Words in context

NUST NET (Engineering) · English · Vocabulary. A short explanation of the idea, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid, a worked example and practice questions with answers.

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The idea

Here the word is usually a common one, such as sound, draw or address, that has several meanings. The question asks which meaning it has in this sentence. The meaning you learned first is often among the options, and it is often wrong.

Cover the word and read the sentence as if there were a blank. Put in your own word, then choose the option nearest to it. The clue is always in the text: an explanation after a colon, an example, a result, or a contrast.

Finish with the substitution test: read the sentence again with your chosen option in place of the word. It must make sense and keep the writer's meaning.

Rules to remember

Common mistake

Students choose the meaning they know best without reading the sentence, for example taking 'sound' as noise when the sentence is about an argument. Always substitute your choice back into the sentence.

Worked example

The floods will check the growth of the region's economy for several years, because factories and roads will take a long time to rebuild.
As used in the text, check most nearly means
A. examine
B. hold back
C. confirm
D. measure

  1. Read it with a blank: the floods will ______ the growth of the economy.
  2. The 'because' clause gives the clue: rebuilding will take a long time, so growth will be slowed.
  3. Own word: 'slow' or 'limit'. The familiar meaning 'examine' does not fit, since floods cannot inspect anything.
  4. Substitute: 'The floods will hold back the growth of the region's economy' keeps the meaning.

Answer: B. hold back

Practice questions

Try each one, then open the answer.

1. The first vaccines against some diseases spoiled quickly in the heat. Researchers therefore worked to make them more stable, so that they could be carried to distant villages without refrigeration.
As used in the text, stable most nearly means

  1. A
    firmly fixed in place
  2. B
    emotionally calm
  3. C
    steady in price
  4. D
    less likely to break down
Show answer

Answer: D. The vaccines spoiled in the heat, so a more stable vaccine is one that does not break down easily. The other options are meanings of 'stable' that do not fit a medicine.

2. The river has already claimed six houses along its bank this year. Residents fear that more will be lost before the floods end.
As used in the text, claimed most nearly means

  1. A
    asserted to be true
  2. B
    destroyed
  3. C
    demanded as a right
  4. D
    officially owned
Show answer

Answer: B. 'More will be lost' shows that the houses were taken by the river: destroyed. Asserting and demanding are meanings of 'claim' used for people.

3. Few astronomers today subscribe to the old view that the Moon's craters were made by volcanoes. Most, they agree, were made by impacts.
As used in the text, subscribe most nearly means

  1. A
    agree with
  2. B
    pay regularly for
  3. C
    order in advance
  4. D
    donate to
Show answer

Answer: A. To subscribe to a view is to agree with or support it. Paying regularly and ordering in advance are the meanings used for magazines and services.

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