L.8.6: Precise Academic Words and Subject Terms in Grade 8
In plain English: L.8.6 is the Common Core grade 8 ELA standard that asks students to learn and accurately use eighth-grade general academic words and the terms of each subject, such as ratify in civics, y-intercept in math and meteorite in science. When a word or phrase is key to understanding a text or to saying exactly what they mean, students gather knowledge about it from the text and from current sources.
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy · Domain: Language Standards · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use · Official standard
Students build the two kinds of vocabulary that eighth-grade classes rely on. General academic words work across subjects with much the same meaning, such as factor, evaluate and infer. Domain-specific words and phrases belong to one subject, or domain, such as ratify in civics, y-intercept in math and meteorite in science. Students acquire (learn) new terms in term sets, groups of related terms that must be told apart, and use them accurately: with the meaning that fits the subject, precisely rather than vaguely, with the right partner words, and in claims that fit the evidence.
The standard also asks students to gather vocabulary knowledge when a word or phrase is important to comprehension (understanding a text) or expression (saying or writing exactly what they mean). Students learn to judge which words matter, collect what the text and a current source say, and test the word in a sentence of their own. They practice with an excerpt on meteors from Garrett P. Serviss's Curiosities of the Sky (1909), whose older science gives a reason to check current sources, an original civics passage on amending the Constitution, and an invented lab notebook draft about filling a fish tank.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Tell general academic words and phrases from domain-specific ones, and tell apart the members of a term set such as meteoroid, meteor and meteorite
Use grade 8 academic and subject terms accurately: the right meaning, a precise word, the right partner words and a claim that fits the evidence
Decide whether a word or phrase is important to comprehension or expression and explain why
Gather vocabulary knowledge about a key term from the text and a current source, including checking an older text's terms
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Learning and accurately using grade 7 general academic and domain-specific words L.7.6
Using context and reference materials to find word meanings L.7.4
Graphing ordered pairs and reading a straight-line graph 7.RP.A.2
Telling nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs apart in a sentence
"Read three sentences. (1) The committee voted to table the bill. (2) The periodic table lists 118 known elements. (3) Record your measurements in a data table. What does table mean in each one, and which class would you hear it in?"
Collect answers. Sentence 1 is civics: in American lawmaking, to table a bill is to set it aside and put off any decision on it. Sentence 2 is chemistry: the periodic table is a chart that arranges all the elements by their properties. Sentence 3 uses a meaning shared by math, science and social studies: rows and columns of information. Recall two labels from grades 6 and 7. A general academic word appears in many subjects with much the same meaning (evaluate, consequence, justify). A domain-specific word belongs to one subject, or domain (subduction, veto, latitude). Eighth-grade texts are full of both, and many domain terms are phrases of two or more words, like periodic table or rate of change. Today students learn new ones, use them accurately and decide which ones are worth the work of gathering knowledge.
Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
Part 1: Acquire words in term sets. In grade 8, many subject words come in term sets: groups of closely related terms that a reader must tell apart. In science, a meteoroid, a meteor and a meteorite are three stages of one object (Diagram 1). In civics, to propose an amendment and to ratify it are two different steps. In math, the slope of a line (its rate of change: how much y changes each time x goes up by 1) is not its y-intercept (the value of y where the line crosses the y-axis, often the starting value). Learn each new term with the others in its set and with one sentence that shows the difference.
Part 2: Use them accurately. Accurate use has four checks. The meaning fits the subject. The word is precise, not vague (carbon dioxide, not the gas). The word goes with the right partner words (you ratify an amendment; you do not ratify a bill in Congress). And the claim fits the evidence: one small survey suggests; it does not prove.
Part 3: Gather vocabulary knowledge. A word or phrase is important to comprehension (understanding) when the main idea depends on it, it appears in a heading or in bold, or it keeps coming back. It is important to expression (saying or writing what you mean) when you need it to make your point exactly. For such a word, gather what the text tells you, the meaning in a current subject source, the related terms and how they differ, and then write your own sentence (Diagram 2). If a text is old, check its terms against a current source: knowledge and word use change.
A general academic word with a math meaning
3 is a factor of 12. (math) Cheap land was one factor in westward migration. (history) Light is one factor that affects how fast a plant grows. (science)
Result: In math, a factor is a whole number that divides another with no remainder: 12 ÷ 3 = 4. In history and science it keeps its general academic meaning: one of several causes or conditions that shape a result. Accurate use in history means a factor or one factor, since westward migration had other causes too, such as gold strikes and new railroads.
Telling apart two terms in one domain
A student writes: Phoenix had a cold, rainy week in January, so its climate is changing.
Result: In earth science, weather is the condition of the air over hours or days, and climate is the average pattern of weather in a place over many years, usually 30 or more. One cold week is weather. Accurate revision: Phoenix had a cold, rainy week in January, which is unusual weather for its hot desert climate.
A domain-specific phrase in grade 8 math
A bike rental costs $8, plus $3 for each hour. The cost C for h hours is C = 3h + 8.
Result: The rate of change is $3 per hour: the cost goes up $3 each time h goes up by 1. The initial value is $8, the cost at h = 0, where the graph crosses the vertical axis. Two hours cost 3(2) + 8 = $14. The function is linear (its graph is a straight line) but not proportional, because 0 hours still cost $8.
Choosing a claim verb that fits the evidence
In a survey of 40 eighth graders at one school, 26 said they read more on a phone than on paper. A student writes: This proves that all teenagers prefer reading on phones.
Result: Twenty-six of 40 is 26 ÷ 40 = 0.65, or 65 percent, of one school's sample, so proves and all teenagers claim too much. Accurate revision: The survey suggests that many eighth graders at our school read more on phones: 26 of the 40 students, or 65 percent. Precise claim verbs, from weaker to stronger: suggests, indicates, shows, demonstrates.
Deciding what to gather
Before the Civil War, thousands of enslaved people escaped to freedom along the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses. People who guided them, such as Harriet Tubman, were called conductors, and the houses where they hid were called stations.
Result: Underground Railroad is the phrase to gather: it names the topic, and the other terms, conductors and stations, borrow their meanings from it. The literal words mislead, since it was neither underground nor a railroad, so a reader needs the history meaning, the related terms, a current source such as the textbook glossary, and a sentence of their own (Diagram 2).
Guided Practice15-20 minutes
Garrett P. Serviss was an American writer who explained astronomy for general readers. He published this chapter in 1909. Read the excerpt aloud; the words are his, and "viz." is an old abbreviation for "namely." Model the first two rows of the table: what the text itself tells you about each term, then what a current science source adds. Pairs complete the rest; the teacher key is in the right column.
1One of the first things recognized was the fact that fire-balls are solid meteorites in flight, and not gaseous exhalations in the air, as some had assumed. They burn in the air during their flight, and sometimes, perhaps, are entirely consumed before reaching the ground. Their velocity before entering the earth’s atmosphere is equal to that of the planets in their orbits—viz., from twenty to thirty miles per second—a fact which proves that the sun is the seat of the central force governing them. Their burning in the air is not difficult to explain; it is the heat of friction which so quickly brings them to incandescence. Calculation shows that a body moving through the air at a velocity of about a mile per second will be brought, superficially, to the temperature of “red heat” by friction with the atmosphere. If its velocity is twenty miles per second the temperature will become thousands of degrees. This is the state of affairs with a meteorite rushing into the earth’s atmosphere; its surface is liquefied within a few seconds after the friction begins to act, and the melted and vaporized portion of its mass is swept backward, forming the train of sparks that follows every great fire-ball. [...]
[...]
2Meteorites are of two kinds: stony meteorites and iron meteorites. The former outnumber the latter twenty to one; but many stone meteorites contain grains of iron. Nickel is commonly found in iron meteorites, so that it might be said that that redoubtable alloy nickel-steel is of cosmical invention. Some twenty-five chemical elements have been found in meteorites, including carbon and the “sun-metal,” helium. [...]
Garrett P. Serviss, Curiosities of the Sky, chapter XI, Meteors, Fire-Balls, and Meteorites (excerpt: burning in the air) (1909). Public domain (published 1909). Source text.
Gathering knowledge about science terms in the Serviss excerpt (teacher key in the last column)
Term (paragraph)
What the text tells you
What a current source adds (teacher key)
fire-balls (1)
Solid objects that burn as they fly through the air
Astronomers today call a meteor brighter than the planet Venus a fireball. The object itself is a meteoroid while it is still in space (Diagram 1).
velocity (1)
How fast the objects travel: "twenty to thirty miles per second"
In science, velocity is speed in a given direction. Current sources give entry speeds of about 11 to 72 kilometers (7 to 45 miles) per second.
orbits (1)
The paths the planets travel
An orbit is the curved path of one object around another, held by gravity. Serviss's "central force" is the sun's gravity.
friction (1)
Rubbing against the air heats the object until it glows
Current sources explain that most of the heat comes from air squeezed, or compressed, in front of the fast-moving object, not mainly from rubbing.
alloy (2)
Nickel-steel is one
An alloy is a metal mixed with one or more other elements, such as steel (iron and carbon) or bronze (copper and tin).
chemical elements (2)
About twenty-five are found in meteorites, including carbon and helium
An element is a substance made of only one kind of atom. Helium was first detected in sunlight in 1868, before it was found on Earth, which explains the name "sun-metal."
Discuss: Serviss writes that fire-balls "are solid meteorites in flight." Look at Diagram 1. Which term would a science text use today for the glowing object, and why does the difference matter in your own lab report? Then ask: which row of the table shows an explanation that has changed since 1909? (The friction row. Gathering vocabulary knowledge includes checking an old text against a current, reliable source.)
Independent Practice10 minutes
Each sentence below uses a vague everyday phrase where a precise subject term belongs. Students write the precise term and name its subject, then write one new sentence that uses the term accurately. Students fill in the middle column; the teacher key follows.
Precision practice: replace the vague phrase (teacher key)
Sentence
Subject
Precise term (teacher key)
Plants take in the gas from the air to make their food.
Science
carbon dioxide; the process is photosynthesis
The President can say no to a bill that Congress passed.
Civics
veto
In 7x + 2, the number that goes with x is 7.
Math
coefficient
The long stretch of months with almost no rain dried up the wells.
Earth science
drought
The group of 50 people who answered the survey stood for the whole town.
Math (statistics)
sample (of the population)
The number of people living in each square mile of the county is high.
Geography
population density
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: (1) Name one term set you learned today and write one sentence that shows the difference between two of its terms. (2) Name a word from another class this week that was important to comprehension, and tell where you checked its meaning.
Teacher note on the texts: The Serviss excerpt is quoted exactly from the 1909 edition, including his spellings "fire-balls" and "cosmical." Some of his science is out of date, which makes the excerpt useful for teaching students to check sources. Today, meteorite is used only for a piece that reaches the ground, and current sources explain the glow mainly by the compression of air in front of the object rather than by friction. His entry speeds fall inside the range current sources give. His ratio of stony to iron meteorites is roughly in line with today's counts of meteorites seen to fall, most of which are stony. The Constitution passage is written for this page, and its facts are accurate as of 2026. The fish tank draft and its measurements are invented. If students have not yet met slope and y-intercept in math class, teach the two terms from Direct Instruction, Part 1, before the quiz.
For the quiz: Questions 1-4 use the Serviss excerpt in Guided Practice. Questions 5-9 use "Changing the Constitution" below, and Questions 10-13 use the lab notebook draft after it. Paragraph numbers are shown beside each text; the "[...]" marks in the Serviss excerpt are not numbered, and in the other two texts paragraph 1 is the title line.
1Changing the Constitution
2The writers of the United States Constitution knew that the country would change, so they included a way to change the document itself. Article V describes the amendment process. An amendment is a formal change or addition to the Constitution.
3Amending the Constitution takes two steps. First, an amendment must be proposed. So far, every amendment has been proposed by Congress: both houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, approved it by a two-thirds vote. Article V also allows two-thirds of the state legislatures to ask Congress to call a national convention to propose amendments, but that method has never been used.
4Second, the amendment must be ratified, or formally approved, by three-fourths of the states. Today that means 38 of the 50 states. Congress decides whether the states will vote through their legislatures or through special ratifying conventions.
5Because the process requires such large majorities, it is difficult by design. Thousands of amendments have been introduced in Congress, but only 27 have been ratified. The first ten, ratified in 1791, are known as the Bill of Rights.
6Some amendments changed the country dramatically. The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in December 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States. The Eighteenth Amendment banned the making, sale and transportation of alcoholic drinks, a policy called Prohibition. In 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth, which makes it the only amendment that cancels an earlier one.
Written for this page (a model civics passage), Changing the Constitution. Original passage written for this page.
1Lab Notebook Draft: Filling the Class Fish Tank
2Our class filled a new fish tank from the sink faucet. The tank is 60 cm long, 30 cm wide and 40 cm tall. Before we started, it already held gravel and some water, so the water was 6 cm deep. Every minute we measured the depth with a ruler. After 1 minute it was 10 cm, after 2 minutes it was 14 cm, and after 3 minutes it was 18 cm.
3The slope is 6, because that is where the line starts on the graph.
4The y-intercept is 4, because the water goes up by 4 every minute.
5When we graphed the points, they made a straight line, so the relationship is proportional.
6Our data proves that the water will always rise 4 cm every minute, even after the tank is full.
Written for this page (an invented student draft with invented measurements), Lab Notebook Draft: Filling the Class Fish Tank. Original passage written for this page.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give the term set cards with one term in each set already defined, so students add only the other two
Pair the Serviss excerpt with a labeled picture of a meteor streak and a meteorite in a museum case
Provide sentence frames for accurate use: "In civics, ___ means ___." and "The data suggest that ___."
For Advanced Students
Have students compare two other claims in Serviss's chapter with a current astronomy source and list what has changed
Ask students to build three term sets of their own from a science or social studies chapter, with a sentence that shows each difference
Have students write a one-page glossary for a sixth-grade class on a unit they finished, with an example and a non-example for each term
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
For acquiring words, check that students can give the meaning a term has in a named subject and tell it apart from the other terms in its set. For accurate use, look for the right meaning, a precise term in place of a vague one, the right partner words and claim verbs that fit the evidence. For gathering, look for a reason the word matters to comprehension or expression, a current source named, a check of any old source, and a final sentence in the student's own words that uses the term accurately.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Term Set Sort
15 minPairs
Each pair gets 12 term cards, mixed together. Partners sort them into 4 term sets of 3 terms each, name the subject of each set, and write one sentence for each set that shows how its three terms differ.
Partners sort the cards into sets, then check each set against a textbook glossary
For each set, they write the difference in one sentence and draw a small sketch or example if it helps
Teacher key: math, integer (a whole number or its opposite, such as -3 or 5), rational number (any number that can be written as a fraction of two integers, so every integer is rational) and irrational number (a number that cannot, whose decimal never ends or repeats, such as the square root of 2 or pi); earth science, weathering (rock breaking down in place), erosion (wind, water, ice or gravity carrying the pieces away) and deposition (the pieces being dropped in a new place); civics, legislative branch (Congress, which makes laws), executive branch (the President and agencies, which carry out laws) and judicial branch (the courts, which interpret laws); life science, DNA (the molecule that carries hereditary information), gene (a section of DNA with instructions that affect a trait) and chromosome (a long, coiled strand of DNA that holds many genes; human body cells have 23 pairs).
Discussion Questions
In which set is one term part of another? (Math: every integer is a rational number. Life science: a gene is part of a chromosome.)
Which set would be easiest to mix up in your own writing, and how will you remember the difference?
2
Glossary for Sixth Graders
15-20 minGroups of 3
Each group gets 3 textbook cards. The group decides which terms on each card are important enough to comprehension to deserve a glossary entry, writes 5 entries in all for a sixth-grade reader, and explains why it left out the other terms.
Textbook Cards
Card A (earth science): Earth's rigid outer layer, the lithosphere, is broken into large pieces called tectonic plates that move a few centimeters each year. Where two plates move toward each other, at a convergent boundary, one plate can slide beneath the other in a process called subduction. Subduction can form deep ocean trenches and chains of volcanoes.
Card B (math): Light travels about 300,000,000 meters per second. In scientific notation, a way of writing a very large or very small number as a number from 1 up to 10 multiplied by a power of 10, this speed is 3 × 108 meters per second.
Card C (history): The Erie Canal opened in 1825. It ran 363 miles across New York State, from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo on Lake Erie. Locks, water-filled chambers with gates at both ends, raised and lowered boats along the way. Because freight could now travel by water between the Great Lakes and New York City, shipping costs fell sharply.
Procedure
One student reads each card aloud; each student marks the terms he or she would put in the glossary, and the group compares
The group writes each entry in words a sixth grader knows, with an example, and names the source it checked
Teacher key: Card A, tectonic plates (the topic) and subduction (the process the card explains), with convergent boundary as a strong third choice; Card B, scientific notation (defined on the card, and the whole card depends on it) and power of 10; Card C, locks (defined on the card and needed to picture the canal) and freight (goods carried for pay). Lithosphere, Albany and Buffalo can be skipped or glossed briefly, since the main idea does not depend on them.
Discussion Questions
Which card's key term would you also need in your own writing, not only for reading? Why?
How did writing for a sixth grader change the words you used in each entry?
Modification for Distance Learning
Post the three cards on a shared slide; each group types its five glossary entries into a shared table and adds the name of the source it checked for each one.
3
Precision Revision
15 minGroups of 4
Each group gets 6 revision cards. Each card is a sentence from a student report that uses vague words such as stuff, things or a lot. The group rewrites each sentence with precise academic and subject terms and checks the facts in a textbook or glossary.
Revision Cards
1. The colonists got mad about the taxes Britain put on stuff like paper, glass and tea.
2. In lab we mixed baking soda and vinegar, and the stuff turned into a new thing with bubbles.
3. The numbers 2, 4, 8, 16 got way bigger each time, so it is not a straight line.
4. The North and the South fought about a lot of things, mostly slavery spreading to new places.
5. The heart pumps blood through the tubes in your body.
6. Lots of people in the survey liked the idea of a later start time.
Procedure
Each student takes a card, circles the vague words and names the subject
The group agrees on a rewrite, checks it with a glossary or textbook, and reads it aloud
Teacher key: 1, the colonists protested the duties (taxes on imports) that the Townshend Acts of 1767 placed on goods such as paper, glass and tea; 2, a chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar produced a gas, carbon dioxide; 3, each value doubles, so the change from one to the next is not constant and the pattern is nonlinear; 4, sectional conflict grew over the expansion of slavery into the western territories; 5, the heart pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system: arteries carry it away from the heart and veins carry it back; 6, give the number: for example, 36 of the 50 students surveyed, or 72 percent, supported the later start time (the numbers are invented for this card).
Discussion Questions
Which rewrite needed a fact the original sentence did not give? Where did you find it?
Why does a vague word like stuff make a reader trust a report less?
Challenge Variation
Each group finds a vague sentence in its own recent writing for another class, rewrites it with precise terms, and trades with another group to check the facts.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: One Object, Three Science Terms
A term set from astronomy. The same piece of rock or metal is a meteoroid while it travels in space, makes a meteor (the streak of light) as it burns in Earth's atmosphere, and is called a meteorite only if a piece survives and lands. Serviss's 1909 wording shows why readers check older texts against current use.
Diagram 2: Should I Gather Knowledge About This Word?
Three questions decide whether a word or phrase is important to comprehension or expression. A yes to any of them means it is worth gathering: what the text says, the meaning in a current subject source, the related terms, a check of any older source and a sentence of one's own. A no to all three means a quick note is enough.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
L.8.6 Homework: Term Sets, Accurate Use and Gathering
Directions: Complete all six problems. You may use your textbooks, a subject glossary and a print or online dictionary. Use Diagram 2 as a guide for Problems 5 and 6.
Part 1: Acquire (Problems 1-2)
Sort these words into general academic and domain-specific. For each domain-specific word, name its subject and write its meaning in that subject: sediment, dilation, contradict, secede, distinguish, precipitation, sufficient, transversal.
Each pair is a small term set. Explain the difference between the two terms and write one accurate sentence for each: (a) conduction and convection; (b) area and volume; (c) the Union and the Confederacy; (d) a mineral and a rock.
Part 2: Use Accurately (Problems 3-4)
Each sentence uses a term inaccurately. Rewrite it accurately and explain what the term really means: (a) The Emancipation Proclamation freed every enslaved person in the United States in 1863. (b) The volume of the cylinder is how much it weighs. (c) The states ratified the Louisiana Purchase treaty in 1803. (d) An atom is the smallest cell in the human body.
Write a museum label of 80-120 words for an object you studied in science or social studies this year, such as a fossil, a steam engine or a telescope. Use at least four domain-specific terms and three general academic words accurately, underline them, and end with one line naming a term you checked and the source you used.
Part 3: Gather Vocabulary Knowledge (Problems 5-6)
Read the paragraph: Over many generations, natural selection can change a population. Individuals with a trait that helps them survive and reproduce in their environment tend to leave more offspring, and those offspring inherit the trait. Over time, the helpful trait becomes more common. A trait that spreads this way is called an adaptation. Choose the two terms most important to comprehension and explain why. Then gather knowledge about one of them: what the paragraph says, the meaning in a current science source, one related term and how it differs, and a sentence of your own.
You are writing a letter to your city council asking for a crosswalk near your school. List three precise words or phrases you would need to make your case, gather the meaning of each from a reliable source (name the source), and write the first four sentences of the letter using all three accurately.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Acquiring Terms
All eight words sorted with subjects and meanings; all four term-set differences explained with accurate sentences
Most words sorted, or two or three differences explained
Sorting or term sets missing
Accurate Use
All four sentences corrected with clear explanations; label uses seven underlined words accurately
Two or three sentences corrected, or some words misused
Terms misused throughout
Gathering Knowledge
Strong reasons for the two key terms; every gathering step done with a named source
A step missing or reasons thin
No gathering
Expression
Three precise terms gathered with sources and used accurately in the letter
Terms gathered but one misused or unsourced
Terms not gathered
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 1-4 use the Serviss excerpt in Guided Practice, Questions 5-9 use "Changing the Constitution" in Closure, and Questions 10-13 use the lab notebook draft right after it; paragraph numbers are shown beside each text. The other questions use new sentences. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything so you or your students can try again.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 1 of the Serviss excerpt, what does the word incandescence mean?
Answer: C
The sentence says "it is the heat of friction which so quickly brings them to incandescence," and the next sentence explains the result as "the temperature of 'red heat.'" So incandescence is the glow of something heated until it shines. A borrows the idea of bursting, which the excerpt never mentions. B confuses the glow with the object's velocity. D describes cooling, the opposite of what the sentence describes.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 1, Serviss writes that fire-balls "sometimes, perhaps, are entirely consumed before reaching the ground." What does consumed mean here?
Answer: A
The sentence before it says "They burn in the air during their flight," so here consumed means used up by burning. B applies the life science meaning of consumer, an organism that eats other organisms, which does not fit a rock. C applies the everyday and economics meaning. D confuses being burned up with being slowed down, which the excerpt does not say.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 1, a fast body "will be brought, superficially, to the temperature of 'red heat.'" What does superficially mean in this sentence?
Answer: D
The same paragraph says that on a meteorite "its surface is liquefied within a few seconds," so superficially keeps its root meaning, at the surface. A is the everyday meaning (a superficial answer is a shallow one), which does not fit a science sentence about temperature. B invents a time limit. C confuses the word with friction, the cause named earlier in the sentence.
Question 4 of 20 · Short Answer
In paragraph 2, Serviss writes: "The former outnumber the latter twenty to one." Explain what the former and the latter refer to, rewrite the sentence without those two words, and tell what fraction of all meteorites would be stony if the ratio were exact.
Model answer:The former means the first of two things just named, and the latter means the second. The sentence before names "stony meteorites and iron meteorites," so the former are stony meteorites and the latter are iron meteorites. Rewrite: Stony meteorites outnumber iron meteorites twenty to one. Out of every 21 meteorites, 20 would be stony, so the fraction is 20/21, a little over 95 percent. Rubric: 2 points for both referents, an accurate rewrite and the fraction 20/21; 1 point for the referents and the rewrite only.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 4 of "Changing the Constitution," what does it mean to ratify an amendment?
Answer: B
The passage gives the meaning right after the word: "ratified, or formally approved, by three-fourths of the states." A confuses ratifying with proposing, the first step in paragraph 3. C is the meaning of repeal, from paragraph 6. D confuses ratifying with the convention method of proposing amendments, which paragraph 3 says has never been used.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which word from "Changing the Constitution" is a general academic word rather than a civics term?
Answer: C
Process, a series of steps that leads to a result ("Article V describes the amendment process"), is used the same way in science, math and history. The other three belong to civics and government: an amendment is a formal change to the Constitution, a legislature is a lawmaking body, and to ratify is to approve formally.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence uses repeal accurately, based on "Changing the Constitution"?
Answer: A
To repeal is to cancel a law or amendment. Paragraph 6 says the Twenty-first Amendment "repealed the Eighteenth," ending Prohibition. B confuses repeal with abolish: the passage says the Thirteenth Amendment "abolished slavery," ending a whole system, and it did not cancel an earlier amendment. C reverses the meaning, since the states approved the Bill of Rights. D confuses repealing with proposing.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A student has time to study only one term before a quiz on "Changing the Constitution." Which term is most important to comprehension of the whole passage?
Answer: D
The title is about changing the Constitution, and every paragraph describes how an amendment is proposed, ratified or used. Paragraph 2 defines the term ("An amendment is a formal change or addition to the Constitution"). A and B each name one example: Prohibition in paragraph 6 and the Bill of Rights in paragraph 5. C names one of the bodies that can vote, in paragraphs 3 and 4. Each helps with one part; only amendment unlocks the whole passage.
Question 9 of 20 · Short Answer
Using the words proposed, ratified and three-fourths accurately, explain why an amendment needs 38 states today. Show the math.
Model answer: After Congress has proposed an amendment by a two-thirds vote in both houses, it must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. Three-fourths of 50 is 3/4 × 50 = 37.5. A state cannot cast half a vote, and 37 states would be less than three-fourths, so at least 38 states must ratify the amendment. Rubric: 2 points for the correct math with the rounding explained and all three words used accurately; 1 point for the math or the words only.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 3 of the lab notebook draft, the student calls 6 the slope "because that is where the line starts on the graph." Which term names that value accurately?
Answer: B
At 0 minutes the water was already 6 cm deep, so the line crosses the vertical axis at 6. That value is the y-intercept, also called the initial value. A names how fast the depth changes, 4 cm per minute. C applies only to proportional relationships, and this one is not proportional. D names the point (0, 0), which is not on this line.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which revision of paragraph 4 of the draft uses math words accurately?
Answer: A
The depths are 6, 10, 14 and 18 cm, so each minute adds 10 - 6 = 4 cm. That constant change is the slope, or rate of change, and its unit is cm per minute. B puts the rate under the wrong name. C drops the "per minute" and misreads the table: after 1 minute the depth was 10 cm. D mistakes the starting depth for the rate.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which revision of paragraph 5 of the draft is accurate?
Answer: C
A straight-line graph makes the function linear, but a proportional relationship must also pass through (0, 0). Here the depth at 0 minutes is 6 cm, and the ratios of depth to time are not equal (10 ÷ 1 = 10, 14 ÷ 2 = 7). A repeats the draft's error. B states something false about this line. D confuses changing with nonlinear: a linear function changes by the same amount each step.
Question 13 of 20 · Short Answer
Paragraph 6 of the draft says: "Our data proves that the water will always rise 4 cm every minute, even after the tank is full." Explain which words make the claim inaccurate, find when the tank would be full if the rate stayed the same, and rewrite the sentence.
Model answer:Proves and always claim more than four measurements can show, and "even after the tank is full" is impossible: the tank is 40 cm tall, so the water cannot rise past 40 cm. Starting at 6 cm and rising 4 cm per minute, the depth reaches 40 cm when 6 + 4t = 40, so t = 34 ÷ 4 = 8.5 minutes. Rewrite: Our data suggest that the water rose about 4 cm per minute while the faucet ran at the same rate; at that rate, the tank would be full after about 8.5 minutes.Rubric: 2 points for naming the overclaiming words, the time 8.5 minutes and an accurate rewrite; 1 point for two of the three.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence uses infer accurately?
Answer: D
To infer is to draw a conclusion from evidence; the reader or listener infers. Ana uses the boots as evidence. A needs implies, since a writer who hints at something without saying it implies it. B needs shows or suggests, because a graph cannot draw conclusions. C also needs implied or stressed.
Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Read: Between 1870 and 1920, the share of Americans living in cities rose sharply as factory jobs drew workers from farms and from overseas. Which domain-specific word names this change?
Answer: B
Urbanization is the growth of cities as more of a population moves into them; by the 1920 census, more than half of Americans lived in urban areas. A names only the arrival of people from other countries, one source of the growth. C names the growth of factories, the cause the sentence gives. D means freeing people from slavery.
Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A science worksheet asks for the name of a line drawn on a scatter plot to show the general direction of the data. Which term is accurate?
Answer: A
A trend line, also called a line of best fit, is a straight line drawn close to most of the points on a scatter plot to show their general direction. B names one point far from the rest. C names the vertical number line of the graph. D names a group of points close together.
Question 17 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Read: In the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Congress admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, keeping the balance in the Senate. What does compromise mean in this history sentence?
Answer: C
In a compromise, each side accepts less than it wanted in order to reach agreement. Admitting one slave state and one free state kept the Senate evenly divided, 12 states to 12, so neither side gained the advantage. A describes a plot, B a civil war, and D a ruling that a law is unconstitutional. None of these fits an agreement passed by Congress.
Question 18 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A scatter plot of 30 students shows that those who slept more hours tended to have higher quiz scores. Which sentence describes the data accurately?
Answer: D
A positive association means that as one value goes up, the other tends to go up too. The phrase describes a pattern without claiming a cause. A claims a cause and "every student," which a pattern cannot show. B uses prove and only, which overclaim. C contradicts the pattern in the data.
Question 19 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which domain-specific term names the longest side of a right triangle?
Answer: B
The hypotenuse is the side across from the right angle, and it is always the longest side. In a right triangle with legs 3 and 4, the hypotenuse is 5, since 3² + 4² = 5². A names each of the two shorter sides that form the right angle. C names a corner. D belongs to circles.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
You are writing an opinion paragraph for social studies about whether your state should lower the voting age for local elections to 16. Name two precise words or phrases you would need, explain how you would gather knowledge about each, and write two sentences that use them accurately.
Model answer: I would need suffrage (the right to vote) and the Twenty-sixth Amendment. I would look up suffrage in my social studies glossary and read how it is used in the chapter on voting rights, and I would read a current government website to confirm that the Twenty-sixth Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18 for all elections. My sentences: The Twenty-sixth Amendment set 18 as the voting age for all elections in 1971, but it does not stop a city from allowing younger residents to vote in local elections. Extending suffrage to 16-year-olds in city elections would let students help choose the leaders who run their schools and parks.Rubric: 2 points for two precise terms, a named source for each and two accurate sentences; 1 point if one of these is missing or a term is misused.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does L.8.6 mean?
L.8.6 means that eighth graders learn and accurately use the general academic words and the subject terms of their grade.
It also asks them to gather knowledge about a word or phrase whenever it is important for understanding a text or for saying exactly what they mean. In practice, that means using the text, a current source and their own sentence to pin down a term.
What is the difference between general academic and domain-specific words in grade 8?
General academic words work across subjects; domain-specific words belong to one subject.
Evaluate, subsequent and justify mean much the same thing in math, science and history. Subduction, veto and scientific notation each belong to one class. Some words, like factor and table, have a domain-specific meaning in one subject and a general meaning in others.
How is L.8.6 different from L.7.6?
The wording is the same; the words and texts are harder.
Grade 8 reading brings more term sets that must be told apart, such as slope and y-intercept or propose and ratify, and more phrases such as separation of powers and sectional conflict. Students also check older sources against current ones. In high school, L.9-10.6 raises the target to the college and career readiness level and asks for independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge.
What is a term set?
A term set is a small group of related subject terms that a reader must tell apart.
Meteoroid, meteor and meteorite are one; weathering, erosion and deposition are another. Learning the terms of a set together, with a sentence that shows each difference, helps students avoid mixing them up in their own writing.
Is there an official word list for L.8.6?
No. Common Core does not publish a word list for L.8.6.
Teachers choose words from the texts and units students study in each class. A useful test for a general academic word is whether it shows up in more than one subject; for a domain term, whether the unit's main idea depends on it.
What does "gather vocabulary knowledge" mean?
It means collecting what you need to understand and use a key word, not only looking up a definition.
That includes what the text itself says, the meaning in a current subject source, the related terms and how they differ, a check of any older source, and a sentence of your own. Diagram 2 on this page shows the steps.
How do students know which words are worth gathering?
A word is worth gathering if the main idea depends on it, if it is in a heading or in bold or keeps coming back, or if the student needs it to say something exactly.
A word that appears once and does not change the meaning can usually get a quick note instead, such as a place name in a history passage.
Why check an old text's words against a current source?
Because both knowledge and word use change over time.
In 1909, Garrett P. Serviss called glowing fire-balls "meteorites in flight" and explained their heat by friction. Today, meteorite is used only for a piece that lands, and scientists explain most of the heat by air compressed in front of the object. Old texts are worth reading, but a student writing a lab report should use current terms.
How is L.8.6 assessed?
It is usually assessed through vocabulary-in-context questions in reading and through students' use of words in their own writing and speaking.
Many state reading tests ask what a word or phrase means in a passage. Teachers also check vocabulary in lab reports, essays and presentations. Check your state's assessment materials for its item types.
How can parents help with L.8.6 at home?
Ask your student to teach you one new term from each class this week and to use it in a sentence.
When a news story or a manual uses a subject term, ask what it means there and how your student could check. Praise precise words over vague ones, such as carbon dioxide over the gas.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to L.8.6: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
L.7.6Prerequisite
Acquire and use grade 7 academic and domain words; gather vocabulary knowledge
