Redacted Files
Four words have been censored. Decode each one using the clues around it.
A censored word is never a guess, because the sentence around it has already narrowed the answer to one. The method has three steps. First, decide the flavour the gap needs: is this word positive or negative, mild or extreme? "Rattled like loose teeth" demands something violent, so gentle and pleasant are gone before you compare them. Second, hunt for a line that contradicts a candidate outright: the boat has gone from its mooring, so the sea cannot merely have sprinkled the steps. Third, check the register, meaning whether the word sounds like it belongs in this kind of writing about this kind of person: a keeper whose entries are ruled and dated is not careless, however tired he might be. Do those three checks and the right word is usually the only one left standing.
What to say if they get stuck
- Never pick the word you like best. Pick the word the rest of the sentence has already forced.
- Two of the three choices are traps: one is far too mild for what is happening, one is contradicted by a line further on.
- Read past the gap before you choose. The clue is often in the next clause, not the one you are staring at.
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Mind the Gap
Only one of these words belongs in the gap. Keep it, and throw the rest away.
This engine’s own main skill is Cloze Sentences. It practises interpret a word in context alongside it.
Cloze questions are marked on two things at once, and you have to check both. First comes word class: after "was so" the sentence needs an adjective, a word that describes the path, which is why steeply (an adverb, describing how something happens) and steepness (a noun, the name of a quality) cannot go in however sensible they sound. Second comes meaning, and that is what separates the adjectives that are left: gentle is the right class but the wrong sense, because a gentle path would not force you to rest twice, and mountainous describes a whole region rather than one path. Steep passes both tests, so it is the answer. Read the finished sentence back to yourself every time, because your ear will catch an error your eye slides over.
What to say if they get stuck
- Read the whole sentence out loud with the word dropped in. If it sounds wrong, it is wrong.
- The word comes straight after "so", which means it has to describe the path itself, not how something was done.
- Two of the cards are the right kind of word. Pick the one whose meaning explains why you had to stop and rest.
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Question Forge
Three questions, three lines they were forged from. Hammer each pair together.
This engine’s own main skill is Question types. It practises interpret a word in context alongside it.
Three question types, three kinds of line, every single paper. Retrieval comes from a line that states a fact, so you copy it out. Reading between the lines comes from a line that shows without telling, so you read the clue and say what it means. Vocabulary in context comes from a line with one hard word and enough around it to work the word out. When you meet a question, name its type first. The type tells you what sort of line to hunt for and what sort of sentence to write.
What to say if they get stuck
- Start with the easy weld. One question asks for a number, so it can only come from the line that states one.
- A vocabulary question needs a hard word sitting in the line, with clues around it to work the meaning out.
- That leaves reading between the lines, which always comes from the line that shows a person doing something without ever telling you why.
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Synonym Spectrum
These all mean "walked". Drag them onto the rail, calmest on the left.
This engine’s own main skill is Shades of Meaning. It practises interpret a word in context alongside it.
Synonyms are not spare copies of each other - each one carries a different temperature. A writer who chooses "stormed" instead of "walked" has told you about the character's mood without ever naming it, and an examiner will credit you for spotting that. When a question asks why the author chose a particular word, the answer is almost always: because of where it sits on a spectrum like this one.
What to say if they get stuck
- Start with the two extremes - which word could you never use about someone in a temper?
- Picture the feet. Dawdling feet drag; stomping feet land hard.
- Compare them in pairs: is "marched" calmer or angrier than "stomped"?
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