'The dog xarfed all night and I couldn't sleep a wink' is a good example. A good activity for this is to write a sentence with a nonsensical word in it on the board. More-advanced students can learn words from context. What would happen if it started with a different letter? This will encourage children to think about the nature of word formation. So, for early learners, you could say 'he opened the.' then wait for the students to shout out 'door.' Next, you can discuss what letter 'door' starts with and why it starts with that letter. Read to your students, but occasionally stop to discuss the structural analysis.

Encourage discussion as to what the new words are and how their meanings changed.

'Clearly' is a different word than 'clear,' and both are different than 'unclear.' A good activity is to write a root word on the board, then have students take turns coming up with changes that can be made to it by adding prefixes and suffixes. Just from one word.Affixes change the meaning of a word by attaching to the beginning (a prefix) or end (suffix) of that word.

That subtle but effective difference is down to that hyperbolic word “savagely” which has connotations of a wild animal, something out of control, evil, and makes the image of the attack far more dramatic. The writer has chosen specific words and phrases very carefully – usually because they’re loaded with connotations which have a particular effect on the reader.A word’s basic connotations are positive or negative, which is always a good place to start! But try to be more specific about the effect: does the writer want to make you outraged, or upset, or amused etc?So if the writer uses quite a powerful and impactful word, cut it out of the sentence and hold it up to the light on its own what other meanings can you see there? Does it radiate a particular emotion? Do you think the writer has consciously used these connotations to influence the reader some how?For example:

Structural analysis examples english