They've Got Character
Tone Time
Five Words or Fewer
(Central Ideas)
Figuratively Speaking
Words, Words, Words
100

Jonathan invited a bunch of friends over to his house. He then talked to them for hours about all the trophies that he had won, his rare comic book collection, and how much money his dad makes. His friends never wanted to visit Jonathan's home again. Jonathan is... CONTEMPTIBLE, ARROGANT, KNOWLEDGEABLE, VIVACIOUS

ARROGANT- having an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities.

100

A vaccine is a preparation of killed or weakened germs that is injected under the skin and causes the blood to produce antibodies against the disease. Effective vaccines, for instance, have been developed for small pox, rabies, and polio.

formal, serious, objective

(Answers may vary.)

100

During World War II, on the dramatic day when Marines raised the American flag to signal a key and decisive victory at Iwo Jima, the first word of this momentous news crackled over the radio in odd guttural noises and complex intonations. Throughout the war, the Japanese were repeatedly baffled and infuriated by these seemingly inhuman sounds. They conformed to no linguistic system known to the Japanese. The curious sounds were the military’s one form of conveying tactics and strategy that the master cryptographers in Tokyo were unable to decipher. This perfect code was the language of the Navajo tribe. Its application in World War II as a clandestine system of communication was one of the twentieth century’s best-kept secrets.

Navajo language-a WWII code

(Answers may vary.)

100

Figuratively: The minnows darting at my feet/ bright glinting switchblades

(metaphor)

Literally: Fish swim by quickly and reflect the light

(Answers may vary.)

100

He had been almost sure—as sure as he ever was of anything—that he should find her at home when he arrived; but a message (for she hadn’t had time to telegraph) apprised him that she and Mr. Moffatt had run down to Deauville to look at a house they thought of hiring for the summer. Replace the word APPRISE with a synonym.

tell; inform

200

The teacher asked Khadija what the answer was to the problem on the board. Khadija wore a worried expression on her face for a moment and then put her head down on her desk. After the teacher moved on to someone else, Khadija whispered to her friend that the answer was 26. Khadija was right. Khadija is... HOSTILE, DELICATE, TIMID, or SORDID

TIMID

200

Your success in the ring this morning was, to a small degree, my success. Your future is assured. You will live, secure and safe, Wilbur. Nothing can harm you now. These autumn days will shorten and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas will come, and the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world, for you mean a great deal to Zuckerman and he will not harm you, ever. Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur—this lovely world, these precious days…”

peaceful; calm; optimistic

(Answers may vary.)

200

In 2010 an Indiana couple posted that they would be out for the evening, and their home was burglarized while they were away. An investigation revealed that the burglar was an old acquaintance from whom the woman had recently accepted a friend request. It’s important for people to remember that when they let the social networking world know where they are, they may also be letting thousands of people know where they’re not.

Social Media leads to robbery

(Answers may vary.)

200

I ask them to take a poem/and hold it up to the light/ like a color slide

(simile)

I asked them to closely examine the poem.

(Answers may vary.)

200
Wherever he goes, the esteemed Dr. Sanchez is applauded for his life saving research. ESTEEMED means...
held in high regard
300

Jake is Cassie's older brother. One day they are walking home from school when a cold front rolls in and the temperature drops 20 degrees. Jake is dressed more appropriately for the weather than Cassie. He takes off his hooded sweatshirt and offers it to her. She gratefully accepts. Jake is now colder, but he is happier. Jake is... BELLICOSE, CIRCUMSPECT, BENEVOLENT, or JUVENILE

BENEVOLENT- Kind and well-meaning

300

It was A LOW, DULL, QUICK SOUND -- MUCH SUCH A SOUND AS A WATCH MAKES WHEN ENVELOPED IN COTTON. I gasped for breath, and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly, more vehemently but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why WOULD they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men, but the noise steadily increased. O God! What COULD I do? I foamed -- I raved -- I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder -- louder -- louder!

fearful; desperate; frazzled

(Answers may vary.)

300

I can still remember the way my shabby tennis shoes looked as I stared down at them, dreading what was about to take place. It was time for the weekly fifth-grade volleyball game, an inevitable scene of mental anguish for me. It wasn’t that I ever expected to be chosen first. I knew I was clumsy and would never be the best player on any team. But every week, I stared at my shoes and simply wished that I wouldn’t be picked last. And yet I was last almost every time. No team wanted the girl who dropped the ball, tripped over her own feet, and misses the easy serves.

Shy/ clumsy girl picked last

300

My love for Charles is like the foliage in the woods, as winter changes the trees.

(simile)

My love will likely fade, becoming cold and dull.

(Answers may vary.)

300
Using IQ tests and MRI brain scans, researchers have found that the measurable intelligence of teenagers can rise and fall over time. We used to believe that intelligence was static. But now, because of new studies, we know that teens and even fully mature adults can grow more brain cells when needed. STATIC most likely means...
to stay the same
400

Eric's car broke down in the woods and his phone wasn't getting a signal. He used his car antenna as a spear and caught fresh salmon. He started a fire with sparks from his car battery, and he ate the cooked salmon while waiting for help. Eric is... CLEVER, CALLOUS, COMPLACENT, or UNSCRUPULOUS

CLEVER- mentally quick and resourceful

400

It was in that small shack that Hassan’s mother, Sanaubar, gave birth to him one cold winter day in 1964. While my mother hemorrhaged to death during childbirth, Hassan lost his less than a week after he was born. Lost her to a fate most Afghans considered far worse than death: She ran off with a clan of traveling singers and dancers. Hassan never talked about his mother, as if she’d never existed. I always wondered if he dreamed about her, about what she looked like, where she was. I wondered if he longed to meet her. Did he ache for her, the way I ached for the mother I had never met?

sorrowful; depressed

(Answers may vary.)

400

The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

Government closely watches its citizens

(Answers my vary.)

400

The sun played hide and seek with the clouds.

The sun moves in and out of visibility.

(Answers may vary)

400
Your cousin claimed to be late because the doors of his house were frozen shut. Even though I have my doubts, his explanation is plausible. It got really cold last night. I'll just have to take his word for it. PLAUSIBLE most likely means...
believable enough to be considered true
500

Orson sat on the couch. He wanted to change the television station, but the controller was all the way at the end of the couch by his feet. Orson sort of scooted toward it and attempted to grab it with his feet. The controller fell and landed several feet away from him. Orson quit trying to change the channel and just watched whatever was playing. Orson is... DOUBTFUL, CALCULATING, WITTY, or LETHARGIC

LETHARGIC- characterized by laziness or lack of energy

500

There was a steaming mist in all the hollows, and it had roamed in its forlornness up the hill, like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none. A clammy and intensely cold mist, it made its slow way through the air in ripples that visibly followed and overspread one another, as the waves of an unwholesome sea might do. It was dense enough to shut out everything from the light of the coach-lamps but these its own workings, and a few yards of road; and the reek of the labouring horses steamed into it, as if they had made it all.

mysterious; chilling; foreboding

(Answers may vary.)

500

The wind pushed Kana so hard that she could barely walk. It took all the strength her thin bony arms had to keep her umbrella above her head. On windy days like today it felt more like she was living on top of a Japanese Alp rather than in a valley between them. Her umbrella slipped out of her hand for the third time and she jumped back to grab it. Over the top of the umbrella she saw a giant shape trudging up the sidewalk with huge, slow steps. She froze. She knew that he was a foreigner. Definitely a foreigner. And not the one that taught at her elementary school. This must be the new high school English teacher. There was no other reason for a foreigner to be in a town this small. Foreigners teach English. That’s why they come here. Kana tried to walk quickly, but the wind kept her movements slow. She could feel her very bones vibrate like wind chimes after each blast.

Kana afraid of newcomer/ Kana afraid of outsiders

(Answers may vary.)

500

An old willow with hollow branches / slowly swayed his few high tendrils / and sang:

(personification)

The wind causes the tree branches to move and make noise.

(Answers may vary)

500
Both sides in the election contest are throwing accusations at each other. The Gore supporters claim that Governor Bush is trying to thwart the will of the people. The Bush supporters say that Mr. Gore is trying to create votes or assign choices to people who did not really cast votes for president. THWART most likely means...
prevent; block
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