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Words in Context - The College Board

CHAPTER 4. Words in Context You'll see numerous questions on the SAT about the meaning and REMEMBER. use of Words and phrases. These questions will always refer to The SAT won't test you on the multiparagraph passages, and the Words and phrases focused on meaning of obscure, seldom-used will be ones that are important to readings in many subject areas. Words and phrases presented with little Context . Rather, you'll be Having questions about Words and phrases embedded in extended tested on Words and phrases that passages means that there'll be Context clues to draw on as you often appear in College courses determine meaning, analyze rhetorical impact, and make choices about and beyond and that are grounded which word or phrase to use in a particular writing situation.

Analyzing Word Choice Rhetorically (Reading Test) Other Words in Context questions on the Reading Test may ask you to figure out how the author’s choice of a particular word, phrase, or

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Transcription of Words in Context - The College Board

1 CHAPTER 4. Words in Context You'll see numerous questions on the SAT about the meaning and REMEMBER. use of Words and phrases. These questions will always refer to The SAT won't test you on the multiparagraph passages, and the Words and phrases focused on meaning of obscure, seldom-used will be ones that are important to readings in many subject areas. Words and phrases presented with little Context . Rather, you'll be Having questions about Words and phrases embedded in extended tested on Words and phrases that passages means that there'll be Context clues to draw on as you often appear in College courses determine meaning, analyze rhetorical impact, and make choices about and beyond and that are grounded which word or phrase to use in a particular writing situation.

2 It also in rich contexts. means that the meaning and use of these Words and phrases will be shaped, often in complex or subtle ways, by Context . Moreover, the test's emphasis on Words and phrases used fairly frequently means that you'll be able to devote your attention to acquiring vocabulary knowledge that's likely to be of use to you throughout College , career, and life instead of focusing on Words and phrases that you're unlikely to encounter again after taking the test. Let's consider the kinds of Words and phrases that are tested on the SAT and then briefly examine the sorts of Words in Context questions you'll find on the test.

3 PRACTICE AT. High-Utility Academic Words and Phrases Since the SAT focuses on academic Words and phrases commonly The SAT focuses on high-utility academic Words and phrases, the encountered in challenging texts, type of vocabulary that you can find in challenging readings across a a good way to prepare is to read wide range of subjects. You may, for example, come across the word texts across a range of subjects and restrain one of these high-utility academic Words in a number types. As you encounter unfamiliar of different types of texts. You could find it in a novel in which the Words or phrases (or familiar Words main character is trying to restrain, or hold in check, his emotions; you and phrases used in unfamiliar could also find it in a social studies text discussing how embargoes ways), practice using Context clues to determine their meaning.

4 Can be used to restrain, or limit, trade among nations. Note, too, how When there's not enough Context , the precise meaning of restrain varies to some extent based on the try a different approach, such as Context in which the word appears. checking a dictionary. 37. PART 2 | Evidence-Based Reading and Writing As the above example suggests, high-utility academic Words and phrases are different from other kinds of vocabulary you know and will PRACTICE AT encounter in school, work, and life. High-utility academic Words and phrases aren't generally part of conversational language, so if you We do not recommend practicing know the common meanings of a word such as restrain, it's probably by poring over long lists of obscure, because you either learned it by reading a lot or from vocabulary esoteric vocabulary.

5 Lessons in school. High-utility academic Words and phrases aren't technical terms, either. Atomic mass, ductile, and isotope may sound like they'd fit into the category of high-utility academic Words and phrases, but what makes them different is that they're generally only used in particular types of texts and conversations in this case, readings about and discussions of science. This doesn't mean that these terms aren't worth knowing far from it but it does mean that, in some sense, their value is more limited than that of Words and phrases that you might encounter in many different sorts of texts and discussions.

6 Since the SAT can't (and shouldn't) try to test everything, the College Board has chosen to focus on high-utility academic Words and phrases because of their great power in unlocking the meaning of the complex texts that you're likely to encounter in high school, postsecondary courses, and life. Words in Context Questions Questions in the Words in Context category ask you to consider both the meaning and role of Words and phrases as they're used in particular passages. You'll also be asked to think about how to make language use more effective. These questions focus on the following skills: Interpreting Words and phrases in Context (Reading Test).

7 Analyzing word choice rhetorically (Reading Test). Making effective use of language (Writing and Language Test). Ten Reading Test questions generally two per passage; a mix of questions about word/phrase meanings and rhetorical word choice - contribute to the Words in Context subscore. Eight Writing and Language Test questions again, generally two per passage also contribute to the subscore; these eight questions will cover a range of skills, from making text more precise or concise to maintaining style and tone to combining sentences or parts of sentences in order to improve expression or to accomplish a specified rhetorical goal.

8 Let's consider each of these three main types more fully. 38. Chapter 4 | Words in Context Interpreting Words and Phrases in Context (Reading Test). A number of questions on the Reading Test will require you to figure PRACTICE AT. out the precise meaning of a given word or phrase based on how it's used in a particular passage. Precise is an important qualifier here, Often, Reading Test answer choices will each contain one of several as you'll generally be asked to pick the most appropriate meaning of a possible real-world meanings of the word or phrase with more than one dictionary definition. The extended tested word or phrase.

9 Make use of Context up to and including an entire passage gives you more the Context clues in the passage to clues to meaning, but you'll have to make good use of those clues to hone in on the precise meaning of decide on which of the offered meanings makes the most sense in a the word or phrase as it's used in the given passage. passage. Here's an example: Think about the word intense, which is a pretty good representative of high-utility academic Words and phrases. Maybe you associate this word with emotion or attitude, as in He's an intense person, or perhaps with determination, as in She put forth intense effort in order to do well on the quiz.

10 However, neither of these quite matches how intense is used in the following excerpt from a longer passage. PRACTICE AT. [..] The coming decades will likely see more intense clustering of jobs, A good strategy here is to use innovation, and productivity in a smaller number of bigger cities and city- Context clues in the paragraph to regions. Some regions could end up bloated beyond the capacity of their come up with a word that could replace intense while maintaining infrastructure, while others struggle, their promise stymied by inadequate the intended meaning of the human or other resources. sentence.


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