Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

It’s the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster today, so here is context clues worksheet on the adjective desultory. It means, for the purposes of making meaning on this document, and in the vernacular as well, “marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose.”

However, it can also mean “not connected with the main subject” and “disappointing in progress, performance, or quality.” This is not a high-frequency word in English, and in any case, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen or heard it used to mean “not connected to the main subject.” On the other hand, “disappointing in progress, performance, or quality” is a close enough corollary to “marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose that one might say the first definition is the outcome of the second in this sentence.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Though it’s usefulness in the high school classroom may be dubious, here, nonetheless, is a context clues worksheet on the adjective stentorian. It means, simply, “extremely loud.” Unless this word is useful in, say, a forensics team lesson or anything else related to formal debate, I don’t know where or why to teach it. It’s not exactly a high-frequency word in English. I assume I wrote this because at some point it was the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

It’s the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster, so here is a context clues on the verb lollygag. It means, variously but in same vein, “fool around,” “dawdle,” and (from the Word of the Day page itself) “to fool around and waste time” and “to spend time doing things that are not useful.” The verb is only used intransitively, so it will never take a direct object: you don’t lollygag something, you just lollygag.

I understand this slangy word isn’t at the top of the list of the lexicon we need students to accumulate in high school. Nonetheless, with its onomatopoetic character, even charm, it has its virtues. In any case, as a sometimes workaholic (the respectable addiction), I want to make the case for lollygagging as an occasional and necessary part of life.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.