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Common Core ELA3rd GradeLanguage

L.3.5: Literal, Nonliteral and Shades of Meaning

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.5 · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use.

Make a Vocabulary QuizAll 42 3rd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 3, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What L.3.5 Means in Plain English

Third graders tell when a phrase means just what it says: take steps across a room, or take steps to cut lunch waste. They connect words to real life, naming someone helpful, and sort knew, believed, suspected and wondered by how sure each is.

Second graders (L.2.5) connected words to real life and compared verbs like toss, throw and hurl. Third grade adds nonliteral phrases and words for states of mind and certainty. Fourth grade (L.4.5) explains similes, metaphors, idioms and proverbs, and relates words to their synonyms and antonyms.

L.3.5 I Can Statements

  • I can tell when a phrase isn’t meant literally.
  • I can connect a word to people and things in real life.
  • I can choose between knew, believed, suspected and wondered.

L.3.5 Worked Example

One sentence with a blank and three words that could fill it. The clues in the sentence decide how sure the character can be.

Prompt

Choose the best word for the blank: knew, suspected or wondered. “Kenji ____ that his little sister had borrowed his markers. The caps were scattered outside her door, but he had not seen her take them.”

Not YetKenji knew that his little sister had borrowed his markers.Knew means certain, and Kenji can’t be: he never saw her take them. The caps are a clue, not proof.
Meets the StandardKenji suspected that his little sister had borrowed his markers.Suspected means he thinks it is likely because of a clue, which is exactly what the scattered caps give him. Wondered would be too unsure, and it needs if after it: Kenji wondered if…
Moves to Use
Ask how much proof the character has: none, a clue or certain.Line the words up from least to most sure: wondered, suspected, believed, knew.Put each choice back in the sentence and read it aloud.Check that the grammar fits too: wondered needs if or whether.

Common Mistakes with L.3.5

Reading a nonliteral phrase literally

“Take steps to keep the hallway clean,” read as walking somewhere

Try this: Act out the literal meaning, then ask whether that makes sense in the sentence; if not, have students say what it really means.

Using knew for a guess

“I knew it would rain,” about a guess made at breakfast

Try this: Ask “How do you know?” after every knew, and if the answer is a clue or a feeling, swap in suspected or believed.

A definition with no real-life link

Asked to describe a generous person, the student only recites “generous means giving”

Try this: Have students name a real person or moment for each new word, like a classmate who shared a snack, and say what made it generous.

Where L.3.5 Fits

Comes BeforeL.2.5Connect words to real life and compare closely related verbs and adjectives.
AlongsideRL.3.4Work out words and phrases in a story and tell literal from nonliteral language.RL.3.3Describe characters’ feelings and motivations, where words like suspected and believed show what they think.
Comes NextL.4.5Explain similes, metaphors, idioms and proverbs, and relate words to synonyms and antonyms.

Practice L.3.5

Vocabulary Quiz GeneratorFree ToolA matching quiz pairing phrases like take steps, break the ice and keep an eye on with what they really mean.Nonliteral phrasesMatching
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Quick Check

  1. Why is knew the wrong choice for Kenji?
  2. Put these in order from least sure to most sure: knew, wondered, believed, suspected.
  3. What does taking steps mean in “The school is taking steps to cut lunch waste”?

L.3.5: Other Names

L.3.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.5

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.