Eighth grade language arts

175 skills 77 videos

IXL offers more than 100 eighth grade language arts skills to explore and learn! Not sure where to start? Go to your personalized Recommendations wall to find a skill that looks interesting, or select a skill plan that aligns to your textbook, state standards, or standardized test.

IXL offers more than 100 eighth grade language arts skills to explore and learn! Not sure where to start? Go to your personalized Recommendations wall to find a skill that looks interesting, or select a skill plan that aligns to your textbook, state standards, or standardized test.

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

•
New! Use academic vocabulary in context: literary

5
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. 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?

FF. 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

GG. 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

HH. 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

II. 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

JJ. Verb types

1
Identify transitive and intransitive verbs

2
Identify linking verbs, predicate adjectives, and predicate nouns

KK. 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

LL. 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

MM. 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

NN. Prepositions

1
Identify prepositional phrases

OO. Direct and indirect objects

1
Is it a direct object or an indirect object?

PP. Conjunctions

1
Use the correct pair of correlative conjunctions

QQ. Misplaced modifiers

1
Misplaced modifiers with pictures

2
Select the misplaced or dangling modifier

3
Are the modifiers used correctly?

RR. Restrictive and nonrestrictive elements

1
What does the punctuation suggest?

2
Commas with nonrestrictive elements

SS. 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

TT. Semicolons, colons, and commas

1
Use semicolons and commas to separate clauses

2
Use semicolons, colons, and commas with lists

UU. Dashes, hyphens, and ellipses

1
Use dashes

2
Use hyphens in compound adjectives

3
Decide whether ellipses are used appropriately

VV. Capitalization

1
Correct capitalization errors

2
Capitalizing titles

WW. Formatting

1
Formatting titles

2
Formatting and capitalizing titles: review

3
Formatting street addresses

4
Formatting quotations and dialogue