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Common Core ELA7th GradeReading: Literature

RL.7.4: Word Meaning, Rhyme and Sound in Literature

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

Get the Word MapAll 41 7th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 7, Reading: Literature · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RL.7.4 Means in Plain English

Seventh graders work out what words mean in a poem or story, including figurative and emotional shades, then explain what the sounds do. When machines “bite the bolts and beat the steel,” the alliterated b’s clang like the mill, and the soft closing rhyme sounds like home.

In 6th grade (RL.6.4) students explained how one word choice affects meaning and tone. Seventh grade adds sound: rhyme, alliteration and other repetitions in a specific stanza or scene. In 8th grade (RL.8.4) students take on analogies and allusions to other texts.

RL.7.4 I Can Statements

  • I can explain the figurative meaning of a phrase in a poem.
  • I can describe the feeling a word carries beyond its dictionary meaning.
  • I can explain what rhyme or alliteration adds to a stanza.

RL.7.4 Worked Example

Six lines about a father’s shift at the mill. The sounds change after line 4, and the change is the point.

Read the Story
The mill machines go clang and grind;they bite the bolts and beat the steel.My father leaves his voice behindbeneath the shriek of wheel on wheel.At dawn he hums, so soft and low,as still as streets beneath the snow.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: What does “leaves his voice behind” mean, and how do the sounds of the last two lines change the poem’s feeling?
Not Yet“The poem has alliteration, like ‘bite the bolts and beat the steel,’ and it rhymes.”It spots two devices and stops. The standard asks for their impact, and this answer never says what the sounds do or what the phrase means.
Meets the Standard“The mill is so loud he can’t be heard there, so he ‘leaves his voice behind,’ as if the job takes part of him. The hard b’s in ‘bite the bolts and beat the steel’ clank like the machines, and ‘shriek’ makes the noise sound like pain. The last two lines switch to soft s sounds, ‘soft and low’ and ‘as still as streets beneath the snow,’ and close on a rhyming couplet like a lullaby. At home he gets his voice back.”It explains the figurative phrase, the feeling a word like shriek carries, and what each group of sounds does to the stanza, then ties the shift in sound to the meaning.
Question Stems to Use
What does this phrase mean beyond its literal words?What feeling does this word carry that a plainer word would not?Which sounds repeat in these lines, and what do they sound like?Where does the rhyme or the sound change, and why there?Read the lines aloud. What does your mouth do on the hard sounds?

Common Mistakes with RL.7.4

Spotting devices without their impact

“Line 2 has alliteration.”

Try this: Require a so-what sentence after every device named: what the sound imitates or what feeling it creates in that stanza.

Reading figurative language literally

“He forgets his voice at work.”

Try this: Have students say what the phrase would mean literally, then explain what it suggests about the person and the situation.

Skipping connotation

“Shriek just means a loud noise.”

Try this: Line up near synonyms, such as noise, roar and shriek, and ask what each one makes a reader feel about the mill.

Where RL.7.4 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.6.4Work out figurative and connotative meanings and how one word choice affects meaning and tone.
AlongsideL.7.5Interpret figures of speech and tell apart words with similar meanings but different shades.RL.7.5Explain how a poem’s form, like a sonnet, adds to its meaning.
Comes NextRL.8.4Analyze word choices, including analogies and allusions to other texts, and their effect on meaning and tone.

Practice RL.7.4

Vocabulary Worksheet GeneratorFree ToolEnter the poem’s loaded words, like grind, shriek and hum, for definition and sentence practice before the class talks about connotation.Own word listDefinitionsGrade 7
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Quick Check

  1. Which words in line 2 begin with the same sound?
  2. What does “My father leaves his voice behind” suggest about his job?
  3. Which two lines form the rhyming couplet at the end?

RL.7.4: Other Names

RL.7.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4

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.