Tag Archives: context clues

Palsied, Palsy

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palsy (adjective) – 2 : a condition that is marked by uncontrollable tremor and quivering of the body or one or more of its parts —not used technically

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/palsy

 

I came across this word in the “city limits” essay by Colison Whitehead in the first page of the last paragraph “… as the train erupted from the tunnel on the way to 125th street and palsied up onto the elevated tracks…”

when I first came across this word nothing came to mind, I have heard the word before but never understood it’s meaning and context clues helped me understand a little bit but not to understand it fully. I decided to look it up instead of determining context clues for the full definition. I do have a sense of clarity for the word now as just a vague understanding to it.

Empower

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Empower(verb):to give power or authority to; authorize, especially by legal or official means. 

“Sociology can empower people to effectively address the problems affecting them by helping them develop a ‘sociology imagination.’ Page 10 “Sociology lecture notes”

I encounter the word while I was reading my sociology notes. I heard of the word before but I’ve never really search up the meaning of it, all I know is that the word “power” is in it. I took a guess and thought the word means gaining the power because the following sentence gave me a hint of it. ‘Affecting them by helping them develop…’ the word helping and developing both representing something positive. When I search up the word, it means giving powers, when the sentences were put together, it means “sociology can give powers to people to effectively address the problems…’

Impede

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Impede: (noun) to interfere with or slow the progress of.

This word was located on the back of the page of  (New York City College of Technology : English Department) on paragraph F . The first sentence of Mechanics.

“Mechanics: There are many grammatical and sentence -level error (or patterns of error) that impede understanding.”

While I was waiting for my CST class, I had some time to go over the NYC College of Technology : English Department syllabus .  In the first page , I didn’t have any trouble with the reading, I fully understood the first page. However , when  I turned the page over , I wasn’t having trouble until I stumbled upon this word “Impede” . I tried using context clues  to figured it out by myself and the answer that  came to my mind was “hinder”.  Wasn’t sure about that answer, so I went online to get a precise definition .  Once I learned the definition , and I had a better understanding of the word .