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Vocabulary in Context
CONTEXT refers to the words
surrounding an unfamiliar word. These surrounding words
provide clues to the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Using
context clues to understand the meaning of unfamiliar
words helps the reader in the following ways:
1. Saves time
since the reader doesn't have to look the word up in the
dictionary.
2. Gives the reader a good sense of how a
word is actually used.
There are four common types of
context clues:
1. Examples
2. Synonyms
3. Antonyms
4. General Sense of the Sentence or Passage
The following is a
sample lesson. Using context clues for help, choose the
letter of the best meaning for each italicized word.
Write your choices on a piece of paper so you can check
your answers later.
1. To carry out his economic
programs, Roosevelt had to contend
with a Supreme Court that was deeply
opposed to those programs.
a. travel
b. surrender
c. struggle
d. join
2. Being unable to write
clearly is a liability
in a business career. In business, one must often express
opinions and ideas in writing.
a. drawback
b. surprise
c. necessity
d. penalty
3. The idea that off-track
betting will work in Alaska because it works in New York
is a questionable analogy.
New York and Alaska may not be alike when it comes to
off-track betting.
a. comparison
b. purpose
c. contrast
d. requirement
4. Indigenous life forms—the cactus and the camel in
the desert, the polar bear and the seal in the Arctic,
and so on—are suited to their environment in very
specific ways.
a. native
b. dangerous
c. extinct
d. recent
5. There is an optimum way to
approach each kind of exam question. For a
multiple-choice item, for example, first eliminate any
clearly wrong answers. For an essay question, jot
down an outline first.
a. inconvenient
b. best
c. annoying
d. time-consuming
6. Studies indicate that a predisposition to
schizophrenia is inherited. People who are
schizophrenic are more likely than others to have
schizophrenic children.
a. tendency
b. understanding
c. fear
d. avoidance
7. By giving
military aid to dictatorships in Latin America, the
United States has seemed to sanction their cruel policies.
a. criticize
b. approve
c. remember
d. create
8. A provocative question can
be an effective way to open an essay. Students have
begun essays with such interesting questions as,
"What do you think your name means?" and
"How long do you think it would take you to count to
one billion?"
a. funny
b. arousing interest
c. unanswerable
d. very brief
9. Manic depression is an
emotional disorder in which the patient alternates
between feeling delightfully euphoric
and being plunged into deep gloom.
a. overjoyed
b. bored
c. exhausted
d. curious
10. What makes up a true work of art?
Although no single criterion
seems adequate, the novelist James Joyce suggested three standards: "wholeness, harmony and radiance."
a. novel
b. question
c. artist
d. standard
ANSWERS
1. c
2. a
3. a
4. a
5. b
6. a
7. b
8. b
9. a
10. d
Source: John Langan
TEN STEPS TO ADVANCING COLLEGE READING SKILLS 3/E
Townsend Press
Last update:
04/07/06 |
