WELCOME TO MY BLOG

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

SKILL 10: USE CONTEXT TO DETERMINE MEANINGS OF DIFFICULT WORDS

In the TOEFL test, you may be asked to determine meaning of a difficult word in a reading passage, a word that you are not expected to know. In this case, the passage will probably give you a clear indication of what the word means.

Example:

The passage:
Line (5)	In a government election, the incumbent generally has a strong advantage over a newcomer. A person who is already in office and thus has a certain degree of prominence has a better chance of being elected than does someone who is unknown to the electorate. History has shown a strong proclivity in elections at all levels of government to return the incumbent to office.
The question:
	An “incumbent” in line 1 is most likely (A)   a special type of election (B)   a political party (C)   a beneficial comment (D)   a current office-holder
The answer: This question asks about the meaning of the word incumbent. In this question, you are not expected to know the meaning of the wordincumbent. Instead, you should understand from the context a person who is already in office that an incumbent is a current office-holder. Answer (D) is therefore the best answer to this question.

The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about vocabulary questions containing difficult words:

VOCABULARY QUESTIONS CONTAINING DIFFICULT WORDS
HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION	What is the meaning of “X” in line Y? The word “X” in line Y is closest in meaning to….
WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER	Information to help you understand the meaning of an unknown word can often be found in the context surrounding the unknown word.
HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION	1.       Find the word in the passage. 2.       Read the sentence that contains the word carefully. 3.       Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning. 4.       Choose the answer that the context indicates.

For more information watch the next video...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEQIhHRWb2g

SKILL 9: DETERMINE MEANINGS FROM WORD PARTS

When you asked to determine the meaning of a long word that you do not know in the reading section, it is sometimes possible to determine the meaning of the word by studying the word parts.

Example:

The passage:
Line (5)	Ring Lardner was born into a wealthy, educated, and cultured family.  For the bulk of his career, he worked as a reporter for newspapers in South Bend, Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago. However, it is for his short stories of lower middle-class Americans that Ring Lardner is perhaps best known. In these stories, Lardner vividly creates the language and the ambiance of this lower class, often using the misspelled words, grammatical errors, and incorrect diction that typified the language of the lower middle class.
The question:
	The word “vividly” in line 4 is closest in meaning to (A)   in a cultured way (B)   in a correct way (C)   in a lifelike way (D)   in a brief way
The answer: This question asks about the meaning of the word vividly. To answer this question, you should notice that the word vividly contains the word part viv-, which means life. Answer (C) is therefore the best answer to this question.

The following chart contains a few word parts that you will need to know.

A SHORT LIST OF WORD PARTS
PART	MEANING	EXAMPLE	PART	MEANING	EXAMPLE
CONTRA	(against)	contrast	DIC	(say)	dictate
MAL	(bad)	malcontent	DOMIN	(master)	dominant
MIS	(error)	mistake	JUD	(judge)	judgment
SUB	(under)	subway	MOR	(death)	mortal
DEC	(ten)	decade	SPEC	(see)	spectator
MULTI	(many)	multiple	TERR	(earth)	territory
SOL	(one)	solo	VER	(turn)	divert
TRI	(three)	triple	VIV	(live)	revive

For more information watch the next video...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C--hGmW9v8

SKILL 8: FIND DEFINITIONS FROM STRUCTURAL CLUES

STRUCTURAL CLUES
HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION	What is the meaning of “X” in line Y? The word “X” in line Y is closest in meaning to… The word “X” in line Y could best to replaced by…
TYPES OF CLUES	Punctuation	comma, parentheses, dashes
	Restatement	or, that is, in other words, i.e.
	Examples	such as, for example, e.g.
WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER	Information to help you determine what something means will generally be found the punctuation clue, the restatement clue, or the example clue.
HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION	1.       Find the word in the passage. 2.       Locate any structural clues. 3.       Read the part of the passage after the structural clue carefully. 4.       Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices.

Example :

The passage:
Line (5)	One of the leading schools of psychological thought in the twentieth century is behaviorism-the belief that the role of the psychologist is to study behavior, which is observable, rather than conscious or unconscious thought, which is not. Probably the best-known proponent of behaviorism is B.F. Skinner, who is famous for his research on how positive and negative reinforcement influence behavior. He came to believe that positive reinforcement such as praise, food, or money were more effective in promoting good behavior than negative reinforcement, or punishment.
The question:
	In “behaviorism” in line 2, a psychologist is concerned with (A)   conscious thought patterns (B)   unconscious thought patterns (C)   observable actions (D)   unobservable actions
The answer: C

  

For more information watch the next video...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u569RBRmtZg