Vocabulary in Context
Vocabulary-in-context items ask what a word means "as used in the passage." The tested word is usually familiar - the difficulty is that it appears in a secondary sense, or that the surrounding sentence supplies a meaning you must read carefully. You are not expected to know rare words; you are expected to use context.
The substitution method
- Return to the sentence and read one sentence before and one after.
- Cover the five choices and supply your own word.
- Substitute each choice into the original sentence and test whether the sentence still says what the passage says.
- Check part of speech and connotation - a near-synonym with the wrong emotional shading is wrong.
Context clue types
- Restatement: a definition or synonym follows in apposition or after "that is."
- Contrast: "but," "unlike," "whereas" signal an opposite meaning nearby.
- Example: "such as," "for instance" illustrate the word.
- Cause and effect: "because," "therefore" reveal what the word must mean.
Worked example
"The committee's measured response surprised reporters who had expected outrage." Measured here means restrained and deliberate. It does not mean rhythmic (the musical sense), and it does not mean calculated, which imports a scheming tone the sentence does not support - the reporters expected outrage, so the surprise is the calmness.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing the word's most common everyday meaning.
- Choosing a synonym of another word in the sentence rather than the tested word.
- Two choices that mean the same thing: both are almost always wrong.
- A word that fits the passage's topic but not the grammar or logic of this sentence.