TOEFL Tuesdays
Tip #1
Vocabulary questions:
Find out the suitable meaning of a word or a phrase in the question from the 4 answer options.
A strong and enhanced vocabulary is needed to answer this question.
In the passage, one or two words will be underlined, and you will be asked to choose an option that is closest in meaning to those underlined. The best way to succeed on this question type is to know as many vocabulary words as possible, but if you really don't know the meaning of the word, we have 2 simple strategies that can help you conquer this type of question.
Strategy 1 : Understand through context.
Understanding the context of a passage is another helpful strategy for capturing the meaning of the highlighted word in this type of question. Let's look at an example:
Example:
At night, the solar energy (stored as vast quantities of heat in city buildings and roads) is slowly released into the city air. Additional city heat is given off at night (and during the day) by vehicles and factories, as well as by industrial and domestic heating and cooling units. The release of heat energy is retarded by the tall vertical city walls that do not allow infrared radiation to escape as readily as does the relatively level surface of the surrounding countryside. The slow release of heat tends to keep night time city temperatures higher than those of the faster-cooling rural areas.
The word "retarded" in the passage is closest in meaning to
disguised
added to
made possible
slowed down
Answer –Explanation
The answer is [D]. Let's first simplify the meaning of the sentence that contains the prompt word.
The release of heat energy is retarded by the tall vertical city walls that do not allow infrared radiation to escape as readily as does the relatively level surface of the surrounding countryside.
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The tall vertical city walls are doing something to the heat energy because they do not allow infrared radiation to escape.
Now we can use context to answer. So what are they doing? It’s going to be something similar to “not allowed”, so we can eliminate answer choices [B] and [C]. Can heat energy be disguised? Maybe, but it doesn’t seem to match up quite right, making [D] our best choice here. So the sentence is saying that the city walls slow down the heat energy, which fits with the rest of the passage.
Strategy 2:
Check if the word is an adjective, adverb, verb, or noun and eliminate incorrect choices.
Keep in mind this strategy is only to help you eliminate incorrect choices. You still need to rely on other techniques to solve this question. Let's look at an example:
Example
Passage:
Several dinosaur fossil localities preserve coprolites. Coprolites yield unequivocal evidence about the dietary habits of dinosaurs. Many parts of plants and animals are extremely resistant to the digestive systems of animals and pass completely through the body with little or no alteration. Study of coprolites has indicated that the diets of some herbivorous dinosaurs were relatively diverse, while other dinosaurs appear to have been specialists, feeding on particular types of plants. The problem with inferring diets from coprolites is the difficulty in accurately associating a particular coprolite with a specific dinosaur.
Question
The word "unequivocal" in the passage is closest in meaning to
deniable
unambiguous
unclear
largely
Explanation for the correct answer
(B) is the correct answer, meaning leaving no doubt. Using this strategy, we know that the word “unequivocal” is an adjective, so we can eliminate choice (D) largely, which is an adverb. Now, let's use context to answer. Both “deniable” and “unclear” carry a negative meaning, but the rest of this passage clearly describes what evidence scientists found from coprolites. Therefore, (A) and (C) can be eliminated.
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Exam questions are sourced from:
Cambridge University Press; Assessment 2024
