature, 2007 edition, both First Course and Second Course.