Tag Archives: context clues

Matriculate (vi/vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb matriculate, which is used both intransitively and transitively. This is the last of the Words of the Day from Merriam-Webster while I was away for the Labor Day weekend. 

Teachers, especially high school teachers, as well as guidance counselors, will agree, I hope, that students ought to know this word as they proceed toward their graduation days. It’s probably worth mentioning, for linguistic purposes, that after students matriculate, work for four years, then graduate, their relationship with their college is characterized by the noun alma mater, i.e. “nourishing mother.” These words stem from the Latin word roots matr, matri, and mater, which mean “mother.” 

In fact, I’ll link to this word root exercise on matr, matri, and mater in the event you want to take this inquiry a bit further.

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.

Colloquial (adj)

Last but not least on this rainy Thursday afternoon, here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective colloquial. This is one of those words (like most of the context clues worksheets I’ve published here lately, this popped up as the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster a few days back) that tempts me, because it shows up in educated discourse all over the place, to develop a series of worksheets for its family, to wit, colloquialism, colloquy, colloquium and colloquist–all of which have a solid Latin lineage.

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.

Encumber (vt)

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the verb encumber. It’s used only transitively, do don’t forget your direct objects after its use.

Incidentally, in addition to meaning, as it does in the worksheet above, “weight down, burden” and “to impede or hamper the function or activity of,” encumber can also mean “to burden with a legal claim (as a mortgage).” Thus, the noun encumbrance will show up in mortgage contracts. These are all good concepts and words for informed consumers (i.e. our students) 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.

Heyday (n)

It was one of the Words of the Day I marked down when I was out for a short vacation last week, and it’s a good word used regularly in conversational English, so here is context clues worksheet on the noun heyday if you can use it.

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.

Bunkum (n)

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, and it is, I think you’ll agree, a strong abstract noun for our time. Therefore, I wrote this context clues worksheet on the noun bunkum. It means “insincere or foolish talk” and “nonsense.” The context clues I provided are relatively solid, if a bit trite.

This word was a favorite of legendary iconoclastic newspaperman H.L. Mencken; indeed, a posthumous collection of Mencken’s is titled A Carnival of Buncombe. That spelling of the word, incidentally, indicates its etymology, which is a circuitous tale involving Buncombe County, North Carolina, and Felix Walker, the United States Representative who served the district from 1816 to 1822.

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.

Docile (adj)

I’m catching up on the last several Words of the Day from Merriam-Webster, so here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective docile.  This modifier is in common enough use, I submit, to warrant its teaching to high school students–if not earlier.

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.

Impregnable (adj)

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, and because I’m sure I encountered student confusion over its use in a social studies textbook at some point, here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective impregnable.

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.

Plaudit (n)

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the noun plaudit. It’s not a commonly used word, but it is a strong noun. I think it might be worth asking students, via Socratic questioning, to make the connection with applaud, a strong verb used both intransitively and transitively.

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.

Epidemic (n), Pandemic (n)

Since I can’t imagine any reason I need to stress the importance of an understanding of and an ability to use these words, now more than ever, I’ll post this context clues worksheet on the noun epidemic and this one on the noun pandemic without editorial comment.

However, a note on usage on epidemic and pandemic seems de rigueur. Differentiating the use of these two nouns is as easy as understanding their Greek roots: epi means on, upon, outside, over, among, at, after, to, and can best be understood, as some of those prepositions connote, as local; pan (along with panto) simply means all, and can best be understood, in our current circumstances, as meaning everywhere, as all connotes.

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.

Asunder (adj/adv)

If I must, I’ll stipulate that because it is not necessarily a word high schoolers must know before they graduate, this context clues on the adjective and adverb asunder, which was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the day a few days back.

Yet, if students want, at some point in their lives, to do something like write their own wedding vows (or understand vows another person wrote for them), then it might be good to have this word at hand.

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.