Tag Archives: context clues

The Weekly Text, December 18, 2020: Four Context Clues Worksheets on Enthusiasm (n), Enthusiast (n), Enthuse (vi/vt), and Enthusiastic (adj)

This week’s Text, which will be the last for this benighted year, is four context clues worksheets on the nouns enthusiasm and enthusiast, the verb enthuse, and the adjective enthusiastic. If you want to make a point about words as they appear across the parts of speech–known in linguistics by the term of art morphology–these might help.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

Vilify (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb vilify. It’s used only transitively, so don’t forget your direct object: you must vilify someone. It means “to lower in estimation or importance” and “to utter slanderous and abusive statements against.” and “defame.” One of its synonyms is the transitive verb “malign,” which can also be used as an adjective. We’ve had four years of the daily exercise of the action this verb describes, so it is worth knowing when it shows up in any public discourse. 

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.

Rescind (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb rescind. It’s only used transitively, so do not forget your direct object; you, or whoever or whatever the subject of your sentence is, must rescind something.

This is a very commonly used word in English, so students probably ought to know it. Perhaps seniors could learn it in the context of their admission offer to college, which could be rescinded in the event that those students succumb to the dread affliction of “senioritis.”

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.

Lucrative (adj)

On this Monday morning, it’s the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster; to my surprise, having worked for ten years in an economic-and-finance-themed high school in Lower Manhattan, I somehow hadn’t written a context clues on the adjective lucrative. By any standard, this is a very commonly used word in the the English language, thus one students should know by the time they leave high school.

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.

Distend (vi/vt)

It’s the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster, so here is a context clues worksheet on the verb distend. One uses it both intransitively and transitively. It means, in the context I’ve written for it, “to enlarge from internal pressure : SWELL.” I very nearly let it pass by, but it is a relatively commonly used word in English.

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.

Posthumous (adj)

It was the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster a few days back, and I was surprised to find that I didn’t already possess a context clues worksheet on the adjective posthumous. This word is really a staple word in English, and one our students ought to know before they walk off the state at graduation.

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.

Mogul (n)

It’s the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster, and I was surprised to find I hadn’t already prepared work on it. So here, belatedly, I guess, is a context clues worksheet on the noun mogul. I’ve written the sentences in this document to reflect the meaning of this noun as “a person of rank, power, or influence.”

Don’t forget that this word comes to us from the noun Mughal, which means “an Indian Muslim of or descended from one of several conquering groups of Mongol, Turkish, and Persian origin.” In other words, if you’re teaching globals studies, world history, or whatever your school district names this area of study, this is a word students might need to know.

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.

Interpret (vi/vt), Interpretation (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb interpret and another on the noun interpretation. The verb is used both intransitively and transitively; it’s worth mentioning that used intransitively, its meaning is limited “to act as an interpreter between speakers of different languages.”

The reasons for teaching these words should be obvious, so I won’t wheedle, nag, badger, pontificate or lecture on it.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

Obelisk (n)

It’s not a word in particularly common use in English even if one of our most recognizable pieces of public art and architecture–the Washington Monument–is indeed such a monument. In any case, here is a context clues worksheet on the noun obelisk. If you’re teaching about ancient Egypt (where it came up when I taught global studies, which is, I assume, why I wrote this in the first place), this might be a useful document.

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.

Bailiwick (n)

Because it’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, and because it is used in educated discourse with sufficient frequency, here is a context clues worksheet on the noun bailiwick. The context clues on this document are a bit dense; it’s hard to avoid that when dealing with abstract nouns like this one, which means “the sphere in which has one superior knowledge or authority: a special domain.” This is exactly the kind of word that challenges certain struggling learners, so beware of that. 

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.