Student Commentary on Diction in “The Witch”
Part I. Small Group Activity
Step 1:
Sort the words from the POS BREAKDOWN CHART into the negative (-), neutral (o), & positive (+) columns
below based on their connotative meanings.
Step 2:
Determine whether the words in each row are positive (+) or negative (-) overall.
Step 3:
Choose one word that describes the overall mood for the words in each row. Use the MOOD & TONE sheet
from your TOOLBOX for help.
-
o
+
+/-
Mood
Nouns
Adjectives
Verbs
Adverbs
Part II. Independent Practice
Step 4:
Review your list of mood words from the chart below and determine one word that best describes the mood of
the entire poem. _________________________
Step 5:
Choose one of the starter statements below and fill in the missing information.
In _________________, the author creates a ___________________ mood through his/her use of
title
diction, which is/shows/contains/includes ______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
The mood of _________________ is ___________________ because the diction in the poem
title
is/shows/contains/includes __________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________