IXL | Choose the word whose connotation and denotation best match the sentence

Complete the sentence with the word that best fits the overall meaning and tone.

Many of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were

pretentious

merchants, including John Hancock, who was the richest man in New England.

prosperous

pretentious

ref_doc_title.

Learn with an example

question

Complete the sentence with the word that best fits the overall meaning and tone.

Teddy Roosevelt was

an invincible

fighter who helped the United States win the Spanish-American War in 1898 as part of the Rough Riders.

an invincible

a dauntless

key idea

When choosing the best word to convey your intended meaning, consider a word's denotation and connotation. Denotation is the literal meaning of a word. Connotation is the feeling or idea that goes along with a word. Together, they affect how a word should be used.

For example, the words frugal and miserly both indicate a reluctance to spend money, but they are appropriate in different contexts:

green checkmark, I really admire how frugal Marcus is when it comes to making new purchases.

Frugal suggests that a person is careful with money, so it helps express why Marcus is admired.

red X symbol, I really admire how miserly Marcus is when it comes to making new purchases.

Miserly suggests that a person is cheap or stingy. It's a poor word choice to express admiration.

solution

Someone who is dauntless is courageous, and someone who is invincible is impossible to defeat or overcome. Dauntless is the more appropriate word in this context. The text indicates that Teddy Roosevelt was brave but not that he was impossible to defeat.

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