Scribd
Upload
173 views

SAT Word Choice and Words in Context

The document discusses two types of "Words in Context" questions that may appear on the SAT: 1) Interpreting words and phrases based on how they are used in a particular passage to determine their precise meaning. Students must consider the full context of the passage. 2) Analyzing an author's choice of specific words, phrases, or patterns and how they influence the meaning, tone, or style of a passage. This may involve considering the connotations or emotional associations that words evoke. Students must recognize the rhetorical effects of word choice. The SAT focuses on "high-utility academic words and phrases" found in challenging texts across many subjects. Ten Reading Test questions and eight Writing and Language Test

Uploaded by

Maysa Sharr
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
173 views

SAT Word Choice and Words in Context

The document discusses two types of "Words in Context" questions that may appear on the SAT: 1) Interpreting words and phrases based on how they are used in a particular passage to determine their precise meaning. Students must consider the full context of the passage. 2) Analyzing an author's choice of specific words, phrases, or patterns and how they influence the meaning, tone, or style of a passage. This may involve considering the connotations or emotional associations that words evoke. Students must recognize the rhetorical effects of word choice. The SAT focuses on "high-utility academic words and phrases" found in challenging texts across many subjects. Ten Reading Test questions and eight Writing and Language Test

Uploaded by

Maysa Sharr
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 15

SAT

Reading— Word Choice and Words in Context


think about the
connotation—emotional
associations—of the word
“home,” which can bring
up images of safety,
security, and connection
way beyond the word
“house.”

House Home

a residence in which one lives

Home is where the heart is.


Let’s consider the kinds of words and phrases that are tested on the
SAT and then briefly examine the sorts of Words in Context
questions you’ll find on the test.
High-Utility Academic Words and Phrases
The SAT focuses on “high-utility academic words and phrases,” the
type of vocabulary that you can find in challenging readings across a
wide range of subjects. You may, for example, come across the word
“restrain”—one of these high-utility academic words—in a number of
different types of texts. You could find it in a novel in which the main
character is trying to restrain, or hold in check, his emotions; you
could also find it in a social studies text discussing how embargoes
can be used to restrain, or limit, trade among nations. Note, too, how
the precise meaning of “restrain” varies to some extent based on the
context in which the word appears.
High-utility academic words and phrases aren’t
generally part of conversational language

High-utility academic words and phrases aren’t technical


terms, either.
Words in Context Questions
Questions in the Words in Context category ask you to consider both the
meaning and role of words and phrases as they’re used in particular
passages. You’ll also be asked to think about how to make language use
more effective. These questions focus on the following skills:
Interpreting words and phrases in context (Reading Test)
Analyzing word choice rhetorically (Reading Test)
Making effective use of language (Writing and Language Test)

Ten Reading Test questions—generally two per passage; a mix of questions about
word/phrase meanings and rhetorical word choice— - contribute to the Words in Context
subscore. Eight Writing and Language Test questions—again, generally two per passage
—also contribute to the subscore; these eight questions will cover a range of skills, from
making text more precise or concise to maintaining style and tone to combining
sentences or parts of sentences in order to improve expression or to accomplish a
specified rhetorical goal.
Interpreting Words and Phrases in Context (Reading
Test)
A number of questions on the Reading Test will require you to
figure out the precise meaning of a given word or phrase based on
how it’s used in a particular passage. “Precise” is an important
qualifier here, as you’ll generally be asked to pick the most
appropriate meaning of a word or phrase with more than one
dictionary definition. The extended context—up to and including
an entire passage—gives you more clues to meaning, but you’ll
have to make good use of those clues to decide on which of the
offered meanings makes the most sense in a given passage.
Think about the word “intense,” which is likely one that you
have heard and even used many times before. Let’s share
sentences that use the word properly.

Let’s read the next passage and discuss how the word “intense”
is used in the excerpt and how it is similar or different to the uses
you have had experience with.
Analyzing Word Choice Rhetorically (Reading Test)
Other Words in Context questions on the Reading Test may ask you to figure
out how the author’s choice of a particular word, phrase, or pattern of words
or phrases influences the meaning, tone, or style of a passage. Sometimes
these questions deal with the connotations, or associations, that certain
words and phrases evoke. Consider how you (or an author) might describe
someone who wasn’t accompanied by other people. Saying that person was
“alone” is more or less just pointing out a fact. To say instead that that person
was “solitary” offers a stronger sense of isolation. To instead call that person
“forlorn” or even “abandoned” goes yet a step further in casting the person’s
separateness in a particular, negative way. Deciding which word or phrase in
a given context offers just the right flavor is something that good authors do
all the time; recognizing the effects of word choice on the audience is
something, in turn, that good readers must be able to do.
There are two ways that you will examine words on the
SAT and throughout this lesson: words in context (like the
“intense” example), and the rhetorical effect of word
choice (as in the Barbara Jordan excerpt).

You might also like