Vocabulary in Context--preparation for
Test 1
Read and do exercise
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 by:
1.
Saving time since you don’t have to look the word up in the
dictionary.
2. Giving you a good sense of how a word is actually
used.
There are four common types of context clues:
1.
Examples:
Sometimes a word's or
phrase's meaning is explained immediately following its use.
Example:
"Etymology,
which is the study of the origin of words, finds many teachers
taking a direct approach when unraveling the mysteries of vocabulary
studies."
2. Synonyms:
Sometimes
a challenging word or phrase is clarified in simpler language. Example:
"Maryam
felt as though she had been punished when Fatima admonished her
for fighting at school."
3. Antonyms:
Sometimes
a word or phrase is clarified by the presentation of the opposite
meaning somewhere close to its use. Look for signal words when applying
context clues. Example:
"Raschid
thought that his mother's recovery was futile, but Noora
remained faithful to the course of her mother's restored health."
4. General Sense of the Sentence of Passage :
Sometimes a word or phrase
is not immediately clarified within the same sentence. Relationships,
which are not directly apparent, are inferred or implied. The reader
must look for clues within, before, and after the sentence in which the
word is used. Example:
"Dementia
almost overcame Mohammed when he stepped off the plane in LA
and felt completely crazy when he realized how different his new life
would be."
Using context clues for help, choose
the letter of the best meaning for each italicized word. Bring your
answers to class on due date. For an
optional "thrill", try to match one of the four context clue types to each
sentence.
1. To carry out his reorganization of the
IT department, Musa
had to
contend
with
a Chief Financial Officer that was deeply opposed to them.
a.
travel
b. surrender
c. struggle
d. join
2. Being unable to write clearly is a
liability
in an IT career, for which one must often express opinions and
ideas in writing.
a. drawback
b. surprise
c. necessity
d. penalty
3. The idea that a product will
sell in
Alaska
because
it sells in Bahrain
is a
questionable analogy.
Bahrain
and
Alaska
may not
be alike when it comes to consumer likes and dislikes.
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 would
Bahrain be like without modern technology?"
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 (in class)