Understand Literal, Nonliteral, and Nuanced Meanings

Distinguish literal from nonliteral meanings, make real-life word connections, and discriminate shades of meaning among related words.

How the lesson starts: Understand Literal, Nonliteral, and Nuanced Meanings

Zuri takes things literally
This is Zuri the giraffe. Zuri is kind and helpful, but she takes words very seriously. Her friend said, my backpack weighs a ton. So Zuri brought a crane to lift it! Let's help Zuri.
Literal or nonliteral?
Compare these. My backpack weighs ten pounds. That's literal. The words mean just what they say. My backpack weighs a ton. That's nonliteral. It's a figure of speech. It means the backpack is really heavy.
Let's test a sentence
Zuri's test: picture the words for real. Read this. My little brother is a snail in the morning. Picture it. A real snail at breakfast? That's impossible! So the words are nonliteral. They mean he is very slow.