VOCABULARY

The vocabulary questions are used to test your knowledge of words and your ability to use context clues to answer the questions; sometimes, but not always, the knowledge of Greek and Latin roots is important.

Two basic types of vocabulary questions exist on the Regents' test:  denotation and connotation.  While you might not know what these two mean, this page will offer some help in identifying and dealing with these two types.

A quick way to distinguish between the two:

If the question mentions "underlined in the passage" or "The underlined word," then the question is asking for the commonly held definition.  Thus, if the passage referred to said, "Weary from all his travel by foot, Johnathan laid down his burden" and the question mentioned "underlined in the passage," then the answer would be 1.

If a questions mentions "As used in the passage" or "used in the passage," then the question is asking for a different definition of the word, based on the context clues found in that particular sentence/passage.  Thus, if the passage referred to said, "She insisted that she did not want to burden him with her problems, but he would not yield to her entreaties" and the question mentions "used in the passage," then the answer would be 2.

Here are more examples of different vocabulary questions.  Only enough of the passage has been given so the question can be answered.

1.  “. . . you have ate and drank too freely, and too much indulged those legs of yours in their indolence.”
Indolence, underlined in the passage, means
                1.  laziness
                2.  lenient treatment
                3.  pain 

2.  “You know my sedentary state, . . .”  Sedentary, underlined in the passage, means
                1.  amusing
                2.  pain-filled
                3.  characterized by sitting
                4.  scholarly 

3.  “Yet you eat an inordinate breakfast:  four dishes of tea with cream and one or two buttered toasts with slices of hung beef, . . .”  As used in the passage, inordinate means
                1.  beyond comparison
                2.  disorderly
                3.  exceeding reasonable limits
                4.  too much to be counted 

4.  “Error is a term meaning the difference between the value of a physical quantity determined by an experiment and the true value.”  Error, underlined in the passage, means
                1.  the effect of moisture content and temperature on a wooden ruler
                2.  incorrect judgment made by the person doing the measuring
                3.  the failure of the individual to correct for physical effects
                4.  the difference between the true measure of an object and the measurement obtained in an experiment 

5.  “Our planet contains a rich diversity of living creatures which range in complexity from the relatively simple unicellular bacteria to complex, multicellular organisms . . .”  As used in the passage, simple means
                1.  composed of one part
                2.  sincere
                3.  not elaborate
                4.  without overtones 

6.  “ . . . we found increasingly more organisms that did not fit into our straightforward concepts of plants and animals.”  Straightforward, as used in the passage, most nearly means
                1.  honest
                2.  immediate
                3.  oversimplified
                4.  restrictive 

7.  “ . . . costume and makeup alter the body of the performer not only to protect the performer but also to provide exposition about the performer and the performance.”  Underlined in the passage, exposition means
                1.  attraction
                2.  demonstration
                3.  information
                4.  verification

8.  “The bottlenose dolphin is not an endangered species and the ten companies that hold permits to capture dolphins adhere to a quota.”  Adhere, as used in the passage, means
                1.  follow closely
                2.  stick together
                3.  devoted to
                4.  grasp

9.  “In Flaubert’s  the answer was an evasion.”  Underlined in the passage, evasion means
                1.  escape
                2.  illusion
                3.  realism
                4.  recommendation

10.  “A city-state of just under 3 million people, Singapore is quite simply one of the most unthreatening places on Earth.”  Underlined in the passage, unthreatening means
                1.  free
                2.  safe
                3.  serious
                4.  urban