Contextual Vocabulary Acquisition: passages

• Nouns:

  1. artifact:
     After the duck had a chance to get warm I carried her gently to the door and urged her out, feeling her small bones. She didn't want to go. She can't be an indoor duck because she leaves green duck artifacts everywhere in her excitement.
     • Baker, Nicholson (2003), A Box of Matches (New York: Random House): 99.
     • NB: a familiar word is used in a new way.

  2. capital:
     For an emerging nation to become economically productive, sources of ready capital (i.e., money to be invested) must be available.
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  3. * ceilidh:
     [continued from the end of the "oam" passage] It had been a long time since his last ceilidh and Tobar had changed greatly. ... As they ate, Tobar told of his past year .... Then all too soon, their brief ceilidh over, Tobar walked over to touch his mother's arm and quickly left.
     Sternberg, Robert J., & Powell, Janet S. (1983), "Comprehending Verbal Comprehension", American Psychologist 38: 878-893.
     • There are several other occurrences in passages from Carson McCullough's The Thorn Birds

  4. commotion:
     When the cat pounced on the dog, he leapt up, yelping, and knocked down a shelf of books. The animals ran past Wendy, tripping her. She cried out and fell to the floor. As the noise and confusion mounted, Mother hollered upstairs, "What's all that commotion?".
     Beck, Isabel L.; McKeown, Margaret G.; & McCaslin, Ellen S. (1983), "Vocabulary Development: All Contexts Are Not Created Equal", Elementary School Journal 83(3): 177-181; word on p. 179.
     • This is allegedly a "directive" context.

  5. comport:
     There were, also, divers ladies in New York, Newport, and elsewhere, and celebrated for their palatial homes, their jewels, and their daughters, who were anxious to know how Bellew would comport himself under his disappointment. Some leaned to the idea that he would immediately blow his brains out; others opined that he would promptly set off on another of his exploring expeditions, and get himself torn to pieces by lions and tigers, or devoured by alligators; while others again feared greatly that, in a fit of pique, he would marry some young person unknown, and therefore, of course, utterly unworthy.
     See: Becker, Chris (2004), "Contextual Vocabulary Acquisition; Contextual Information in Verb Contexts: From Analysis to Algorithm" [postscript]

  6. foist:
     • I was to look for a watch that I knew he hadn't lost, and was to receive 200 pounds if I found it. It seemed to him to be a very good bargain, as, indeed, it was, from his point of view, feeling, as he did, that there never having been any such watch, it could not be recovered, and little suspecting that two could play at his little game of deception, and that under any circumstances I could foist a ten-shilling watch upon him for two hundred pounds. This business concluded, he started to go.

     • They had their little argument. I lit a cigarette and let them argue. In such cases, every married couple has its own queer and private and particular and idiosyncratic way of coming to an agreement. The third party who tries to foist on it his own suggestion of a way is an imbecile.
       See: Becker, Chris (2004), "Contextual Vocabulary Acquisition; Contextual Information in Verb Contexts: From Analysis to Algorithm" [postscript]

  7. fragility:
     Since fragility would render the raft usesless, it was to be constructed of the stoutest, heaviest, materials possible.
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  8. hydrophone:
     His voice crackled briskly through the hydrophone, as strong and clear as if he'd been right on the surface.
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  9. hydrotherapy:
     It was now time for his hydrotherapy session, and so he was gently lowered into the pool.
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  10. hysteria:
      She was close to hysteria; that is, her voice was slurred, her eyes darted frantically from left to right as if to avoid confronting the scene, and her arms and hands trembled uncontrollably.
      Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  11. impasse:
      All chances for agreement were now gone, and compromise would now be impossible; in short, an impasse had been reached.
      Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  12. kurtosis:
      • The distribution of scores for Passage Read was found to approximate the normal distribution (values of skewness and kurtosis were less than 1), while the distribution of scores for Passage Not Read was found to be positively skewed (values of skewness and kurtosis were larger than 1).
      • [T]he distributions of Target Word Pretest, Target Word Posttest, Comprehension, Enabling Concept Pretest, and Enabling Concept Posttest did not appear to deviate from normality (values of skewness and kurtosis were less than 1).
        • Diakidoy, Irene-Anna N. (1993), "The Role of Reading Comprehension and Local Context Characteristics in Word Meaning Acquisition during Reading" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) UMI Order No. 9329013, pp. 46, 53.
        • See also Rapaport & Kibby 2002b.

  13. leviathan:
      Strength and size seemed to be the key qualities needed; therefore, a leviathan of a man was chosen.
      Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  14. muntin:
      Here there are five windows with thin white curtains, and each window has twelve panes of glass. The muntins—those little wooden pieces that hold the panes—look narrow and fragile, but they've been there for a long time.
      • Baker, Nicholson (2003), A Box of Matches (New York: Random House): 45.
      • NB: the co-text includes the definition.

  15. oam:
      Two ill-dressed people ... sat around a fire where the common meal was almost ready. The mother ... peered at her son through the oam of the bubbling stew. [continued in the "ceilidh" passage]
      • Sternberg, Robert J., & Powell, Janet S. (1983), "Comprehending Verbal Comprehension", American Psychologist 38: 878-893.

  16. obverse:
      The reason I need a dictionary is to help me understand something that another person said or wrote that used something from his lexicon, or hers, and which I do not have in mine. I turn to the dictionary in the hope that the lexicographer, who is professionally committed to having a large lexicon and to writing it down, will be able to supply my lack. The obverse of this, of course, is the situation in which I am the one trying to communicate and suspect that there is lexical material known to other speakers of my language that would either clarify my message or impress my audience. ... One [question] concerns the extent to which we should expect to profit from abstract dictionaries in the enterprise of creating the concrete lexicon. And the other is the obverse of that: to what extent could abstract, and hence concrete, dictionaries be improved by causing them to be the nearest things we can make to the concrete lexicon?
      • Kay, Martin (1989), "The Concrete Lexicon and the Abstract Dictionary", Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Dictionaries in the Electronic Age (St. Catherine's College, Oxford) (Waterloo, Canada: University of Waterloo Centre for the New Oxford English Dictionary): 35-41; quotes from pp. 35,36.

  17. perambulate:
      Katharine would calculate that she had never known her write for more than ten minutes at a time. Ideas came to her chiefly when she was in motion. She liked to perambulate the room with a duster in her hand, with which she stopped to polish the backs of already lustrous books, musing and romancing as she did so. Suddenly the right phrase or the penetrating point of view would suggest itself, and she would drop her duster and write ecstatically for a few breathless moments; and then the mood would pass away, and the duster would be sought for, and the old books polished again.
      See: Becker, Chris (2004), "Contextual Vocabulary Acquisition; Contextual Information in Verb Contexts: From Analysis to Algorithm" [postscript]

  18. 
      quarrel:
      1. 1. In that instant, Roran decided that he would do whatever was necessary in order to ensure the Varden won the battle. He was not about to let the soldiers destroy his force with a single volley of arrows just because he wished to avoid the unpleasant consequences of defying this captain.

               "Take cover!" shouted Roran, and wrenched [his horse] Snowfire's head to the right, forcing the animal to swerve behind a house. A dozen quarrels buried themselves in the side of the building a second later. Turning around, Roran saw that all but one of his warriors had managed to duck behind nearby houses before the soldiers fired.

         2. The man who had been too slow lay bleeding in the dirt, a pair of quarrels projecting from his chest. The bolts had torn through his mail hauberk as if it were no thicker than a sheet of tissue. Frightened by the smell of blood, his horse kicked up its heels and fled the village, leaving a plume of dust rising in its wake.

               Roran reached over and grasped the edge of a beam in the side of the house, holding Snowfire in place while he desperately tried to figure out how to proceed.

         3. The soldiers had him and his men pinned down; they could not step back out into the open without being shot so full of quarrels, they would resemble hedgehogs.
         (p. 511.)

      2. Five hundred or so of Galbatorix's troops remained in the center of the village, most of them crouching or kneeling behind their shields while they struggled to reload their crossbows. Occasionally, a soldier would stand and loose a bolt at one of the archers on the roofs before dropping back behind his shield as a flight of arrows sliced through the air where he had just been. Throughout the corpse-strewn clearing, patches of arrows studded the ground, like reeds sprouting from the bloody soil. ...

            A quarrel buzzed toward Roran. When the bolt was less than a yard from his chest, it abruptly changed direction and hurtled off at an angle, missing him and his men. Roran flinched, but the missile was already past. (p.  517.)

      3. ... Eragon inched alonng the ledge to a cross-shaped window, where he pulled himself into a large square room lined with sheaves of quarrels and racks of heavy crossbows. (p. 724.)
         Paolini, Christopher (2008), Brisingr (New York: Knopf).

  19. * red:
      After operating slightly in the red* for many months, the struggling young firm finally landed a large government contract.
      
      *at a loss
      Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.
      • see land

  20. sedum:
      But now I'm up and little flames are gowing like sedums from the cracks in today's log wall, and I still have a little while before I have to drive Phoebe to school.
      • Baker, Nicholson (2003), A Box of Matches (New York: Random House): 28.

  21. *tatterdemalion:
      • For passages, go to Tatterdemalion Passages
      • Note: Also used as an adjective.

  22. weir:
      The weir, a fence-like device placed in the river to lead the fish into a trap, provided a ready landmark for measuring the canoe's progress upstream.
      Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

• Verbs:
  1. comport:
     All the students made very good grades on the tests, so their teacher commended them for doing so well.
     Beck, Isabel L.; McKeown, Margaret G.; & McCaslin, Ellen S. (1983), "Vocabulary Development: All Contexts Are Not Created Equal", Elementary School Journal 83(3): 177-181; word on p. 178.

  2. land:
     After operating slightly in the red for many months, the struggling young firm finally landed* a large government contract.
     
     *negotiated or was given
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.
     • see red

  3. ravage:
     The invading armies proceeded to ravage—completely ruin and destroy—the local churches, schools, and public buildings.
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  4. restrict:
     At the present time, the world has plentiful supplies of stored-source energy, but a natural resource such as oil will be seriously diminished by the end of the century. Furthermore, the supplies of natural gas cannot be expected to last indefinitely, and although there seems to be plenty of coal left, the rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will soon restrict its use.
     Clarke, D.F., & Nation, I.S.P. (1980), "Guessing the Meanings of Words from Context: Strategy and Techniques", System 8: 211-220.
     • see "diminish"

• Adjectives:

  1. diminished:
     At the present time, the world has plentiful supplies of stored-source energy, but a natural resource such as oil will be seriously diminished by the end of the century. Furthermore, the supplies of natural gas cannot be expected to last indefinitely, and although there seems to be plenty of coal left, the rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will soon restrict its use.
     Clarke, D.F., & Nation, I.S.P. (1980), "Guessing the Meanings of Words from Context: Strategy and Techniques", System 8: 211-220.
     • see "restrict"

  2. dour:
     Rather than his usual mood of cheerful good humor, today his manner appeared quite dour.
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  3. gnomic:
     My criticisms echo an enigmatic passage from Post's posthumously published [diary].... Perhaps one should not read too much into this passage. Post's diary is notable for its highly fragmentary and elusive character, sometimes bordering on the mystical. ... Much of what Post says in the diary is extremely gnomic.
     • Rescorla, Michael (2007), "Church's Thesis and the Conceptual Analysis of Computability", Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 48(2): 253-280; passages from pp. 265, 277n19, and 275, respectively.

  4. gregarious:
     Joe and Stan arrived at the party at 7 o'clock. By 9:30 the evening seemed to drag for Stan. But Joe really seemed to be having a good time at the party. "I wish I could be as gregarious as he is," thought Stan.
     Beck, Isabel L.; McKeown, Margaret G.; & McCaslin, Ellen S. (1983), "Vocabulary Development: All Contexts Are Not Created Equal", Elementary School Journal 83(3): 177-181; word on p. 179.
     • Note: This is allegedly a "general" context.

  5. hazy:
     Because of the peat-laden water, not even the powerful lights were sufficient for a clear picture but although the photographs were hazy and indistinct, they did show what appeared to be a diamond-shaped fin and snake-like neck.
     Clarke, D.F., & Nation, I.S.P. (1980), "Guessing the Meanings of Words from Context: Strategy and Techniques", System 8: 211-220.
     • see "indistinct"
     • see "peat-laden"

  6. hieratic:
     My parents were then big fans of oriental rugs—less so now because their interests have changed. Their most extravagant acquisition was a tiger rug—an oriental rug with a life-size hieratic tiger lifting its paw in the middle and incomprehensible designs running around the edge.
     • Baker, Nicholson (2003), A Box of Matches (New York: Random House): 45-46.

  7. indistinct:
     Because of the peat-laden water, not even the powerful lights were sufficient for a clear picture but although the photographs were hazy and indistinct, they did show what appeared to be a diamond-shaped fin and snake-like neck.
     Clarke, D.F., & Nation, I.S.P. (1980), "Guessing the Meanings of Words from Context: Strategy and Techniques", System 8: 211-220.
     • see "hazy"
     • see "peat-laden"

  8. intrepid:
     Because this assignment demanded courage far above the measure of most men, only the intrepid among them were considered for the job.
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  9. lumbering:
     Dan heard the door open and wondered who had arrived. He couldn't make out the voices. Then he recognized the lumbering footsteps on the stairs and knew it was Aunt Grace.
     Beck, Isabel L.; McKeown, Margaret G.; & McCaslin, Ellen S. (1983), "Vocabulary Development: All Contexts Are Not Created Equal", Elementary School Journal 83(3): 177-181; word on p. 178.
     • Note: This is allegedly a "nondirective" context.

  10. parenchymatous:
      Now the sun had risen enough to clear the dense hummock of forest across the creek, and thus sunlight was striking and warming the leaves on this particular tree for the first time since they'd frozen. The night-ice had sheathed the skin, holding the leaf in place, but the freeze had also caused the final rupture in the parenchymatous cells that attached the leaf-stem to its twig: as soon as the ice melted, the leaf fell.
      • Baker, Nicholson (2003), A Box of Matches (New York: Random House): 36.
      • see hummock

  11. peat-laden:
      Because of the peat-laden water, not even the powerful lights were sufficient for a clear picture but although the photographs were hazy and indistinct, they did show what appeared to be a diamond-shaped fin and snake-like neck.
      Clarke, D.F., & Nation, I.S.P. (1980), "Guessing the Meanings of Words from Context: Strategy and Techniques", System 8: 211-220.
      • see "hazy"
      • see "indistinct"

  12. placid:
      Their lives now became regular, routine, and placid, a welcome change after the many days of conflict during the campaign.
      Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  13. ruddy:
      Soon his pale, sickly appearance changed; his skin took on a healthy, ruddy color.
      Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

  14. syncopated:
      Instead of the even, regular beat usually found in such music, this selection was quite syncopated.
      Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.

• Adverbs:
  1. doggedly:
     Since he was determined that he would finish the task no matter how long it took, he worked doggedly on.
     Dulin, Kenneth L. (1970), "Using Context Clues in Word Recognition and Comprehension", The Reading Teacher 23(5):440-445, 469.
  2. grudgingly:
     Sandra had won the dance contest and the audience's cheers brought her to the stage for an encore. "Every step she takes is so perfect and graceful," Ginny said grudgingly, as she watched Sandra dance.
     Beck, Isabel L.; McKeown, Margaret G.; & McCaslin, Ellen S. (1983), "Vocabulary Development: All Contexts Are Not Created Equal", Elementary School Journal 83(3): 177-181; word on p. 178.
     • Note: This is allegedly a "misdirective" context.