ela-2026:RL.4.4
ela-2026:RL.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a literary text, including figurative language.
Learning goal: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a literary text, including figurative language. This lesson teaches Ohio's 2026 English language arts standard, first implemented in the 2027-28 school year.
Words mean what they mean in this text. Many words have more than one meaning, and a writer of stories and poems often uses a word in a way you do not expect. To determine a word's meaning as it is used, do not stop at the first meaning you know. Reread the whole sentence and the sentences around it, try the meaning you know, and ask whether it fits. If it does not fit, look for clues in the text and check the other meanings in a dictionary. Then say the meaning in your own words and put it back into the sentence to test it.
Literal and figurative. Words used literally mean exactly what they say: "The branch cracked" means a branch really split. Words used figuratively mean something different from their exact, word-for-word meaning; the writer uses them to paint a picture, make a comparison or show a feeling. A quick test: read the phrase literally and ask, "Could this really happen in the story?" If the answer is no, the phrase is probably figurative, and your job is to figure out what it really means. Five kinds of figurative language appear often in stories and poems:
- A simile compares two different things using like or as: "stiff as soldiers."
- A metaphor compares two different things with no like or as, by speaking of one as if it were the other. Often the verb is is or was ("The candle is a small, brave sun"), but it does not have to be: "the ice storm had turned our street into a glass museum" is a metaphor too.
- Personification gives human actions, feelings or features to something that is not human: "The streetlights sleep."
- Hyperbole is a huge exaggeration that no one is meant to believe word for word: "I lost a million games."
- An idiom is a group of words with a meaning you cannot get from the separate words: "make do" means manage with what you have.
Four steps for a figurative phrase. (1) Notice it: the literal reading does not fit the story. (2) Name what is being compared, exaggerated or given human traits. (3) Use the context to decide which quality the writer means: a comparison borrows only one or two qualities, not everything. (4) Say the meaning in plain words and explain what it adds: a picture, a feeling or a mood.
Both texts below were written for this lesson.
Original story — The Ice Storm
By suppertime the ice storm had turned our street into a glass museum. Every branch wore a coat of ice, and the power lines sagged like tired jump ropes. At seven o'clock the lights blinked twice and went out. The refrigerator stopped humming. The house was so quiet I could hear my own eyelashes blink.
Dad found three candles and set them on the kitchen table. They gave a faint light, and we could barely read the labels on the soup cans. "Well," Mom said, "we'll have to make do." She made peanut butter sandwiches while my little brother, Theo, wrapped himself in four blankets until he was a burrito with a face.
Outside, the wind worried at the windows, rattling them again and again as if it wanted to come in. Every few minutes a branch cracked somewhere down the block, and Theo jumped. "The trees are breaking their arms," he whispered.
We played cards by candlelight, and I lost a million games of Go Fish. Around nine, Dad opened the back door to check the yard. The clouds had moved off, and the moon was a silver coin on a black tablecloth. Every icy twig glittered.
"It's beautiful," Theo said, peeking out of his blankets. For the first time all night, he did not jump when a branch cracked.
Original poem — Ice Storm Night (free verse; it does not rhyme)
Stanza 1: The streetlights sleep. The house holds its breath. / One candle is a small, brave sun, / while the wind knocks and knocks at the glass / like a stranger asking to come in.
Stanza 2: By morning the trees stand stiff as soldiers / in sleeves of ice from trunk to tip, / and when the sun comes up, the whole street / sparkles like an open jewelry box.
How the figurative language works in the story. "A glass museum" is a metaphor: the street is not a building, but the ice made everything shiny and fragile, like glass objects on display that you look at and do not touch. "Wore a coat of ice" is personification: branches do not wear clothes, but the ice covered each one the way a coat covers a person. "I could hear my own eyelashes blink" is hyperbole: eyelashes make no sound anyone can hear, so the exaggeration tells you the house was completely silent. Theo's "breaking their arms" is personification that also shows his fear: he talks about the branches as if the trees were getting hurt. Notice that the writer uses literal sentences too. "The refrigerator stopped humming" is literal: that really happens when the power goes out.
A common mistake: explaining only the literal picture ("the moon looked like money") or treating every describing word as figurative. Another mistake is thinking every like makes a simile. In "I like candles," like means enjoy, and nothing is compared.
Worked example 1 — A word used in an unexpected way. Sentence: "Outside, the wind worried at the windows, rattling them again and again as if it wanted to come in." Step 1: the meaning I know is "felt anxious." Step 2: test it. The wind cannot feel anxious, and the rest of the sentence says it was "rattling them again and again." Step 3: a dictionary gives another meaning of worry: to keep pulling, pushing or biting at something, the way a dog worries a bone. Step 4: put it back: "the wind kept pushing and rattling at the windows." That meaning fits the whole sentence. The word choice also makes the wind sound restless and a little like an animal.
Worked example 2 — A simile. Phrase: "the power lines sagged like tired jump ropes." (1) Notice: like joins two different things, and the lines are not really jump ropes. (2) Compared: power lines and jump ropes. (3) Quality: a jump rope that is not being swung hangs low and loose, and "tired" and "sagged" add drooping. (4) Meaning: the heavy ice pulled the power lines down so they hung low and loose. It adds a picture of how heavy the ice was, and it hints that the power might fail, which happens in the next sentence.
Worked example 3 — A metaphor and a hyperbole. "The moon was a silver coin on a black tablecloth." No like or as, so it is a metaphor. The moon is compared to a coin and the night sky to a tablecloth. Only some qualities carry over: round, bright and silver on a very dark background. The moon is not money, and nothing is for sale. "I lost a million games of Go Fish" is hyperbole: in about two hours no one could play a million games, so it means the narrator lost a great many games and felt it.
Worked example 4 — Personification and an idiom. In the poem, "The streetlights sleep" gives streetlights a human action. Literally, lights cannot sleep; in this poem it means they are dark and switched off because the power is out. "The house holds its breath" means the house is completely still and quiet, the way a person holding a breath waits without a sound. In the story, Mom says, "we'll have to make do." The words make and do separately do not tell you the meaning, so it is an idiom. The context (three candles, sandwiches instead of a hot supper) shows it means "manage with what we have."
Figurative language chart (representation task): Make a four-column chart headed "Words from the text," "Kind (literal word with a new meaning, simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole or idiom)," "What it does NOT mean (literal reading)" and "What it means here, with the clue." Fill in six rows from The Ice Storm and Ice Storm Night. Then circle one row and write a sentence about the picture or feeling it adds.
Independent performance: Choose a story or poem from your classroom library. Find five words or phrases whose meaning depends on the text, including at least three different kinds of figurative language. For each, write the literal meaning, the meaning as it is used in the text, and the words nearby that helped you decide. Finally, write a short paragraph explaining how one figurative phrase helps you picture a setting or understand a character's feelings. Success criteria: I test the meaning I know against the sentence before I accept it. I name the kind of figurative language correctly. I explain what the phrase means in this text, not only its literal picture. I point to context clues. I explain what the phrase adds to the story or poem.
An adult may read the prompts aloud. Answer independently with words, objects, drawings or a demonstration before opening the answer guide. Award 1 point for a correct result or claim and 1 point for a matching explanation or demonstration; where a question asks only for a result (a corrected sentence, a spelling, a count), a fully correct result earns both points, and the answer guide shows what a complete response contains. Record prompting separately. The total (two points per question) is local practice feedback, not an Ohio proficiency level.
What does "faint" mean in "They gave a faint light, and we could barely read the labels on the soup cans"? How do you know?
Weak or dim. The clue "we could barely read the labels" shows there was very little light. The other meaning of faint, to pass out, does not fit, because a candle cannot lose consciousness.
Is "the power lines sagged like tired jump ropes" literal or figurative? Name the kind and explain what it means.
Figurative. It is a simile because it uses like to compare the power lines to jump ropes. It means the heavy ice pulled the lines down so they hung low and loose, the way a resting jump rope droops; the lines did not really turn into jump ropes.
Explain the metaphor "the moon was a silver coin on a black tablecloth."
It compares the moon to a silver coin and the night sky to a black tablecloth without using like or as. Only some qualities carry over: the moon looked round, bright and silver against a very dark, clear sky after the clouds moved off.
Theo whispers, "The trees are breaking their arms." What kind of figurative language is this, and what does it show?
Personification, because it gives the trees arms, as if they were people. It means branches were cracking and breaking under the ice. It also shows Theo's fear, since he jumps each time a branch cracks and talks about the trees as if they were being hurt.
What does Mom mean by "we'll have to make do," and why can't you work it out from the separate words?
It means the family will manage with what they have, such as candles and sandwiches, even though it is not what they would choose. It is an idiom: the words make and do on their own do not give that meaning, so the reader uses the context.
Which sentence is hyperbole, and how do you know? (a) "I lost a million games of Go Fish." (b) "We played cards by candlelight."
Sentence (a). It is a huge exaggeration: no one could play a million games in one evening, so it means the narrator lost many games. Sentence (b) is literal; it tells exactly what the family did.
In the poem, what does "The house holds its breath" mean? Support your answer with another line from the poem.
It is personification: a house cannot breathe, so the line means the house is completely silent and still, as if it were waiting. "The streetlights sleep" supports it: the lights are dark and still too, so the house seems to wait in the dark while the wind "knocks and knocks at the glass." The outside is not quiet; the house holds still while something outside tries to get in. Other readings earn credit if a line from the poem supports them.
A classmate says, "In the poem, the trees are soldiers." What is wrong with this reading, and what does "stiff as soldiers" mean?
The phrase is a simile (it uses as), so it compares the trees to soldiers in only one way; the trees are not soldiers. It means the ice made the trees stand stiff and straight without moving, the way soldiers stand at attention.