Learn / Reading and Writing / Craft and Structure
Words in Context
I worked these out from the practice questions. Each code says where to start reading, where to stop, what you can skip, and why it is safe.
1. Cover the choices first
- Start:
- Start at the first word of the text, then read to the end, including the blank.
- Stop:
- Stop reading before you look at the four choices; make your own word.
- Skip:
- Skip the choices until you have a word in your head.
- Why:
- The choices contain traps (Q1 'peaceful', Q5 'enthusiasm') that look good if you read them first. Your own word is clean.
Used in questions 1, 2, 5
2. Hunt the contrast word
- Start:
- Find although, but, yet, however, rather than, or while.
- Stop:
- Stop at the idea on the other side of the contrast word.
- Skip:
- Skip the details that come before the contrast and do not touch the blank.
- Why:
- In Q1, Q3, Q5 and Q7 the contrast word flipped the direction. The blank is the opposite of the idea it points at.
Used in questions 1, 3, 5, 7
3. Cause words give the blank's meaning
- Start:
- Find because, so, or a colon (:) near the blank.
- Stop:
- Stop at the end of the reason or example after it.
- Skip:
- Skip the first half of the sentence if the colon part already explains the blank.
- Why:
- In Q2, Q7 and Q8 the part after the colon or comma explained the blank in other words. The answer is a name for that explanation.
Used in questions 2, 7, 8
4. Replace the word with a plain idea
- Start:
- Start at the shown word in a meaning question.
- Stop:
- Stop after the sentence that follows it.
- Skip:
- Skip choices that are the first meaning you know of the word.
- Why:
- In Q4 and Q6 the everyday meanings (solemn, deep, logical, loud) were traps. The nearby sentence tells you the special meaning.
Used in questions 4, 6
5. Check direction before strength
- Start:
- After you pick two likely choices, mark each one positive or negative.
- Stop:
- Stop when only one choice has the same direction as the clue.
- Skip:
- Skip strength and tone until direction is the same.
- Why:
- In Q3, Q5 and Q8 the wrong options had the opposite direction. Direction removes two choices fast.
Used in questions 3, 5, 8
6. Do not trust hard-looking words
- Start:
- Look at the word you think is correct.
- Stop:
- Stop and ask whether the clue in the text proves its meaning.
- Skip:
- Skip the feeling that a rare word must be right.
- Why:
- In the answer keys the correct words were often simple. Only the clue proves the answer, not how fancy the word is.
Used in questions 1, 2, 6
7. Put your word back and read it aloud
- Start:
- Start at the first word of the sentence with your chosen word in the blank.
- Stop:
- Stop at the full stop and ask whether it sounds natural and whether the second half still makes sense.
- Skip:
- Skip changing your answer because another word 'feels more advanced'.
- Why:
- In Q9, Q10 and Q12 the right word made the sentence flow, and the wrong ones broke it. A quick reading test catches 'harden' or 'decorate' type traps.
Used in questions 9, 10, 12, 14
8. Ask what the tricky word is acting on
- Start:
- Start at the underlined word in a meaning question and find its object, the thing it works on.
- Stop:
- Stop after you find that object (a crop, excitement).
- Skip:
- Skip the meanings of the word you already know from other sentences.
- Why:
- In Q11 and Q14 the words 'yield' and 'temper' have many meanings. The object (a crop, excitement) decides which meaning is used.
Used in questions 11, 14
9. Collect the clue phrases before you choose
- Start:
- Start at the part of the sentence that explains the blank, often after a period, a colon, or 'because'.
- Stop:
- Stop when you have written down two clue phrases (for example 'drawn from rumor', 'attaches a condition').
- Skip:
- Skip choices that match only one clue.
- Why:
- In Q13, Q15 and Q16 the best answer matched every clue, while the trap (obsolete, hesitant, tentative) matched only one.
Used in questions 13, 15, 16