Eighth grade language arts skills

188 skills 84 videos

IXL has more than 100 eighth grade language arts skills to learn and review! As you work through a skill, questions will adapt to match your level. Keep answering questions to reach mastery!

Reading strategies Reading

Writing strategies Writing

Vocabulary Vocab

Grammar and mechanics Grammar

Reading strategies

A. Main idea

1
Determine the main idea of a passage

B. Theme

1
Match the quotations with their themes

2
Determine the themes of short stories

C. Author's purpose and tone

1
Identify the author's purpose

2
Which sentence is more formal?

3
Compare passages for tone

D. Author's perspective

1
Determine the author's point of view

E. Text structure

1
Compare and contrast in informational texts

2
Match causes and effects in informational texts

3
Match problems with their solutions

4
Identify text structures

F. Literary devices

1
Identify sensory details

2
Interpret the meaning of an allusion from its source

3
Recall the source of an allusion

4
Interpret figures of speech

5
Classify figures of speech

6
Analyze the effects of figures of speech on meaning and tone

G. Analyzing literature

1
Identify the narrative point of view

2
Analyze short stories

3
Label the rhyme scheme

H. Analyzing informational texts

1
Read and understand informational passages

I. Analyzing arguments

1
Trace an argument

J. Novel study

1
Analyze passages from The Giver: Part 1

2
Analyze passages from The Giver: Part 2

3
Analyze passages from The Outsiders: Part 1

4
Analyze passages from The Outsiders: Part 2

K. Nonfiction book study

1
Analyze passages from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: Part 1

2
Analyze passages from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: Part 2

3
Analyze passages from Travels with Charley: Part 1

4
Analyze passages from Travels with Charley: Part 2

L. Comparing texts

1
Compare information from two texts

2
Compare two texts with different genres

M. Visual elements

1
Compare illustrations of literary and historical subjects

2
Read graphic organizers

Writing strategies

N. Expository writing

1
Order topics from broadest to narrowest

2
Organize information by topic

3
Remove the sentence that does not belong

O. Persuasive and opinion writing

1
Identify thesis statements

2
Distinguish facts from opinions

3
Choose evidence to support a claim

4
Identify counterclaims

5
Identify appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos in advertisements

6
Classify logical fallacies

P. Descriptive and creative writing

1
Use personification

2
Create varied sentences based on models

3
Revise the sentence using a stronger verb

Q. Identifying text evidence

1
Identify supporting details in informational texts

2
Identify supporting details in literary texts

R. Writing clearly and concisely

1
Transitions with conjunctive adverbs

2
Use parallel structure

3
Remove redundant words or phrases

S. Active and passive voice

1
Identify active and passive voice

2
Rewrite the sentence in active voice

T. Editing and revising

1
Use the correct frequently confused word

2
Correct errors with frequently confused words

3
Correct errors with signs

4
Correct errors in everyday use

5
Suggest appropriate revisions

U. Research skills

1
Identify relevant sources

2
Evaluate newspaper headlines for bias

3
Recognize the parts of a Works Cited entry (MLA 8th–9th editions)

4
Use in-text citations (MLA 8th–9th editions)

5
Identify plagiarism

Vocabulary

V. Prefixes and suffixes

1
Words with pre-

2
Words with re-

3
Words with sub-

4
Words with mis-

5
Words with un-, dis-, in-, im-, and non-

6
Words with -ful

7
Words with -less

8
Words with -able and -ible

W. Greek and Latin roots

1
Use Greek and Latin roots as clues to the meanings of words

2
Use words as clues to the meanings of Greek and Latin roots

3
Determine the meanings of Greek and Latin roots

4
Determine the meanings of words with Greek and Latin roots

X. Synonyms and antonyms

1
Choose the synonym

2
Choose the antonym

Y. Word choice and usage

1
Describe the difference between related words

2
Positive and negative connotation

Z. Homophones

1
Use the correct homophone

2
Which definition matches the sentence?

3
Which sentence matches the definition?

AA. Analogies

1
Analogies

2
Analogies: challenge

BB. Context clues

1
Find words using context

2
Determine the meaning of words using synonyms in context

3
Determine the meaning of words using antonyms in context

4
Use context to identify the meaning of a word

5
Use academic vocabulary in context: literary

6
Use academic vocabulary in context: informational

CC. Domain-specific vocabulary

1
Determine the meaning of domain-specific words with pictures

DD. Reference skills

1
Alphabetical order

2
Use guide words

3
Use dictionary entries

4
Use dictionary definitions

5
Use thesaurus entries

Grammar and mechanics

EE. Spelling

1
Learn to spell words with prefixes: fore-, inter-, super-, trans-

2
Learn to spell words with suffixes: -al, -ion

3
Spell words with affixes: review

4
Spell words with base elements: audi, ject

5
Spell words with base elements: dict, duce, duct

6
Spell words with base elements: review

7
Learn to spell common words: set 1

8
Learn to spell common words: set 2

9
Spell common words: sets 1 and 2

10
Learn to spell common words: set 3

11
Learn to spell common words: set 4

12
Spell common words: sets 3 and 4

13
Spell common words: review sets 1–4

FF. Sentences, fragments, and run-ons

1
Is the sentence declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory?

2
Identify the complete subject or complete predicate of a sentence

3
Identify the simple subject or simple predicate of a sentence

4
Identify the compound subject or compound predicate of a sentence

5
Is it a complete sentence or a fragment?

6
Is it a complete sentence or a run-on?

7
Is it a complete sentence, a fragment, or a run-on?

GG. Phrases and clauses

1
Is it a phrase or a clause?

2
Identify appositives and appositive phrases

3
Identify dependent and independent clauses

4
Is the sentence simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex?

5
Combine sentences using relative clauses

HH. Nouns

1
Form and use plurals: review

2
Form and use plurals of compound nouns

3
Identify plurals, singular possessives, and plural possessives

4
Form the singular or plural possessive

5
Identify and correct errors with plural and possessive nouns

6
Identify and correct errors with compound and joint possession

II. Pronouns and antecedents

1
Identify pronouns and their antecedents

2
Use the pronoun that agrees with the antecedent

3
Correct inappropriate shifts in pronoun number and person

4
Identify vague pronoun references

5
Identify all of the possible antecedents

JJ. Pronoun types

1
Choose between subject and object pronouns

2
Compound subjects and objects with "I" and "me"

3
Compound subjects and objects with pronouns

4
Choose between personal and reflexive pronouns

5
Use reflexive pronouns

6
Is the pronoun reflexive or intensive?

7
Use relative pronouns: who and whom

8
Use relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, and that

KK. Verb types

1
Identify transitive and intransitive verbs

2
Identify linking verbs, predicate adjectives, and predicate nouns

LL. Subject-verb agreement

1
Correct errors with subject-verb agreement

2
Correct errors with indefinite pronoun-verb agreement

3
Use the correct verb – with compound subjects

MM. Verb tense and mood

1
Irregular past tense: review

2
Simple past, present, and future tense: review

3
Identify and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense

4
Form the progressive verb tenses

5
Form the perfect verb tenses

6
Identify participles and what they modify

7
Identify gerunds and their functions

8
Identify infinitives and infinitive phrases

9
Identify the verb mood

10
Correct errors with verb mood

NN. Adjectives and adverbs

1
Identify adjectives

2
Order adjectives

3
Identify adverbs

4
Choose between adjectives and adverbs

5
Is the word an adjective or adverb?

6
Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives

7
Good, better, best, bad, worse, and worst

8
Form and use comparative and superlative adverbs

9
Well, better, best, badly, worse, and worst

OO. Prepositions

1
Identify prepositional phrases

PP. Direct and indirect objects

1
Is it a direct object or an indirect object?

QQ. Conjunctions

1
Use the correct pair of correlative conjunctions

RR. Misplaced modifiers

1
Misplaced modifiers with pictures

2
Select the misplaced or dangling modifier

3
Are the modifiers used correctly?

SS. Restrictive and nonrestrictive elements

1
What does the punctuation suggest?

2
Commas with nonrestrictive elements

TT. Commas

1
Commas with series, dates, and places

2
Commas with compound and complex sentences

3
Commas with direct addresses, introductory words, interjections, and interrupters

4
Commas with coordinate adjectives

5
Commas: review

UU. Semicolons, colons, and commas

1
Use semicolons and commas to separate clauses

2
Use semicolons, colons, and commas with lists

VV. Dashes, hyphens, and ellipses

1
Use dashes

2
Use hyphens in compound adjectives

3
Decide whether ellipses are used appropriately

WW. Capitalization

1
Correct capitalization errors

2
Capitalizing titles

XX. Formatting

1
Formatting titles

2
Formatting and capitalizing titles: review

3
Formatting street addresses

4
Formatting quotations and dialogue