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English II
To Kill a Mockingbird
Name: _________________________________________________________________________________
Date:
Pair Activity: Read the sentences below from Chapters 1-3 of To Kill a Mockingbird and use context clues to
infer the definitions and parts of speech of the words in bold.
Then, grab a dictionary. Find and write down the full definitions and parts of speech of the words.
Finally, use the word in your own sentence. Make sure the sentence clearly shows the word’s definition.
1. ASSUAGE: “When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he
was seldom self-conscious about his injury.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
2. PIETY: All we had was Simon Finch, a fur-trapping apothecary from Cornwall whose piety was
exceeded only by his stinginess.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
3. DICTUM: “So Simon, having forgotten his teacher’s dictum on the possession of human chattels,
bought three slaves and with their aid established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River
some forty miles above Saint Stephens.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
4. IMPOTENT: “Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North and
the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land…”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
English II
To Kill a Mockingbird
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5. TACITURN: “Their sister Alexandra was the Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a
taciturn man who spent most of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines
were full.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
6. IMPRUDENT: “The Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb’s leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding
arising from the alleged wrongful detention of a mare, were imprudent enough to do it in the
presence of three witnesses, and insisted that the-son-of-a-bitch-had-it-coming-to-him was a good
enough defense for anybody.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
7. TYRANNICAL: “She had been with us ever since Jem was born, and I had felt her tyrannical presence
as long as I could remember.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
8. VAPID: “But by the end of August our repetoire was vapid from countless reproductions, and it was
then that Dill gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
9. MALEVOLENT: “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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10. PREDILECTION: “The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection
unforgivable in Maycomb.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
11. CONCEDE: “It was all right to shut him up, Mr. Radley conceded, but insisted that Boo not be charged
with anything: he was not a criminal.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
12. NEBULOUS: “Boo’s transition from the basement to back home was nebulous in Jem’s memory.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
13. APPREHENSIVE: “The class murmured apprehensively, should she prove to harbor her share of the
peculiarities indigenous to that region.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
14. INDIGENOUS: “The class murmured apprehensively, should she prove to harbor her share of the
peculiarities indigenous to that region.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
15. INIQUITY: “Jem and Walter returned to school ahead of me: staying behind to advise Atticus of
Calpurnia’s iniquities was worth a solitary sprint past the Radley Place.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
English II
To Kill a Mockingbird
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16. TRUANT: “Whole school’s full of ‘em. They come first day every year and then leave. The truant lady
gets ‘em here ‘cause she threatens ‘em with the sheriff…”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
17. DIMINUTIVE: “He was the most diminutive of men, but when Burris Ewell turned toward him, Little
Chuck’s right hand went to his pocket. ‘Watch your steps, Burris,’ he said. ‘I’d soon’s kill you as look at
you.’”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
18. FRACTIOUS: “She had always been too hard on me, she had at last seen the error of her fractious
ways, she was sorry and too stubborn to say so.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
19. AMIABLE: “He sat in amiable silence and I sought to reinforce my position.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence:
20. DISAPPROBATION: “I’m afraid our activities would be received with considerable disapprobation
by the more learned authorities.”
Part of Speech and Definition (Inference):
Part of Speech and Definition (from Dictionary):
Sentence: