Comprehension and Vocabulary: Context and Morphology
What this domain tests
Comprehension and vocabulary questions use an unseen passage to test main idea, specific detail, inference, pronoun reference, and word meaning in context. You must show that you can use the surrounding sentence, not just a remembered word list.
Core rules and concepts
- Read once for gist: identify the topic and the writer’s attitude before looking at the questions.
- Locate the answer zone: find the keyword from the question, then read the sentence before and after it.
- Vocabulary from context: substitute a possible meaning and check whether the sentence still makes sense.
- Morphology: use endings to guess meaning. -gipa often forms a relative or nominalised form, as in ‘ka·sagipa’ (loving) beside ‘ka·saa’ (love); -rang marks plural; -ja negates.
- Reference: trace ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, or ‘they’ to the nearest suitable noun that fits the action.
- Answer in your own words unless the question asks you to quote.
Worked example
Passage: ‘The teacher praised Mira because she helped the younger students.’ Question: ‘What does “she” refer to?’ Reasoning: the helping action fits Mira; the teacher could also be female, but the clause structure links ‘she’ to the person who helped. Answer: Mira. For vocabulary, ‘praised’ means ‘spoke well of’; the context of helping supports approval, not criticism.
Traps that cost marks
- Guessing a word from a look-alike English word.
- Ignoring a negative such as ‘not’ or ‘never’.
- Copying the whole sentence instead of answering the question.
- Choosing an option because it contains a word from the passage, even when the meaning is wrong.
- Losing the reference chain in a long paragraph.