Reading Across Genres and Vocabulary
Reading Across Genres and Vocabulary tests word knowledge and the ability to move between genres: context clues, multiple-meaning words, word relationships, figurative and idiomatic language, Greek and Latin roots and affixes, dictionary and thesaurus entries, and how two texts about the same topic differ.
Context clues - four common types
- Definition or restatement: "The estuary, a place where a river meets the sea, ..."
- Example: "Nocturnal animals, such as owls and bats, ..."
- Contrast: "Unlike his talkative brother, Miguel was reticent."
- Degree or cause: "so steep that even experienced hikers stopped."
Procedure: cover the word, read the sentence and the one before it, predict a meaning, then substitute it to check.
Multiple-meaning words
Use the part of speech and the sentence's logic. "The bank of the river" is not the bank on Main Street.
Morphology
Roots: graph (write), bio (life), tele (far), photo (light), port (carry), struct (build), aud (hear), spec (look). Prefixes: pre-, re-, un-, dis-, non-, im-, sub-, inter-. Suffixes: -ology (study of), -able/-ible (can be), -tion (act or process), -less (without), -ist (person who). Combine them: unbelievable = un- (not) + believe + -able (able to be).
Reference skills
A dictionary entry gives pronunciation, part of speech, and numbered meanings - pick the number that matches the sentence. A thesaurus lists synonyms and antonyms; check the shade of meaning before swapping.
Figurative and idiomatic language
Simile (like/as), metaphor (is), personification, hyperbole, and idioms such as "hit the books" (study), whose meaning cannot be built word by word.
Worked example
"The trail was so arduous that even experienced hikers stopped to rest every few minutes."
Question: What does arduous mean?
Reasoning: "So ___ that even experienced hikers stopped" is a degree clue - the trail must be extremely difficult or tiring. Test the prediction: "extremely difficult" fits the sentence. "Long" does not, because length alone would not make experienced hikers stop repeatedly. A dictionary confirms arduous means requiring great effort.
Traps
- Choosing a multiple-meaning word's most common meaning without checking the sentence.
- Missing contrast signals such as unlike, but, and however that point to an opposite meaning.
- Confusing homophones (their/there/they're).
- Over-trusting a root: export and portable share port but do not mean the same thing.
- Reading an idiom literally.