One Word, Two Meanings: The Case of "Cheap"
During a unit on word choice, Mr. Reyes gives his class this paragraph:
"The team's uniforms were cheap, so the fabric went thin after three washes. The coach, however, was cheap in a different way: he refused to buy new ones, taping over torn numbers with silver duct tape. By October the tape had curled, and the numbers read like riddles."
Two students disagree. Alina says "cheap" means the same thing both times - "not expensive." Dev says the second "cheap" means "unwilling to spend," and the duct tape proves it. Mr. Reyes asks the class to settle the question with evidence from the paragraph rather than by checking a dictionary.
1. Which student is right? Support your answer with the context clue that settles the meaning of the second "cheap."
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Dev is right, and the deciding clue is the example that follows: "taping over torn numbers with silver duct tape."
- The first "cheap" is explained by its result - "the fabric went thin after three washes." That is a statement about quality: low-priced goods that wear out.
- The signal phrase "cheap in a different way" warns the reader that a second sense is coming, so the two meanings cannot be identical.
- The duct tape shows a person choosing not to spend when spending is called for - stinginess, a trait, not a price.
Alina's reading fails on the second sentence: a coach's unwillingness is not a price tag, and "not expensive" cannot be demonstrated by tape. A strong answer names the clue type (example) and shows what it points to.
2. The author could have written "inexpensive" both times. Explain what the paragraph would lose.
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"Inexpensive" is neutral - it reports a price and stops. "Cheap" carries judgment, and the paragraph uses that judgment in two directions: the fabric is cheap because it fails, the coach is cheap because he refuses. Swapping in "inexpensive" keeps the facts and loses the blame.
The duct-taped numbers would then read as a plain detail rather than evidence about a person's character, and the closing image - numbers that "read like riddles" - would lose the sense that someone's penny-pinching caused the mess. A strong answer names the specific connotation that disappears (disapproval, blame) instead of saying only that the paragraph "sounds worse."
3. Identify one phrase that functions as a clue for the second meaning, and name the type of clue it is.
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Two answers are defensible if the reasoning is stated.
- "taping over torn numbers with silver duct tape" is an example clue: it shows the behavior the word names.
- "cheap in a different way" is a contrast clue: it signals that the meaning is shifting from the previous sentence.
Either earns credit when the student explains what the clue points to - a person's unwillingness to spend rather than a low price. Answers that only label the clue without connecting it to the meaning are incomplete.