• 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 tiny kitten ___ across the kitchen floor. (create a playful, light mood) (scampered / trudged / crawled painfully / stomped) → scamperedPrompt: 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." (comic / eerie / cheerful / excited) → 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 market was ___ with colour and noise. (create a lively mood) (drowning / bursting / fading / dripping) → burstingPrompt: 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 scientist ___ the results to be sure they were accurate. (scrutinised / noticed / glanced at / skimmed) → scrutinisedPrompt: 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 diplomat was ___: she said exactly what she thought, but always politely. (rude / candid / insulting / tactless) → candidPrompt: 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 8 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. The diplomat was ___: she said exactly what she thought, but always politely. (tactless / insulting / candid / rude) → candidPrompt: 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. After winning the lottery, she was ___. (ecstatic / content / pleased / satisfied) → ecstaticPrompt: 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.