In addition to the decoding strategies discussed above, you can also use the sentence itself to help you answer In-Context WK questions. Context simply means the words or phrases surrounding an underlined word, and using context involves looking for clues in those other words in order to help you guess at the underlined word’s meaning.
There are several ways context can be helpful. Sometimes the sentence signals that the underlined word resembles another idea in the sentence. Consider the following:
| Question | Analysis |
| The children thronged around the table like moths around a flame. | The word like signals that, whatever the children were doing, they resembled moths swarming around a flame. So thronged must convey that same sense. |
Sure enough, thronged means swarmed or gathered in a crowd.
In each of the examples below, identify the word that tells you that the underlined word is similar to some other idea in the sentence, and then predict the meaning of the underlined word.
| Sentence | What word or words signal similarity? | Predict the underlined word’s meaning |
| The crowd greeted the famous chef with an eagerness amounting to fervor. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
| The budget meeting was a difficult conversation; indeed, it was almost a quagmire. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
| Today’s creative child may be tomorrow’s virtuoso. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
Your paraphrases may differ somewhat but should resemble the following:
| Sentence | What word or words signal similarity? | Predict the underlined word’s meaning |
| The crowd greeted the famous chef with an eagerness amounting to fervor. | amounting to | tremendous enthusiasm |
| The budget meeting was a difficult conversation; indeed, it was almost a quagmire. | indeed | extremely difficult or awkward situation |
| Today’s creative child may be tomorrow’s virtuoso. | parallel drawn between today and tomorrow | someone very skilled at a creative activity like art or music |
In other cases, sentences may contain words that signal that the underlined word contrasts with or forms an unexpected combination with another idea in the sentence. Consider the following example:
| Question | Analysis |
| The best coaches are supportive but exacting. | The word but tells you that exacting either contrasts with supportive or else that you would not expect to see supportive and exacting linked together. It is unlikely that exacting is the direct opposite of supportive, since the writer of this sentence thinks good coaches display both traits. So it must be the case that supportive and exacting are somehow a surprising pair. |
In fact, exacting means “making large demands.” Thus, the prediction above is correct: while exacting does not mean the opposite of supportive, it is perhaps a surprising idea to find linked with supportive.
In each of the examples below, identify the word that tells you that the underlined word contrasts with or forms a surprising combination with some other idea in the sentence, and then predict the meaning of the underlined word.
| Sentence | What word signals contrast or an unexpected combination of ideas? | Predict the underlined word’s meaning |
| Some human behavior is learned, while other human behavior is instinctive. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
| Trisha found the task to be enjoyable rather than onerous. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
| I prefer action films but had to sit through a cloying love story last Friday night. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
Your paraphrases may differ somewhat but should resemble the following:
| Sentence | What word signals contrast or an unexpected combination of ideas? | Predict the underlined word’s meaning |
| Some human behavior is learned, while other human behavior is instinctive. | while | contrasts with learned, so innate or inborn |
| Trisha found the task to be enjoyable rather than onerous. | rather | contrasts with enjoyable, so tiresome or burdensome |
| I prefer action films but had to sit through a cloying love story last Friday night. | but | contrasts with action films and has a negative charge, so too sentimental or sugary |
Sometimes context merely tells you whether an underlined word has a negative or positive connotation. In many cases, this deduction may be enough to answer the WK question. Consider the following example:
| Question | Analysis |
| Jalisa was looking forward to a well-earned respite. | Step 1. A respite must be a good thing, because Jalisa is looking forward to it. Also, the adjective well-earned has a positive connotation. |
| Step 2. Respite must be something enjoyable or beneficial. | |
| (A) deadline (B) incarceration (C) rest (D) prediction |
Step 3. Of the answer choices, only (C) rest is likely to be enjoyable or beneficial. Choose (C). |
In fact, a respite is a period of rest or relief from work or from something unpleasant.
Try it on your own. For each of the sentences below, identify the word or words that signal whether the underlined word has a positive or negative connotation. Then try, if possible, to predict the underlined word’s meaning.
| Sentence | What word or words signal that the underlined word has a positive or negative connotation? | Predict the underlined word’s meaning |
| I struggled to stay awake as the presentation droned into evening. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
| Your injudicious proposal would have serious consequences for our town’s future. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
| Wasting more money on the -machine would only exacerbate our difficulties. | _________________________ | _________________________ |
Your paraphrases may have differed but should have resembled the following:
| Sentence | What word or words signal that the underlined word has a positive or negative connotation? | Predict the underlined word’s meaning |
| I struggled to stay awake as the presentation droned into evening. | struggled | continued in a boring or monotonous way |
| Your injudicious proposal would have serious consequences for our town’s future. | serious consequences | unwise |
| Wasting more money on the machine would only exacerbate our difficulties. | wasting | worsen |
Finally, sometimes the context surrounding an underlined word’s meaning simply defines that word or hints at its meaning. Remember this example from the beginning of the chapter?
| Question | Analysis |
| Nomadic tribes often move their villages when the seasons change. | Step 1. Whatever nomadic tribes may be, they move around a good deal. |
| Step 2. Check the answer choices for a word that means moving around. | |
| (A) warlike (B) wandering (C) exclusive (D) hasty |
Step 3. (B) wandering matches the prediction best. |
In fact, the sentence in the question above simply defines nomadic, which means “moving from place to place, having no fixed dwelling-place.”
Try your hand at the following examples:
| Sentence | Predict the meaning of the underlined word |
| As Lydia struggled to understand the difficult material, her bewilderment became obvious to the teacher. | _______________________________________ |
| The thieves took pains to cover their tracks on the way to their clandestine meeting. | _______________________________________ |
| The incoming freshman found the Advanced Econometrics course material to be opaque. | _______________________________________ |
Your paraphrases may differ somewhat but should resemble the following.
| Sentence | Predict the meaning of the underlined word |
| As Lydia struggled to understand the difficult material, her bewilderment became obvious to the teacher. | She struggled to understand, so bewilderment likely means confusion or lack of understanding. |
| The thieves took pains to cover their tracks on the way to their clandestine meeting. | The thieves were clearly trying to keep their meeting a secret, so clandestine likely means secret. |
| The incoming freshman found the Advanced Econometrics course material to be opaque. | Whatever Advanced Econometrics is, it sounds too hard for a freshman. So the freshman likely found it to be very difficult to understand. |
Of course, sometimes you will struggle to glean clues from the context of a sentence. You may, in these cases, be able to eliminate some answer choices by mentally replacing the underlined word with each of the answer choices to try to “hear” which choices sound wrong. Study the following example to learn how a test taker might go about this:
| Question | Analysis |
| Everyone on the committee agreed that acting with circumspection was important. | Steps 1 and 2. The sentence doesn’t give many hints aside from suggesting that circumspection is probably a good thing. |
| (A) wisdom (B) voting (C) caution (D) individuality |
Step 3. More than one of the answer choices has a positive connotation. Try each in the original sentence: (A) Everyone on the committee agreed that acting with wisdom was important. That seems like an odd thing to say. Isn’t wisdom always important? Try the others. (B) Everyone on the committee agreed that acting with voting was important. That doesn’t seem to make much sense. (C) Everyone on the committee agreed that acting with caution was important. That makes a great deal of sense. (D) Everyone on the committee agreed that acting with individuality was important. That seems to go against the idea of a committee, especially one where everyone agrees. Choice (C) is the best fit. |
Not surprisingly, circumspection means “caution or the act of carefully considering.”
Try your hand at the example below. If you are having trouble predicting what the underlined word means, mentally reread the sentence, substituting each answer choice, to find the one that sounds most sensible.
Steps 1 and 2. Perhaps you had trouble applying decoding strategies or using context here. If so, go directly to the choices.
Step 3. Try the answer choices one by one in the sentence:
(A) Joanna created happiness at the wedding. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Weddings might make people happy, but people don’t typically say that one individual creates happiness.
(B) Joanna passed out happiness at the wedding. Unless happiness is a new kind of party favor, this makes no sense. (This answer choice was probably intended to tempt test takers who think feign looks like faint.)
(C) Joanna pretended happiness at the wedding. This makes sense: if Joanna had some reason to be unhappy that day, she may have had to pretend to be happy.
(D) Joanna concealed happiness at the wedding. Although it’s possible that someone might have a reason to conceal, or hide, their happiness at a wedding, that seems far less likely than choice (C).