ASVAB CampWords and Phrases in Context flashcards
8 cards with the formulas, rules and traps from this lesson. Answer in your head, then flip to check.
Strategy · 1/8
What is the five-step method for a word-in-context question?
Find the target; reread its sentence plus the ones before and after; note clue types (contrast, cause, examples); predict a plain meaning; pick the choice that matches and keeps the sentence's claim.
Strategy · 2/8
What is the replace-and-reread test?
Substitute your chosen meaning for the original word and reread the sentence. If it sounds natural and the claim, tone and qualifiers are unchanged, keep it; otherwise reject it.
Rule · 3/8
What does a contrast signal (but, however, unlike) tell you about an unknown word?
The word means roughly the opposite of the contrasted idea. 'Unlike his chatty brother, Omar was reticent' makes reticent mean quiet or reserved.
Strategy · 4/8
Which punctuation and phrases often signal a definition right next to a term?
Commas, dashes, parentheses, and phrases like 'that is' or 'known as' often rename and explain the term beside them.
Term · 5/8
Idiom: what is it and how do you interpret one?
A fixed phrase whose meaning differs from its separate words, like 'hit the books' (study hard). Judge it from how the passage uses it, not by decoding each word.
Common trap · 6/8
What is the dictionary-sense trap?
Picking the meaning you learned first instead of the one the passage uses. In 'The pilot will bank left,' bank means tilt, not a place for money. Test the familiar sense in the sentence.
Rule · 7/8
How should a paraphrase handle words like may, most and no longer?
Keep them. 'May delay' is a possibility, not 'will delay'; 'most' is a majority, not all; 'no longer' places the fact in the past. Dropping a qualifier changes the claim.
Word part · 8/8
Do negative prefixes like in- always mean 'not'? Give examples.
No. Confirm with context: invaluable means extremely valuable (not worthless), and inflammable means able to burn. Un-, in-, dis- and non- often, but not always, reverse the root.