PRACTICE WITH UNDERSTANDING MEANING FROM CONTEXT BUILDING SKILLS CAMBRIDGE PREPARATION FOR THE TOEFL® IBT TEST

 

CAMBRIDGE PREPARATION FOR THE TOEFL® IBT TEST BUILDING SKILLS PRACTICE WITH UNDERSTANDING MEANING FROM CONTEXT

 

The reading section of the TOEFL test includes multiple-choice vocabulary questions that test your understanding of certain words in the reading passages. You will be given a word that is highlighted in the passage and four different words from which to choose the one that is closest in meaning to the highlighted word. Determining meaning from context It may be possible to determine the meaning of the highlighted word from the context. For example, consider this sentence: It is not always possible to get a clue to a meaning of a word from the context of the immediate sentence. For example, consider this sentence:   Identifying meaning from a given definition Vocabulary can be defined in a passage in the ways outlined below. 1 The verb be An object following the verb be is frequently used to define the subject. 2 Appositives A noun or noun group that follows another noun and is set off by commas is called an appositive. It defines the noun it follows. 3 Punctuation Punctuation marks are sometimes used to set off a word that define another word. Some punctuation marks you may see used in this way are: 4 The word or A word or phrase is sometimes defined by a synonym following the word or. 5 Examples A word or phrase is sometimes defined by examples. These terms often introduce eamples: 6 Adjective clauses Adjective clauses sometimes define words. 7 Referents Referents are words that refer back to or forward to other words in the sentence or paragraph. 8 Contrasts Sometimes the meaning of a word can be understood because it is in contrast to another word in the sentence. Some words that indicate a contrast are: 9 Other words in the sentence Other words in a sentence can sometimes give a general meaning of a word but not always a specific definition.