It is an excerpt of my book-to-be about improving students’ TOEFL vocabulary mastery. Currently, I am developing a language program that helps my students get engaged in TOEFL vocabulary questions, especially about guessing meanings in context.

1. STUDY SKILL
Sometimes you can guess the meaning of a word from the words around it, that is, the context.
Identifying the part of speech also helps. Look at the example, rotate:
Hurricanes rotate anti-clockwise around an ‘eye’.
The word hurricanes helps you identify the part of speech.
1. What part of speech is rotate:
a noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb?
The words anti-clockwise, around, help you guess the meaning.
2. What does rotate mean:
get bigger, move in a circle, rain a lot?
#Day7
Read this passage carefully.
The end of life on Earth?
Could a meteorite collision really mean the end of life on Earth? Read this to find out what
happenswhen small meteorites collide with Earth, and just how much damage a big one could do.
By a strange coincidence, the same day that the meteorite terrified the people of Chelyabinsk,
another50m-wide asteroidpassedrelativelyclose to Earth. Scientists were expecting that visit and
knowthat the asteroidwill returntoflyclose by us in 2046, but the Russian meteorite earlier in the
day had been too small for anyone to spot.
Most scientistsagree thatcometsandasteroidspose the biggestnatural threattohuman existence.
It was probablyalarge asteroid or comet colliding with Earth which wiped out the dinosaurs about
65 million years ago. An enormous object, 10 to 16km in diameter, struck the Yucatan region of
Mexico with the force of 100 megatons. That is the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb for every
person alive on Earth today.
Read the passage again carefully. Guess the meaning of the underlined words. First identify the
parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb). Then choose meanings from the box to complete
the table.
destroy danger frighten
huge serendipity better
No Vocabulary Part of Speech Meaning Sentence
1 coincidence By a strange coincidence, the same day
that the meteorite terrifiedthe people of
Chelyabinsk, another 50m-wide asteroid
passed relatively close to Earth.
2 terrify By a strange coincidence, the same day
that the meteorite terrified the people of
Chelyabinsk, another 50m-wide asteroid
passed relatively close to Earth.
3 threat Most scientists agree that comets and
asteroids pose the biggest natural threat
to human existence.
4 wipe out It was probably a large asteroid or comet
colliding with Earth which wiped out the
dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
5 enormous An enormous object, 10 to 16km in
diameter,