The World of Words: Vocabulary for College Success ... - eLibrary

100 Chapter 4 Other Useful English WordsOften a clue of opposition provides an antonym, or a word oppositein meaning. In the first example, terrible is an antonym of good. Clues ofopposition are easy to use if you become familiar with them. Some of thecommon structures are as follows.1. The use of not and no.Denise was not happy, but despondent.2. Words signaling opposition. These include but, nevertheless, despite,rather than, regardless of the fact, unless, if not, and although.Denise was despondent despite the fact that her friend was happy.3. Words with negative senses. Certain words have a negative meaning.These include merely, mere, barely, only, rarely, never, hardly, nowhere,and nothing.Denise was despondent and rarely felt happy.4. Words containing negative prefixes, such as anti-, un-, dis-, non-, andin-. For example, when the prefix un- is added to happy, it formsunhappy, which means the opposite of happy.Denise was despondent and felt unhappy.From these examples, it is clear that despondent means “sad” or “depressed.”In the examples, the antonym of despondent (happy) is given asa context clue.Three examples of context clues of opposition follow. Can you guessthe meaning of the italicized words? Remember that context clues of opposition,like all context clues, may give only the general sense of a word.1. That is not believable; in fact, it is preposterous. (A not clue is used.)2. There was so much enmity between the two brothers that they refusedto speak to each other. (A word with a negative sense is used.)3. Although Joanna hoped that the new book would make calculus clearer,it only obfuscated the topic. (A word signaling opposition is used.)Answers are on page 399.Now try using context clues to determine the meaning of somewords in this chapter.1. The puppy was small, but it grew into a mammoth dog. (A word signalingopposition is used.)Mammoth means _____________________________________________ .2. We were unable to understand the ancient cryptic message. (A negativeprefix is used.)Cryptic means ________________________________________________ .Copyright © Cengage Learning. All Right Reserved.