Helping English

Five Words in Context

Figure out the meanings of the following five words by looking closely and carefully at the sentences below.

1. appropriate               a. While it’s appropriate to scream one’s approval at a  

adj.                                  football game, such behavior is not considered

                                        proper at the ballet.

                                     b. Walking shoes aren’t appropriate for jogging.  

     2  bewilder                       a. The large new school at first bewildered Chung, but

           verb                                  after a day or two, getting around was no longer

                                                    confusing to him.

                                                b. My grandmother’s poor health bewildered the

                                                    doctor until he found out she wasn’t taking her

                                                    medicines.

3. emotions                   a. Many people have trouble talking about their

noun                               emotions, especially their anger and fear.

                                    b. Jim rarely showed his emotions. We had to guess

                                        what he was really feeling.

4. Investigate                 a. The FBI has been called in to investigate the

verb                                 disappearance of the baby from the hospital.

                                     b. When I heard a nose downstairs at 3 a.m., I lay in

                                         bed, too frightened to up and investigate the

                                        situation.

5. legible                          a. My father used to make me rewrite my sloppy

adj.                                   homework. “I can barely read this,” he’d say. “Make

                                         it legible.”

                                      b. The fancy script on that new restaurant sing isn’t

                                      fully legible. Does it say “Peretti’s,”  “Perelli’s” or 4

                                     “Pepelli’s”?

Exercise: Check your understanding of the five words by matching each word with its definitions.

______1 appropriate                                 a. to confuse; puzzle

______2 bewilder                                      b. a feeling

______3 emotion                                      c. able to be read

______4 investigate                                  d. proper; suited to a certain use

______5 legible                                         e.   to explore or examine carefully

Answer Key:

1 d – 2 a – 3 b – 4 e – 5 c

Checkpoint 1

Complete each sentence below the correct word from the box. Use each word once.

1. Love and hate are opposite ______________.
2. A large school with many hallways is bound to _____________a new student.
3. A message that is badly scribbled may not be _________.
4. It’s a detective’s job to ______________.
5. Running shoes are more ___________for jogging than walking shoes because they protect a runner’s foot better.

Answer Key

1 emotions – 2 bewilder – 3 legible – 4 investigate – 5 appropriate

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