SAT II Literature : Context-Based Meaning of a Word

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature

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Example Questions

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Example Question #1 : Word Meaning In Context

Adapted from Act 1, Scene 1, ln. 78-119 of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (1604) in Vol. XIX, Part 2 of The Harvard Classics (1909-1914)

 

FAUST: How am I glutted with conceit of this!

Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,

Resolve me of all ambiguities,

Perform what desperate enterprise I will?

I’ll have them fly to India for gold,

Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,

And search all corners of the new-found world

For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;

I’ll have them read me strange philosophy

And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;

I’ll have them wall all Germany with brass,

And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg;

I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk,

Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad;

I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,

And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,

And reign sole king of all the provinces;

Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war

Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge,

I’ll make my servile spirits to invent.

[Enter VALDES and CORNELIUS] 

Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,

And make me blest with your sage conference.

Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,

Know that your words have won me at the last

To practice magic and concealed arts:

Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy

That will receive no object, for my head

But ruminates on necromantic skill.

Philosophy is odious and obscure,

Both law and physic are for petty wits;

Divinity is basest of the three,

Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile:

’Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me.

Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;

And I that have with concise syllogisms

Gravell’d the pastors of the German church,

And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg

Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits

On sweet Musaeigus, when he came to hell,

Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,

Whose shadows made all Europe honor him.

In context, the underlined and bolded word "Gravell'd" most likely means which of the following?

Possible Answers:

Warned

Encouraged

Enraged

Confounded

Advised

Correct answer:

Confounded

Explanation:

In the context of the passage, the word "Gravell'd" means "confounded." Faustus is bragging that "with concise syllogism" he has confounded the pastors of the German church. He goes on to talk about the "problems" or academic exercises he has invented that have drawn attention.

The key to this question is the context in which the word is used ("gravell'd" is no longer a word in common usage); the fact that "syllogisms" were the devices Faustus used to trigger the "gravelling" of the pastors suggests that it is most likely an intellectual response on their part (rather than the emotional response of being enraged). Also, that the word is used in the context of Faustus' critique and dismissal of "divinity" suggests that he was not advising or encouraging the pastors. 

Example Question #7 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Drama

HAMLET: … What would he do,

Had he the motive and the cue for passion

That I have? He would drown the stage with tears

And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,

Make mad the guilty and appal the free,(5)

Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed

The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,

Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,

And can say nothing. No, not for a king, (10)

Upon whose property and most dear life

A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?

Who calls me villain? 

Based on context, what does “faculties” (line 7) likely mean?

Possible Answers:

Committees

Professors

Equipment

Staff

Powers

Correct answer:

Powers

Explanation:

Here, we learn that the character’s protestations would “amaze” the eyes and ears, so that helps us narrow down our choice. Although “faculty” in other contexts refers to teaching staff or professors, that definition doesn’t make sense in the passage. Instead, faculties in this context therefore means powers, capacities, or abilities.

Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark. (1603)

Example Question #8 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Drama

RAPHAEL
The Sun, in ancient guise, competing 
With brother spheres in rival song, 
With thunder-march, his orb completing, 
Moves his predestin'd course along; 
His aspect to the powers supernal
Gives strength, though fathom him none may;
Transcending thought, the works eternal 
Are fair as on the primal day. 

GABRIEL
With speed, thought baffling, unabating,
Earth's splendour whirls in circling flight; 
Its Eden-brightness alternating 
With solemn, awe-inspiring night; 
Ocean's broad waves in wild commotion,
Against the rocks' deep base are hurled; 
And with the spheres, both rock and ocean 
Eternally are swiftly whirled.

MICHAEL
And tempests roar in emulation
From sea to land, from land to sea,
And raging form, without cessation,
A chain of wondrous agency,
Full in the thunder's path careering,
Flaring the swift destructions play;
But, Lord, Thy servants are revering
The mild procession of thy day.

(1808)

As used in the passage, "supernal" most nearly means _________________.

Possible Answers:

planetary

transcendent

celestial

unbending

nocturnal

Correct answer:

celestial

Explanation:

The speaker (Raphael) is describing the path of the Sun and planets, "brother spheres," and also making reference to the powers of the heavens. Thus, "celestial" the best answer choice.

Passage adapted from Johann von Goethe's Faust (1808)

Example Question #9 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Drama

Then, I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you 
That before you, and next unto high heaven, 
I love your son. 
My friends were poor, but honest; so's my love: 
Be not offended, for it hurts not him 
That he is lov'd of me: I follow him not 
By any token of presumptuous suit; 
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him; 
Yet never know how that desert should be. 
I know I love in vain, strive against hope; 
Yet, in this captious and intenible sieve 
I still pour in the waters of my love, 
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like, 
Religious in mine error, I adore 
The sun, that looks upon his worshipper, 
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam, 
Let not your hate encounter with my love 
For loving where you do: but, if yourself, 
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth, 
Did ever in so true a flame of liking 
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian 
Was both herself and Love; O! then, give pity 
To her, whose state is such that cannot choose 
But lend and give where she is sure to lose; 
That seeks not to find that her search implies, 
But, riddle-like, lives sweetly where she dies.

(1605)

What does the word "intenible" most likely mean in the context of the passage?

Possible Answers:

Very small or gradual

Impenetrable

Incapable of holding something

Large

Waterproof

Correct answer:

Incapable of holding something

Explanation:

The correct meaning of the word "intenible" is incapable of holding something, because when the speaker says "...in this captious and intenible sieve, I still pour in the waters of my love and lack not to lose still" she means that her unrequited love is like pouring water through a leaky sieve, even though it is somehow retaining the water.

Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well (1605)

Example Question #91 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word

Caliban: This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in't, and teach me how 
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms 
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island. 

Based on context clues, the most accurate definition for the word "sty" is __________________.

Possible Answers:

keep

enslave

starve

capture

forget

Correct answer:

keep

Explanation:

The word sty most closely means "to keep," as a farmer would keep pigs in a sty. Although the other possible answers are all somehow related to Caliban's plight, there is no reason to believe, based on the available text, that sty means capture, enslave, starve, or forget. If you substitute keep for sty (here you keep me in this hard rock) the line maintains it's original meaning. The other possible answers, when plugged into the original line, sound awkward or meaningless.

Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611).

Example Question #92 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word

ROMEO [To a Servingman]

1 What lady is that, which doth enrich the hand
2 Of yonder knight?

SERVANT

I know not, sir.

ROMEO

3 O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
4 It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
5 Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
6 Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
7 So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
8 As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
9 The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
10 And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
11 Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
12 For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.

TYBALT

13 This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
14 Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave
15 Come hither, cover'd with an antic face,
16 To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?
17 Now, by the stock and honour of my kin,
18 To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin.

Based on context, what is the likeliest meaning of the word "fleer" (line 16)?

Possible Answers:

Weep

Dance

Admire

Sneer

Fight

Correct answer:

Sneer

Explanation:

Tybalt is extremely angry at Romeo, so to "fleer" must be to do something offensive or disrespectful. Certainly, it cannot be something respectful or harmless, such as to "admire" or "dance." Another clue to the meaning of this word is that it appears in a pair with the verb to "scorn." Therefore, we can conclude that to "fleer" means something similar to "scorn." Indeed, to "sneer," or to smile or laugh mockingly, is an acceptable definition of this unusual word.

Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1595)

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