Vocabulary and Word Analysis
Vocabulary and Word Analysis tests how words work in context and how they are built. Expect questions on context clues, prefixes, roots, suffixes, connotation versus denotation, figurative extension, analogies, and semantic relationships such as synonym, antonym, cause–effect, and part–whole.
Core rules
- Use surrounding syntax and logic: contrast signals (“although,” “unlike”) often define a word by opposition; examples and appositives define by restatement.
- Break unfamiliar words into morphemes: “bene-” good, “mal-” bad, “-dict” say, “-cred” believe, “-mit/-miss” send.
- Separate denotation (dictionary meaning) from connotation (emotional charge); “thrifty” and “stingy” differ in attitude, not reference.
- In analogies, state the relationship in a sentence before choosing: “A ___ is a type of ___.”
Worked example
“The critic’s terse review was not hostile so much as dismissive.” “Terse” is often confused with “harsh,” but “not hostile so much as dismissive” signals brevity plus cold indifference. Morphology does not help here; context does. The best answer is “brief and curt,” not “angry.”
Traps
Picking a familiar sense that does not fit the sentence; ignoring connotation; forcing a Latin root onto a word that only looks similar; treating an analogy’s topic as more important than its relationship.