7 th Grade Academic Vocabulary

1. 7th Grade Academic Vocabulary Language Arts Compiled by Beth Price Spring City Middle School Spring 2009

2. 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.

3. 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 him home from his wanderings.

4. anecdote An anecdote is a little story used to illustrate or make a point.

5. 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.)

6. “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.

7. 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. . .”

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. autobiography An autobiography is a biography of yourself written by yourself—your history in your own words.

11. Autobiography is from the Greek roots: auto self bio life graph to write to write self life

13. clarify When you clarify, you make your idea or statement easier and clearer to understand by removing, rewriting, or explaining a confusing part.

14. Confusing:The book was about insects that we read. (Confusion:Did you read the insects?) Clarified:The book that we read was about insects.

15. clause You’re in the Seventh Grade and don’t know a clause?

16. Meet the Clauses! Santa and the Missus

17. clause A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and is used as part of a sentence.

18. kinds of clauses: Does the clause express a complete thought? • Dependent • Independent • Adverb • Adjective • Noun • Introductory How or where is the clause being used in the sentence?

19. 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).

20. subject The capital city of the Aztec verb empire was in central Mexico.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. Adverb clauses tell: how when where why to what extent under what condition

24. 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.

25. Common subordinating conjunctions are: after as though since as although because as if so that whenever when before where how though unless until whenever whether while in order that as long as than

26. examples of adverb clauses You may sitwherever you wish. (modifies the verb, sit)

27. Gabe can type faster than I can. (modifies adverb, faster)

28. Happy because he had made an A, Tony hurried home to show the grade card to his mom. (modifies an adjective, happy)

29. introductory adverb clause When winter sets in, many animals hibernate. After you wash the dishes, I’ll dry them and put them away.

30. adjective clause An adjective clause is a dependent (or subordinate) clause that modifies a noun or pronoun.

31. Most adjective clauses begin with a relative pronoun: that which who whom whose

32. 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.

33. noun clause A 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.

34. subject How she won the race is an amazing story! predicate nominative Three dollars is what Daniel offered for the notebook.

35. direct object David and Megan remembered who he was. indirect object The hostess giveswhoever entersa menu.

36. object of a preposition Eager to please the speaker, we listened to whatever she said.

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

38. For example, you could go to the library andcompile a shelf of booksthat are about Christmas.

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

40. convention A convention is an established technique, practice, or device that is used, for example, in literature or in the theatre.

41. 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.

42. 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)

43. culture Culture is the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.

44. For example, as you look at the picture of the Indian on the next slide, what do you know about the Indian culture?

46. documentary A documentary is a film or TV program that interprets actual events. It usually includes interviews or footage of actual events taking place.

47. 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.

48. 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 animals 3) raising money to protect the animals

49. Can you think of a recent documentary that has been on television? Can you think of a recent documentary that has been on television?

50. 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?