• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Choosing words to create a tone or mood). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Choose the word that best creates the effect described in brackets. The ___ figure watched them from the end of the alley. (create tension) (friendly / jolly / silent / smiling) → silentPrompt: Think about the feelings each word brings with it (its connotations).
2. Which word best describes the mood created by this line? "The empty swings creaked in the fog; nobody had played there for years." (eerie / excited / comic / cheerful) → eeriePrompt: Pick out the two or three strongest words in the line.
3. Choose the word that best creates the effect described in brackets. The wind ___ around the abandoned house. (create a frightening mood) (howled / danced / whispered softly / sighed gently) → howledPrompt: Think about the feelings each word brings with it (its connotations).

• Show an interesting word in a sentence and ask what it might mean from the clues around it.
• Share the objective: Near-synonyms: strength and shades of meaning. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Choose the word whose exact shade of meaning best fits the context. The scientist ___ the results to be sure they were accurate.
• Step 1: Near-synonyms differ in intensity and connotation; precise writers choose the one that fits exactly.
• Step 2: Checking for accuracy needs very close examination.
• Step 3: Put it back into the sentence and read it aloud: "The scientist scrutinised the results to be sure they were accurate."
• Step 4: So the answer is: scrutinised
• Answer: scrutinised
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Choose the word whose exact shade of meaning best fits the context. The child ___ the medicine and pulled a face. (guzzled / devoured / sipped / gulped) → sippedPrompt: All the choices are related. Look for the detail in the sentence that rules most of them out.
2. Choose the word whose exact shade of meaning best fits the context. The thief ___ along the dark corridor, trying not to be heard. (marched / stomped / crept / strolled) → creptPrompt: All the choices are related. Look for the detail in the sentence that rules most of them out.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Choose the word whose exact shade of meaning best fits the context. Her speech was ___: short, clear and to the point. (concise / rambling / long-winded / wordy) → concisePrompt: All the choices are related. Look for the detail in the sentence that rules most of them out.
2. Choose the word whose exact shade of meaning best fits the context. The old map was ___: it was the only one of its kind in the world. (unusual / rare / uncommon / unique) → uniquePrompt: All the choices are related. Look for the detail in the sentence that rules most of them out.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-8.