Tricks to Blow your BECE/WASSCE English Comprehension Synonyms Without a Dictionary
This is a simple trick to let you blow your BECE/WASSCE synonyms without a dictionary, especially in the English comprehension. It is obvious that during the course of your English examination paper you won’t be allowed to use a dictionary in the examination hall.
Whether you like it or not, there is a section of your English Language comprehension paper where you are asked to supply another word or phrase that mean the same as the words underlined in the comprehension. The onus lies on the student to provide accurate responses to these questions.
Tricks to Blow your BECE/WASSCE English Comprehension Synonyms Without a Dictionary
That is why in this article I am taking sometime to reveal to students who are preparing to write their English Language exams how to navigate their way through in answering such questions. i mean the nearest in meaning in your English comprehension paper.
This shouldn’t be your worries no more after having gone through this piece of write up. It is going to open to you how to tackle your English comprehension’s synonym and where to get the other words without the help of any dictionary in the examination hall.
This article contains a sample of a comprehension to aid us in our discussions. Before we get to know how to provide accurate responses to the underlined words in our English comprehension paper, let’s take these tips;
Tips
- Words the underlined are always nouns, verbs, adjective and adverbs.
- If the word is a noun, meaning the word you’ll provide should also be a noun. Same is applicable to the word classes mentioned in 1 above.
- Now, if the word is a noun, adjective or an adverb then there is no problem, unlike verbs which have different kinds. That is; present, past and future tenses. Thus far, the words you supply should be in the right kind of tenses.
- Supposing the underlined word is ‘tending’ in the sentence; “I saw the men tending their crops, they looked so busy”. The word here is a verb and it is a present continuous forms of verb tense so we can supply words like, nurturing, caring, growing or taking care of. These words/phrase are in the continuous forms of the verb.
- The next to consider is that the words you supply should fit in the sentence. That is, if you fix your word in the sentence, the meaning of the entire sentence shouldn’t be lost.
Note These
Now let’s get to know how get our synonyms without using a dictionary. Note these points and apply them;
- Learn to appreciate that a word has not got a meaning until the word is used in a sentence. The sentence in which the word is used forms a part in bringing the meaning of the sentence out. Look at these two sentences;
The teacher barked at his students.
The dog barked continuously. Each sentence has bark, so will you say the meaning is the same? Think about it. ‘Barked’ in the first sentence reads that; the teacher probably was angry and talked on top of his voice whereas the ‘barked’ in the second one reads the sound dogs make.
- Don’t look for the meaning of the word anywhere outside you English Language comprehension paper. They are sitting there looking at you, just read in between the lines. We’ll look at how to do that from the sample we are going to insert later in this article.
- If dictionaries are allowed to be used to provide synonymous words to words underlined in comprehension questions, the probability of scoring all only stands at 25%. So worry not, we soon know how get the other words.
Sample English Comprehension passage
Let’s try working out things with the sample of English comprehension passage below; click below to view the sample;
In paragraph 5 and 6 of the English language comprehension paper, the words we are asked to provide other words to:
- Scenery – in paragraph 5 and
- Socialization – paragraph 6 respectively.
To know the meaning of these words read the very paragraph in which these words are found. The line before the word and the line after the word give a clue about the word.
So for the case of scenery in paragraph 5, line before it paints a picture about something seen. This is the first step to the process, once you notice this; it tells you that’s the meaning of the word. Now you ask yourself, what word can I used to replace something seen? Someone can say, image, picture, portrait. All these are correct but this is an open place so instead of saying picture we can comfortably say landscape.
For the case of socialization in paragraph 6, the line before gives picture of a meeting. And It is the word before the word, ‘socialization’. Do not hesitate that is actually the meaning, but you ask yourself, if is meeting what do we do when we meet? Then someone can say, to talk, to know others, to chat but once there is lonely in the same sentence, then it should tell you the people are coming together and no one will be lonely anymore so the best word we can use to replace socialization is ‘get together’.
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You can apply these tricks and I tell you, you won’t need a dictionary to solve all your English Language comprehension questions in a case where you are required to provide synonyms to other words.
Try to solve the questions in the English BECE sample question uploaded in the link above.
Enjoy your studies and may your hard work pays.
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