Vocabulary for TOEFL iBT

22 VOCABULARY FOR TOEFL iBT

The complete unit of the sentence, often resulting from years of hard work by numer-

ous investigators, tells you that the other unit results from numerous investigators

working hard for years. The incomplete unit, the one with the blank, tells you that

you are looking for a word to describe scientific knowledge as a result of those years

of hard work. You know that whatever word the test makers are looking for, it must

have something to do with lots of stuff, because years of hard work by numerous

investigators would produce a lot of something. The best answer choice for this

question is choice a , cumulative, which, of course, applies to lots of stuff.

HERE’S A HINT

MIX AND MATCH SENTENCES

To help you remember some important verbs and adjectives, match verbs and

adjectives together in pairs that will help you recall their meaning. Here are several

examples:

• You abhorwhat is odious.


• You might disdainsomething that is banal.


• You won’t be dauntedif you are intrepid;you will be dauntedif you are
  timid.


• You might toutsomething about which you are fervent.


• You might vacillateif you are timid or diffident.


• You might grovelif you are servile.

You can also mix and match words to create synonym and antonym pairs. Abate

and ebb,for example, have nearly the same meaning, while disdainand revereare

opposites.

Once you learn how to identify the complete and incomplete units of a sentence

using punctuation to guide you, you’ve made a good start. Next you determine the

logical relationship of the units, using key words and phrases; and then you under-

stand what the sentence is saying, even if there’s some vocabulary you don’t under-

stand. But if you keep working on building your vocabulary, chances are you will

understand the crucial words.

ACTIVE READING

As you might expect, vocabulary in context questions ask you to determine the

meanings of particular words. To prepare for these types of questions on the

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