Question

The animal, which roamed the seas 78-million years ago, is about 15-feet long — the length of a minibus — and bones indicate that the baby plesiosaur would have been as long as six feet when born.

The finding, published in the online edition of the journal Science on Thursday, is definitive evidence that the giant sea creature gave birth to single, live offspring, rather than laying eggs, like most reptiles, says paleontologist and lead author F. Robin O’Keefe. This reproductive behavior also indicates that the animals were gregarious social creatures that cared for their young, similar to toothed whales or dolphins, according to the paper.

“What is earth-shattering is that plesiosaurs are doing it differently than other reptiles,” O’Keefe said. “Instead of having lots of little babies, they’re having one big baby — a single, very large fetus.”

In 3–4 sentences, classify the word earth-shattering as denotative, connotative, or figurative, and then explain how context helped you determine the meaning of the phrase. make your answer simple, coherent, and intended for 9th grade.

Answer 1

"Earth-shattering" is used figuratively. It doesn’t mean breaking the planet, but instead describes something extremely surprising or important. The context — a scientist calling the plesiosaur discovery a major change in how we understand their behavior — makes it clear the phrase is a metaphor for a big, shocking finding rather than a literal event.