Breakout Rule Exception: Distinguish Between (or Among)

Exception: “Distinguish between” or “among” phrases are treated as a single idea.

The student expectation says—

The breakouts are—

ELAR, Grade 5

(9) Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres. The student recognizes and
analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional,
contemporary, classical, and diverse texts. The student is expected to:

(B) explain the use of sound devices and figurative language and distinguish between the poet and the speaker in poems across a variety of poetic forms;

9(B)(i) explain the use of sound devices across a variety of poetic forms

9(B)(ii) explain the use of figurative language across a variety of poetic forms

9(B)(iii) distinguish between the poet and the speaker in poems across a variety of poetic forms

When a student expectation includes the phrase “distinguish between” or “distinguish among,” the breakout rules treat it as one idea. The phrase stays intact because the SE asks students to identify the differences between two related concepts or roles.

In this example, the SE asks students to distinguish between the poet and the speaker in poems across a variety of poetic forms. Because “distinguish between” names a single analytical action, the breakout rules keep the full phrase together. The breakout for this SE is: distinguish between the poet and the speaker in poems across a variety of poetic forms.

Separating the phrase would change the meaning of the SE. For that reason, “distinguish between” or “distinguish among” remains whole under the breakout rules.