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Words in context | Lesson
A guide to "words in context" questions on the digital SAT
What are "words in context" questions?
On the Reading and Writing section of your SAT, some questions will ask you to select the most logical and precise word or phrase in a given context.
Words in context questions will look like this:
How should we determine the most "precise" word?
A "precise" word is one that means exactly what it should in a given situation: it will fit its sentence perfectly and reinforce the text's meaning.
This last bit is important. We're not just looking for a word that sounds right or looks good. Instead, we need to understand the text and select the word with a meaning that best matches the point the text is making. This means that, when attempting words in context questions, reading comprehension is just as important as our knowledge of vocabulary.
To help us identify the best word in context, we should focus on two things: context and connotation.
Context
Context refers to the specific scenario we're attempting to match a word or phrase to. To understand the context, we must read the provided text carefully.
Because we need to know the meaning of the word we're looking for, that meaning will be provided a second time within the text. This results in many prompts for words in context questions following a similar pattern of
Statement. Restatement.
The trick then is to match the word we're looking for with the equivalent idea in the other statement.
For example, let's look back at our example item prompt:
In recommending Bao Phi’s collection Sông I Sing, a librarian noted that pieces by the spoken-word poet don’t lose their ______ nature when printed: the language has the same pleasant musical quality on the page as it does when performed by Phi.
We have two matching statements here:
- The poems keep their _____ nature when printed.
- The poems have the same pleasant musical quality when "on the page".
Notice how the blank in the first statement lines up with the phrase pleasant musical quality in the second statement. This is the context that tells us what word that we should choose: the word that most closely means "pleasant" and "musical".
Connotation
"Connotations" are the associations that we have with different words. One common example of connotation is whether a word feels positive or negative. Words can have similar meanings but vastly different connotations.
For example, the words "promising" and "ominous" both mean that something is predictive of the future. However, while "promising" has a strongly positive connotation, "ominous" has a strongly negative connotation. Therefore, these words can't logically applied to the same context.
If you're stuck on a words in context question, try focusing on these connotations. Is the sentence positive? Then the word we choose should be positive too!
For example:
- The basketball star's promising play this season suggests a bright future.
- The dark, ominous clouds on the horizon suggest a storm is coming.
Based on context clues like "bright" and "storm", it's clear where the positive and negative words are most appropriate.
How to approach words in context questions
To solve a words in context question, follow these three steps:
Step 1: Summarize the text in your own words
Don't just skim the text. Read it closely, and try to summarize the main idea in your own words. This can be tricky, since an important word is likely missing. If you're struggling to understand the text, try and translate each idea into a simple bullet point.
Remember, words in context prompts tend to follow a similar pattern. They will make a claim, and then they will expand upon or restate that claim in different words.
Step 2: Identify the key word, phrase, or idea
The text provides all the information you need to know. Whatever point the text is making, the correct answer will reinforce that idea. Often, there will be one word or phrase in the text that has nearly the same meaning as the correct answer. Find the right context clues, and the next part should be easy.
Step 3: Select the word that matches
If a choice changes the meaning of the text, or introduces a new idea or perspective, then it's not the most precise word in context. Only one of the choices will match and emphasize the idea being expressed in the text. You can select that choice with confidence!
Top tips
Charge it (+/-)
Sometimes connotation alone is enough to answer a words in context question. Is the text expressing something positive? If so, we can eliminate any choices that are too negative or neutral.
Avoid unknowns
On test day, you may encounter some words that you don't know. Many test-takers make the mistake of selecting words that they don't know in the choices instead of ones they know better and "feel right". These students think the words they know better must be "traps", because they might "seem too easy". This strategy can often backfire.
To raise your chances of getting words in context questions correct, try this instead:
- Eliminate what you can from the words you do know
- Select an option from what remains.
Note: The only time you should select a word you don't know is if you can confidently eliminate all of the other choices.
Your turn
Want to join the conversation?
Hi! Can someone suggest useful SAT vocabulary books?(14 votes)
you may search on google "digital sat vocabulary". I did and found"550 words must to know for dsat" site. it has overused words(17 votes)
Can anyone tell me how to practice .there are only 4 tests available on the Bluebook app are there any other resources available?(9 votes)
Because the digital SAT is so new, there is a huge lack of practice resources compared to what's available for the normal SAT currently. If you've already gone through College Board's practice tests for the digital SAT, you could try doing the digital PSAT practice test. On the College Board website there is a link for Nonadaptive Digital SAT Practice tests (these are meant for people that will be taking the new SAT, but on paper). These are also good resources.(22 votes)
Are there are good recommended SAT Vocab books?(8 votes)
rather than looking for vocab books, just go through everything on khanac and whatever words you dont know, work on understanding those and remembering those. I havent given the actual sat yet, but the practice ones sure indicate a lot of overlap on certain specific vocab, so id say work primarily on those(4 votes)
- Will words in context questions ever ask about what words mean when they are used metaphorically? Or will they always ask for meanings that can be found in the dictionary?(9 votes)
Nither? It's a "WORDS IN CONTEXT" question. The question will contain an underlined word that can have multiple meanings depending on the context and our job is to find what its meaning is in that specific sentence/ paragraph.(2 votes)
- anyone else forced to do this assignment from there teacher?(4 votes)
i dont get how we are supposed to use context clues(3 votes)
If you can't find a way to use context clues one effective way to narrow down your answer is to find synonyms of the word among the answer choices, their are usually 2 that would cancel out, after you have narrowed it down, read the sentence before and the sentence yourself, if the sentence before is describing something and in the sentence holding the missing word is using it as a form to describe the previous or even later question then you would proceed to match your final two options to the two sentences and see which one would describe it most correctly.(7 votes)
- Can you recommend any vocabulary books for international school students preparing for the SAT?(5 votes)
Reading and Writing: The ultimate guide to SAT Reading and The ultimate guide to SAT Grammar (both for Digital SAT), written by Erica L. Meltzer.(2 votes)
- I got a question studying SAT writing section.
In this sentence, "The patient lifted up his sleeve, revealing a deep scar on his forearm."
Q1) Why is comma used in the sentence above?
Q2) Can I use dash or colon instead of comma in the sentence above?(1 vote)
the basic rule is , USE COMMA if a dependent clause comes before a main clause and if the dependent clause comes after the main clause then DONT USE COMMA.
for example:If u are ever in asia,come and visit me.
here the clause incuding IF is a dependent clause and it comes before the main clause ,we use put comma between them. but if we write the independent clause first then we dont use comma .
For example:Come and visit me if u are ever in Asia.
this rules works all the time except for PARTICIPLE CLAUSES.PARTICIPLES CLAUSES are dependent clauses so we use comma if they come before the main clause but we also use comma if they come after the main clause.SO the rule for participle clause is USE COMMA to seperate it from main clause ,doesnt matter if it comes before or after the main clause.
as the sentence u mention contains a participle clause we put comma to seperate it from main clauses no matter if they come before or after main clause.
PS:i have seen some sentences where the PARTICIPLE CLAUSES come after the main clause but there weremt any comma.So using no comma can also be correct I think but I dont know which one is more appropriate.what i personally do is if its present participle and the participle clause is long like the sentence u mentioned ,i use comma and if its short then i dont use comma.i believe SAT wont test any punctuation that is confusing
About ur second question,im not sure if using dash or colon would be suitable here.i would say comma is more suitable to seperate participle clauses from main clauses.and for SAT its better to use comma here instead of a colon or a dash.
Is it helpful ?(10 votes)
What is the differences between “parenthesis” and “apposition” anyway？(5 votes)
Does the Digital SAT have a section for vocabulary? Like, matching a word to its definition or vice-versa?(3 votes)
nah, they will just give it to you in some sort of context(4 votes)
