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TOEFL II READING COMPREHENSION SYNONYM This unit highlights how to guess word meaning by knowing the meaning of word parts, roots or stems (the base form of words), prefixes added to the beginning of words, and suffixes added to the end of words. The following chart shows you the meaning of such word parts and how they are used in words. Roots Meaning Examples chron time chronology, chronic cred believe credible, accredited dic say, speak dictate, diction port carry porter, transport spec look spectator, spectacular terr earth territory, terrestrial viv life survive, alive vis/vid see vision, visual Prefixes Meaning Examples cede/ceed go, yield proceed, precede contra againts contradict, contraception counter opposite counterbalance, counteract con/syn together with conspire, synchronize bene good benefit, beneficiary dis not disagree, distrust il not illegal, illogical in/im/un not inactive, impolite, unhappy intra within intravenous, intranet mal bad malpractice, malfunction mis error mistake, miscalculate multi many multiple, multifunction Suffixes Meaning Examples less without lifeless, endless able/ible worthy of lovable, mangeable en made to be tighten, frighten EXAMPLE Direction: Read the passage and answer the questions. In the 1960’s geologists began to uncover proof that the continents not only float – that is, move vertically within the crust – but that they also travel, or drift, laterally. The earth’s crust and upper mantle are divided into a number of semirigid plates, each of which has recognizable boundaries and moves as a unit. This is the reason why the study of the history and origins of continental drift is called plate tectonics. There are several tectonic plates on Earth. The Pacific plate, for example, consists almost entirely of oceanic crust. Others, such as the North American and Eurasian plates, are made up of mostly continental crust. Plate boundaries are generally located in mid ocean or close offshore, but in a few places rise from the sea bottom and extend across dry land. One such place is Western California, where the earthquake – prone San Andreas fault marks the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates. The present land-sea patterns have evolved over the course of hundreds of millions of years, during which time continental landmasses drifted, were united by collisions, torn apart, and recombined. These movements show no sign of declining or stopping, so the distribution of sea and dry land will continue to change for as long as the planet contains the heat energy required to drive the movement of its crustal plates. Sample questions 1. The word “uncover” in line 1 is closest in meaning to........ (a) Reveal (b) Employ (c) Reverse (d) turn 2. The word “recognizable” in line 4 can best be replaced by...... (a) Studied (b) Famous (c) Indentified (d) noted 3. The word “recombined” in line 16 is closest in meaning to...... (a) Forced again (b) Destroyed again (c) Removed again (d) Joined again Explanation 1. The prefix un, which means not, is the clue to guessing the meaning of the word uncover. Reveal has a similar meaning to not cover, so the answer is (a) 2. The word recognizable means “can be recognized” or “identified”. From the context, the most logical answer is (c) 3. The word recombined means “combined again” and the nearby phrase torn apart, meaning “separated”, helps understand the word recombined. After being separated, the continental landmasses were combined again. So, the correct answer is (d) STRATEGIES 1. None of the above (a) Read the nearby words or phrases in the preceding or subsequent sentences that explain the word, or read the whole context that implicity gives the meaning (b) Choose the best option based on the explicit or implicit explanation 2. A meaningful part – root, prefix, or suffix – of the word (a) Check the meaning of the word part and other context clues. (b) Choose the option that represents the meaning of the word part EXERCISE 1 Directions: Read the passage and answer the questions During the year 1941, some notable progress was made in the development of better methods of apprehension and prosecution of crime and in the treatment of convicted offenders. In the State of Louisiana, a committee worked actively to formulate a criminal code based on a careful examination of existing statues and legal materials as well as a thoroughgoing revision and revaluation of existing penal concepts One noteworthy outcome of the committee’s work is a model act concerning the arrest of offenders, which also provides a practical standard for police conduct without unduly sacrificing the offenders’ personal liberty. The act offers the police a weapon that they have long needed, namely, a legal right to detain suspects for questioning without going through the formalities of arrest. It also gives the police officer a reasonable right to question and confine witnesses of crimes and automobile accidents. The model act would also modify the existing law and make on arrest legal if a lawful cause for arrest existed at the time it was made even though the officer charged the suspect with the wrong offense or gave a reason that did not justify the arrest. 1. The word “notable” in line 1 can best be replaced by....... (a) Progressive (b) Hasty (c) Legal (d) important 2. The word “revaluation” in line 5 is closest in meaning to....... (a) Refusal (b) Standardization (c) Analysis (d) collection 3. The word “unduly” in line 7 is closest in meaning to....... (a) Slowly (b) Intentionally (c) Carefully (d) improperly 4. The word “detain” in line 9 can best be replaced by....... (a) Take (b) Protect (c) Arrest (d) restrain 5. The word “reasonable” in line 10 is colsest in meaning to...... (a) Sensible (b) Relevant (c) Probable (d) legal