Core English 1
Reading Strategies:
Question Type 4 –
Vocabulary Questions
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3 - 5 Vocabulary qs per reading
passage.
tests understanding of a word.
could be noun, verb, adjective,
or adverb
highlighted in passage
multiple-choice
choose best synonym
2
not advanced terms or concepts
not technical or specialized.
(advanced term will be in the
glossary function)
tests vocabulary, not ability to
analyze.
best is to understand the
vocabulary word right away
3
If you don't recognize the
correct synonym immediately,
analyze the parts of the
vocabulary word, the
choices, and the passage.
4
Read
Walt Disney-Turning Fantasy
into Reality
P 54 - 55
5
Strategy 1: Locate the highlighted
word and read its sentence carefully.
context clues may help eliminate
some choices.
find the highlighted word and read
the passage.
relate the vocabulary word to the
surrounding actions, states, etc.
6
Look at the word antics in
paragraph 1. The word antics in
the passage is closest in
meaning to
* dreams
* toys
* traditions
* behaviors
7
Look at the word antics in
paragraph 1. The word antics in
the passage is closest in
meaning to
* dreams
* toys
* traditions
* behaviors
8
Strategy 2: Identify the part of
speech, function, and immediate
context of the highlighted word.
- part of speech alone will not help
eliminate any choices.
- how does the word relate to the
immediate context, → the actions,
states, and details (descriptions,
explanations, places) in the sentence.
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The word is an adjective, → what
it is describing?
The word is an adverb, → what
action, adjective, or other adverb
is being modified?
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Eg,
antics is a noun, the object of the preposition at in the
participle phrase laughing at their antics.
their connects the noun to people or things that can
explain the meaning of the noun. The possibilities are
creations, children, parents, and grandparents.
(determine the correct antecedent)
That phrase follows the verb grew up, and indicates the
action (laughing) that occurred at the same time as the
verb (grew up).
→ the subjects of the verb grew up (parents and
grandparents) were engaged in an action (laughing) at
or during the same time as the verb grew up.
antics was the object, and cause, of the laughter.
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Also → parents and grandparents did the
same thing as the children (laughing) →
clue that all enjoyed the antics.
Delighting refers to an action
simultaneous to that of the previous
sentence, whose subject is creations.
Ps and gps can't grow up while laughing
at the antics of their own children, so the
antics must belong to the creations.
Therefore, the antecedent of their is the
noun creations.
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Tone or attitude - important part of
immediate and broader context of a
word.
Is the word positive, negative, or
neutral based on the related
vocabulary in the sentence?
→ antics relates to positive,
entertaining, and enjoyable
activities.
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Strategy 3: Look at broader context.
surrounding sentences, and their actions,
states, and details.
What is happening around the vocabulary
word?
Who or what is causing the actions or states?
Who or what is affected?
How are they affected? Why?
Is the highlighted word affected/modified?
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Eg .
The first sentence refers to Disney’s
whimsical characters and fanciful worlds.
characters in the first sentence is the
same as creations.
The sentence after antics mentions the
safe, clean, inviting place where Disney’s
characters materialized.
Surrounding vocabulary (safe, clean,
enjoy) is positive, → eliminate any
answer choices that contradict this
positive tone.
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Strategy 4: Look for examples
and/ or definitions.
look for transitions or clue words of
examples (for example, for
instance, such as, particularly,
especially). known qualities of the
examples as clues to the meaning
of the vocabulary word.
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Eg:
Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
are examples of the creations
directly related to the antics.
They are excellent clues to the
meaning of antics if you are
familiar with those two
characters.
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The vocabulary word itself will
not be defined in the passage,
but other related vocabulary
might be defined or explained.
Look for verbs of definition (be,
mean, include, involve, refer to,
be called, be defined as, etc.).
An appositive is the word(s) which follow a noun to rename
it or describe it in another way. Appositives are usually
offset with commas, brackets or dashes.
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Strategy 5: Look for key words of
contrast and comparison.
is the word similar or different to the
surrounding context.
any transitions and words that indicate
similarity (match, mirror, reflect, like, similar
to, alike, equal to, etc.) or difference (unlike,
different, dissimilar, not alike,
oppose/opposite/opposition, etc.)
is the vocabulary word affected by these
comparative or contrasting words?
What is it like or not like?
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For instance, the excerpt
includes the adverb also, which
tells you that the action of the
parents and grandparents (grew
up) is similar to that of the
children.
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Strategy 6: Use your knowledge of
prefixes, suffixes, and roots.
Affixes can help you understand the
vocabulary word and the answer
choices, and also the context.
You may also have to guess the
meaning of other words in the
surrounding sentences, so it is useful if
you are familiar with all three parts of a
word.
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Don't look for a synonym with the
same prefix, suffix, or root. Most
likely, this is a distracter since most
synonyms do not resemble each
other.
Eg, the verbs destroy and ruin are
synonymous, yet look different.
Verbs mislead and misplace begin
with the same prefix (mis), but have
different meanings: to mislead
means to confuse or trick, and to
misplace means to lose.
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Prefixes:
an addition to the beginning of a word.
Many, especially in scientific terms,
come from Latin and ancient Greek.
Some common prefixes for verbs include
be- (belong), in- (involve), pro- (promote),
and ob- (observe).
Not all prefixes clearly indicate the
meaning of the word: Believe and behave
both begin with the prefix be-, but the
prefix doesn’t tell us about the meaning.
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Some prefixes add a specific
meaning to the word, altering its
definition slightly.
These prefixes are more
interchangeable, meaning they
can be attached to different
words.
(see the list)
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Suffixes:
an addition to the end of a word.
Changes a word's part of speech (noun, verb,
adjective, adverb).
Most suffixes don't indicate very much about
the meaning of a word.
usually indicate word form only.
The adjectives courteous and spontaneous
both end in -eous, indicates adjective and
nothing about meaning.
courteous means polite and well mannered,
spontaneous means unplanned and immediate.
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Some suffixes add meaning
eg (p 59)
also see handout
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Roots:
- the part of the word that doesn't
change or changes very little when
the word changes form (noun to
verb, verb to adverb, etc.).
- the most useful part of the word for
guessing its meaning.
The root of a word is unique to that
word and its related forms.
- the most powerful clues to
meaning.
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Eg, the verbs edit and editorialize
and nouns edition, editorial, and
editor all have the same root (edit).
As long as you know the meaning of
one of the forms, such as the verb
edit (collect, correct, and prepare
printed or recorded work for
publication), you can make an
educated guess about the meaning
of its related forms.
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Always pay special attention to
roots. Do this also if you are
learning other languages like
Spanish or French.
When you learn a new word, record
some of its related word forms, and
identify the root.
Use this knowledge of roots to
guess the meaning of the new words
with the same root.
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An old word for land or ground is
terra. This root eventually became
part of the English words territory,
territorial, and terrain. The root of
those related words is terr.
The prefix sub means under.
Guess the meaning of the adjective
subterranean :
Page 60
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Based on the context (deep hole,
digging), the root (terr-) and prefix
(sub-), you can make an educated
guess that subterranean means
“under ground.”
These strategies are useful even if
subterranean is not the vocabulary
word.
Correctly understanding that
adjective could help understanding
the context and relating it to another
word.
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Strategy 6A: Use your imagination when
making connections between words with
similar parts.
Think creatively.
Recognize a part of the word in the passage that
you've seen elsewhere in another word in another
context.
Remember what that previous word means and
associate part of the other word ’s meaning to the
new word in the passage.
Usually, word clues, such as prefixes, can suggest
a similarity between words, but the similarity is
based on an association of ideas in different
contexts.
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Eg, the root audi- is a part of many words
related to the production and reception of
sound: audio, audit, auditor, auditory, audition,
audience, audible, and auditorium.
These words have multiple meanings as well
(an audit can be a passive observation of a
class or an active investigation of a person or
company), but most of their meanings involve
sound.
If you know that audience refers to a group of
people who listen to a speech or watch a
performance, you can use that understanding
when you recognize the same root in one of
the other words.
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However, if you try to guess the meaning of another
word, such as auditorium, based on audience, you
can't assume that auditorium refers to people or
listening.
Pay attention to differences of word form (adjective,
noun, etc) and use context to determine related ideas,
such as people, places, things, actions, and so on.
Think about other words that contain similar parts.
Auditorium has the similar suffix as stadium, or
colliseum.
The similar suffix → auditorium is also a place.
Stadium is a larger theater used for sports events and
concerts.
Auditorium is a smaller one used for lectures and plays,
and has an audience on only three sides of the stage.
34
Always improve your vocabulary.
(Write down each new word you find.
Make sure of the meaning of the word.
Use word learning skills to learn it.)
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Strategy 7: Use word clues and
context clues to eliminate
answer choices.
Combine your understanding of the
context and the word clues with
your knowledge of each answer
choice.
“Which answer choice best fits the
surrounding context?”
36
Think about the differences between
the following qualities: states and
actions, visible and invisible actions,
desirable and undesirable events,
instantaneous and prolonged
actions, spontaneous and
nonspontaneous events, noun
things and noun people, abstract
and concrete nouns, human traits
and animal traits, adult behavior and
childish behavior, etc.
37
For example, (A) in the sample
question refers to mental processes,
and dreams are not normally shared
by different generations of people.
Since the possessive pronoun their
refers to creations, it is unlikely that
children and their parents could
laugh at the dreams of other people,
especially the dreams of
fictionalized characters.
38
For example, (B) might at first seem correct
since children play with toys, but the pronoun
their means that the toys would belong to the
creations, not the children.
The examples (Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck)
indicate that the characters are the creations,
not the toys.
The creations are watched by people all over
the world, and the use of toys alone to
entertain children seems very limited and
specific, so the choice is unlikely and should
be compared carefully against the others.
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For example, (C) might seem correct based on
the implied history and past time in the
surrounding sentences.
People have been enjoying the antics for
generations, and traditions are practices that
have a long history.
However, based on the verb laughing, this
choice contradicts the overall positive tone of
the passage. Laughing at people's traditions
seems cruel and negative.
Also, based on the pronoun their, the traditions
would belong to the fictional characters, yet
real people normally have traditions.
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For example, (D) is the best
choice. The creations have
entertained people with their
funny behavior, and it is
acceptable for people to laugh at
this behavior.
41
Strategy 8: Check your final
answer by putting it in the
original sentence.
Always read the sentence again
with your best choice in the place
of the highlighted word. Sometimes,
you can only tell if something
sounds right by reading it to
yourself.
42
Question Forms
You can identify a vocabulary question
based on the identification of a
particular word from the passage.
Review the following forms:
The word X in the passage is closest
in meaning to ...
In stating X, the author means that...
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Distracters
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Distracter 1: Answer choice is a
synonym or related word form for a
word in the surrounding sentences.
a restatement of a word or phrase from
another part of the sentence.
Sentences often include paraphrases.
Writers often use a variety of
vocabulary in a passage.
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Choice (A) from the sample question
above is an example of this type of
distracter.
dreams is directly related to the noun
person dreamer from the first sentence,
the verb dreamed from the third sentence,
and the noun thing dream in the fourth.
Don't assume that the correct choice
should resemble or match any of the
restatements.
Incorrect answers often repeat
vocabulary from the passage.
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Distracter 2: Answer choice only
appears to fit the context, or the
choice fits part of the context.
has some connection to one or
more words in the passage, but the
connection doesn’t fit all the
vocabulary.
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(B) is an example.
toys seems to fit the context; children use
them, and toys are positive, playful things.
However, children play with toys at home or in
kindergarten, but not at a theme park.
The possessive their relates toys to the
creations, and it seems unlikely that Disney ’s
characters would entertain children with toys
in movies or in films.
Think about the context carefully and test each
vocabulary word based on as many
associations as possible.
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Practice
Practice the vocabulary
strategies with the general
reading strategies.
“The Processes of Diffusion and
Osmosis” (p 62 – 64)
Qs 13 - 18
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