Dalam tes Toefl pertanyaan seputar kosa kata sering dipertanyakan, baik mencari sinonim atau

antonim dari kata yang dipertanyakan.

Bagaimana mengidentifikasi 1. “What is the meaning …?”

vocabulary question 2. “Which of the following is closest meaning to….?

Tips dan trik

a. Cari kata yang ditanyakan dalam teks dan terdapat di baris yang mana.
b. Cari apakah ada structural clues, word parts clues
c. Baca bagian yang terdapat petunjuk (clues) dengan seksama.
d. Eliminasi jawaban yang pasti salah dan pilih jawaban yang paling tepat diantara jawaban yang
tersisa.

a. Structural Clues
Vocabulary (kata) yang ditanyakan terkadang juga dijelaskan dalam teksnya yang terlihat dari
petunjuk yang ada di struktur kalimatnya (dapat diindikasikan dari strukturnya).

Structural Clue
Tipe-tipe petunjuk Punctuation (tanda baca) Comma, parentheses, dashes
yang digunakan Restatement (pengulangan) Or, that is, in other words, i.e.
Example (contoh) Such as, for example, e.g

Contoh Soal:
1 The teddy bear is a child’s toy, a nice soft stuffed animal suitable for cuddling. It is,
however, a toy with an interesting history behind it.
Theodore Roosevelt, or Teddy as he was commonly called, was president of the United
States from 1901 to 1909. He was unusually active man with varied pastimes, one of which
was hunting. One day the president was invited to take part in a bear hunt; and inasmuch a
5 Teddy was president, his hosts wanted to ensure that he caught a bear. A bear was captured,
clanked over the head to knock it out, and tied to a tree; however, Teddy, who really wanted
to hunt a bear, refused to shoot the bear and, in fact, demanded that the bear be
extricated from the ropes, that is, he demanded that the bear be set free.
10 The incident attracted a lot of attention among journalists. First a cartoon-drawn by
Clifford K. Berryman to make fun of this situation-appeared in the Washington Post, and
the cartoon was widely distributed and reprinted throughout the country. Then toy
manufacturers began producing a toy bear which they called a “teddy bear.” The teddy bear
became the most widely recognized symbol of Roosevelt’s presidency.
 1. According to line 1 of the passage, what is a “teddy bear”
(A) A ferocious animal (C) The president of the US
(B) A famous hunter (D) A plaything

2. Look at the word “pastimes” in line 3. This word could be best replaced by
(A) Past occurrence (C) Hunting trip
(B) Previous job (D) Leisure activity

3. Look at the word “extricated” in line 8. This word could be best replaced by
(A) Set free (C) Bear
(B) Captured (D) Demand

4. In line 10, “a cartoon” could best be described as

(A) A newspaper (C) A drawing with a message
(B) A type of teddy bear (D) A newspaper article.

Exercise 1
1 A supernova occurs when all of the hydrogen in the core of a huge star is transformed to
iron and explodes. All stars die after their nuclear fuel has been exhausted. Stars with little mass
die gradually, but those with relatively large mass die in a sudden explosion, a supernova. The
sudden Line flash of light can then be followed by several weeks of extremely bright light,
5 perhaps as much light as twenty million stars.
Supernovae are not very common; they occur about once every hundred years in any galaxy,
and in 1987 a supernova that could be seen by the naked eye occurred in the Magellan Cloud, a
galaxy close to the Milky Way. Scientists periodically detect supernovae in other galaxies;
however, no supernovae have occurred in the Milky Way (the galaxy that includes the Earth)
10 since 1604. One very impressive supernova occurred in the Milky Way on July 4, 1054. There was
a great explosion followed by three months of lighted skies, and historical chronicles of the time
were full of accounts and unusual explanations for the misunderstood phenomenon—many
people believed that it meant that the world was coming to an end.
1. A “supernova" in line 1 is which of thefollowing?
(A) The iron component of a star
(B) The core of a star
(C) The hydrogen in a star
(D) The explosion of a star

2. According to the passage, which of the following best describes the “Magellan Cloud" in line
7?
 (A) A galaxy inside the Milky Way
(B) A cloud composed of hydrogen
(C) A galaxy near the Earths galaxy
(D) A cloud in the sky above the Earth

3. The “Milky Way" in line 9 is

(A) part of the Earth
(B) a galaxy close to the Earth
(C) the galaxy that is home to the Earth
(D) a creamy-colored cloud in the sky

4. Which of the following is closest in meaning to "phenomenon" in line 12?

(A) Everyday occurrence
(B) Misunderstood event
(C) Common belief
(D) Unusual occurrence

1 The black widow-the most dangerous spider living in the United States. It is most
common in the southern parts of the country, but it can be found throughout the country.
The black widow got its name because the female has been known to kill the male after
mating and, as a result, becomes a Line widow.
5 The black widow is rather distinctive in appearance; it has a shiny globular body.
the size and shape of a pea, and is marked on its underbelly with a red or yellow spot. The
female is considerably more ample than the male, roughly four times larger on the
average.
If a human is bitten by a black widow, the spider's poison- substance- can cause
10 severe illness and pain. Black widow bites have occasionally resulted in death. but it is
certainly not the norm for black widow bites to be mortal.
5. What is the black Widow?
(E) Dangerous
(F) United States
(G) Spider
(H)Tarantula

6. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "poison" in line 9?

(A) A Pain Substance
(B) Illness
(C) Death
(D) Mortality

7. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "globular" in line 5?

(A) Earthen
(B) Luminescent
(C) Green in color
(D) Round
 1 The next hormone is epinephrine, or adrenaline. This hormone is a natural
secretion of the adrenal glands in the human body. Its primary function in the human
body is to assist the body in coping with sudden surges of stress. When a person
unexpectedly finds himself in a stressful situation filled with fear or anger, a large amount
5 of epinephrine is released into the blood and the body responds with an increased
heartbeat, higher blood pressure, and conversion of glycogen into glucose for energy to
enable the body to deal with the stress.
It is possible to extract epinephrine from the adrenal glands of animals or to
synthesize it chemically in order to put it to further use. It is used in the treatment of
10 severe asthma, where it relaxes the large muscles of the bronchi, the large air passages
leading into the lungs. It is also used in cases of severe allergic reaction or cardiac arrest.

8. What is another name for epinephrine?

(A) Adrenal glands
(B) Stressful situation
(C) Bronchi
(D) Adrenaline

9. What are the "stress" in line 3?

(A) Pressure
(B) Filled of anger
(C) adrenal glands
(D) Heartbeat

10. What are the "bronchi" in line 10?

(A) A large muscle
(B) Air passages
(C) The lungs
(D) Part of the heart
Taken from: Philips, Deborah. 2003. Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL test. Pearson Longman.

b. Word part Clues

Petunjuk untuk mengenali maksud dari kata yang dipertanyakan bisa juga terdapat dalam
kata tersebut sendiri (word parts). List di bawah ini memperlihatkan beberapa bagian kata yang
dapat menjadi acuan untuk menebak arti kata yang ditanyakan. follow= mengikut, un-follow=
tidak mengikuti

A short list of word part

Part Meaning Example Part Meaning Example

Contra Against contrast Dic Say Dictate

Mal Bad malcontent Domin master Dominant
Mis Error mistake jud Judge Judgement
Sub Under subway mor death Mortal
Dec Ten decade spec See Spectator
 Multi Many multiple terr earth Territory
Sol One solo ver turn Divert
Tri Three triple viv live Revive

Contoh Soal:
1 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was a Portuguese-born explorer who is credited with the
exploration of the coast of what is today the state of California. Sketchy military records from
the period show that early in his career he served with the Spanish army from 1520 to 1524 in
Spain’s quest for subjugation of the people in what are today Cuba, Mexico, and Guatemala.
5 Little is known on his activities over the next decades, but apparently he succeeded in rising
up through the ranks of the military; in 1541, he was ordered by Antonio de Mendoza, the
Spanish ruler of Mexico, to explore the western coast of North America.
Cabrillo set out in June of 1542 in command of two ships, the San Salvador and the
Victoria; he reached San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and claimed the terrain for
10 Spain. The peninsula where he landed is today named Cabrillo Point in his honor; the area
has been established as national monument and park, and local residents each year hold a
celebration and reenactment of Cabrillo’s landing.

5. The word “subjugation” in line 4 is closest in meaning to

(A) Religion (C) Control
(B) Flag (D) Agreement

6. Look at the word “decades” in line 5. This word is closest in meaning to

(A) Months (C) Long epoch
(B) Centuries (D) Ten-years periods

7. The word “terrain” in line 9 is closest in meaning to

(A) Land (C) Minerals
(B) Population (D) prosperity
Exercise 2

1 Tornadoes occur throughout the world, but for reasons that scientists are not fully
able to discern, the great majority occur in the United States. Approximately 700
tornadoes a year occur within the United States, and this comprises three-quarters of the
worldwide total. Most of the U.S. Litle tornadoes take place in the Midwest and in the
5 southern states that border the Gulf of Mexico.
In general a tornado cuts a path of a few hundred yards and lasts less than an hour;
an average tornado might propel itself at a speed of 15 or 20 miles per hour and therefore
cover a distance of 20 or so miles. Tornadoes, however, can be much worse than average.
The most devastating tornado on record occurred on March 18, 1925, in the states of
10 Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. The path of this tornado was more than 200 miles long and
a mile wide. Traveling at an average speed of 60 miles per hour, the winds at the center of
the storm swirled around at considerably more than 200 miles per hour. A total of 689
people died, and countless more were injured at the hands of this killer storm.

1. The word "discern" in line 2 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

(A) Present
(B) Understand
(C) Cause
(D) Misrepresent

2. The word "propel" in line 6 could best be replaced by

(A) move
(B) develop
(C) destroy
(D) inhibit

3. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "devastating" in line 9?

(A) Described
(B) Delicate
(C) Destructive
(D) Determined

4. The word "swirled" in line 13 is closest in meaning to

(A) decreased
(B) rose
(C) settled
(D) circled

1 The life span of an elephant that dies from natural causes is about sixty-five years. Of
course, an elephant can perish from a number of "unnatural causes"; e.g., it can be killed
by hunters, most probably for the valuable ivory in its tusks; it can die from diseases that
spread throughout an Line elephant herd; or it can die from drought or from the lack of
5 food that almost certainly accompanies the inadequate supply of water.
If, however, an elephant survives these disasters, it falls prey to old age in its
mid-sixties. Around this age, the cause of death is attributed to the loss of the final set of
molars. When this last set of teeth is gone, the elephant dies from malnutrition because
it is unable to obtain adequate nourishment. In old age, elephants tend to search out a
10
final home where there is shade for comfort from the sun and soft vegetation for
cushioning; the bones of many old elephants have been found in such places.

5. The word "unnatural" in line 2 is

(A) wild
(B) violent
 (C) domesticated
(D) abnormal

6. In line 8, "malnutrition" is used to closest in meaning to describe someone who

(A) is in good health
(B) has an illness
(C) suffers from poor eating
(D) experiences dental problems

1 Ring Lardner himself was born into a wealthy, educated, and cultured family. For the
bulk of his career, he worked as a reporter for newspapers in South Bend, Boston, St. Louis,
and Chicago. However, it is for his short stories of lower middle-class Americans that Ring
Lardner is perhaps best known. In these stories, Lardner vividly creates the language and
5 the ambiance of this lower class, often using the misspelled words, grammatical errors,
and incorrect diction that typified the language of the lower middle class.

7. The word "vividly" in line 4 is closest in meaning to

(A) in a cultured way
(B) in a correct way
(C) in a lifelike way
(D) in a brief way

8. The word "misspelled” in line 5 is closest in meaning to

(A) highly improper
(B) vulgar
(C) incorrectly written
(D) slang

9. The word “diction” in line 6 is closest in meaning to

(A) writing
(B) sentence structure
(C) form
(D) speech

1 Checks and balances are an important concept in the formation of the U.S. system
of government as presented in the Constitution of the United States. Under this
conception of government, each branch of government has built-in checks and
limitations placed on it by one or more different branches of government in order to
5 ensure that anyone branch is not able to usurp total dominance over the
government. Under the Constitution, the United States has a tripartite government,
with power divided equally among the branches: the presidency, the legislature, and
the judiciary. Each branch is given some authority over the other two branches to
balance the power among the three branches. An example of these checks and balances
10
is seen in the steps needed to pass a law. Congress can pass a law with a simple
majority, but the president can veto such a law.
Congress can then counteract the veto with a two-thirds majority. However, even if
Congress passes a law with a simple majority or overrides a presidential veto, the
Supreme Court can still declare the law unconstitutional if it finds that the law is
contradictory to the guidelines presented in the Constitution.

10. The expression "dominance over" in

line 5 is closest in meaning to
(A) understanding of
(B) dispute over
(C) authority over
(D) rejection of

11. "Contradictory to" in line 12 is closest

in meaning to which of the following
expressions?
 (A) In agreement with
(B) Opposite to
(C) Supported by
(D) Similar to
Taken from: Philips, Deborah. 2003. Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL test. Pearson Longman.

Review Skills

Cardamom is not as widely used as a spice in the United States as it is in other parts of the
world. This fruit of the ginger plant provides an oil that basically has been used solely as a stimulant
in American and English medicines. Other cultures have recognized the multipurpose benefits of
this aromatic fruit. In Asia it is used to season sauces such as curry; in Middle Eastern countries it
is steeped to prepare a flavorful golden-colored tea; in parts of Northern Europe it is used as a spice
in various types of pastry.

1. All option below are the other name of Cardamom, except…..

(A) A Spice
(B) Fruit of ginger plant
(C) Aromatic fruit
(D) Medicine

2. The word "multipurpose" in line 3 is closest in meaning to

(A) health
(B) singular
(C) recognized
(D) varied

3. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "season" in line 4?

(A) Divide
(B) Forecast
(C) Spice
(D) Put a time limit

4. "Curry" in line 4 is
(A) the fruit of the ginger plant
(B) a spicy type of sauce
(C) a culture in the area of the Middle East
(D) a type of golden-colored tea

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the U.S. government decided that it needed to set up
a system for protecting its coastline. It then began building a series of forts, usually made form
layers of stone or bricks, along the coast of the eastern part of the country to facilitate its defenses.
The largest of these forts was Fort Jefferson, which was begun in 1846. This fort was built on
Garden Key, one of a cluster of small coral islands 70 miles west of Key West. At the time of its
construction, Fort Jefferson was believed to be of primary strategic importance to the United States
because of its location at the entryway to the Gulf of Mexico. Because of its location at the entrance to
a great body of water, it became known as the Gibraltar of the Gulf, in reference to the island located
at the mouth of the Mediterranean. The fort itself was a massive structure. It was hexagonal in
shape, with 8-foot-thick walls, and was surrounded by a medieval-style moat for added security.
Covering most of the Garden Key, it was approximately half a mile in circumference.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, during the Civil War and its aftermath, the fort was
used as a prison rather than a military installation. The most notorious of its prisoners was Dr.
Samuel Mudd, a physician who was most probably innocently involved in the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln. The actual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, broke his leg as he lept from the stage of
the Ford Theater during the assassination. Dr. Mudd set Booth's broken leg, unaware of Booth's
involvement in the assassination. As a result of this action, Dr. Mudd was sentenced to life in prison
and remanded to Fort Jefferson. He was pardoned after only four years because of his courageous
efforts in combatting an epidemic of yellow fever that ravaged the fort.
Continuous use of Fort Jefferson ended in the 1870s, although the U.S. Navy continued with
sporadic use of it into the twentieth century. Today, the massive ruins still remain on the tiny island
that stands guard over the entrance to the gulf, undisturbed except for the occasional sightseer who
ventures out from the coast to visit.

5. What are the "forts" in line 2?

(A) a system for protecting
(B) a defense of country
(C) coastline
(D) layers of stone or bricks

6. The word "hexagonal" in line 10 is closest in

(A) six-sided
(B) seven-sided
(C) eight-sided
(D) irregular in shape

7. The word "unaware" in line 17 is closest in

(A) except
(B) ignore
(C) pay attention
(D) irregular in shape

8. “Yellow fever" in line 20 is most likely

(A) an enemy military force
(B) a prison regimen
(C) a contagious disease
(D) a mental illness

9. The word "sporadic" in line 22 is closest in

(A) abundant
(B) occasional
(C) regular
(D) frequent

10. The word "undisturbed" in line 13 is closest in

(A) peace
(B) settled
(C) broken
(D) fragile

The idea of determinism, that no event occurs in nature without natural causes, has been
postulated as a natural law yet is under attack on both scientific and philosophical grounds. Scientific
laws assume that a specific set of conditions will unerringly lead to a predetermined outcome. Line
However, studies in the field of physics have demonstrated that the location and speed of
minuscule particles such as electrons are the result of random behaviors rather than predictable
results determined by pre-existing conditions. As a result of these studies, the principle of
indeterminacy was formulated in 1925 by Werner Heisenberg. According to this principle, only the
probable behavior of an electron can be predicted. The inability to absolutely predict the behavior of
electrons casts doubt on the universal applicability of a natural law of determinism. Philosophically,
the principal opposition to determinism emanates from those who see humans as creatures in
possession of free will. Human decisions may be influenced by previous events, but the ultimate
freedom of humanity may possibly lead to unforeseen choices, those not preordained by preceding
events.
11. The word "unerringly" in line13 is could be most easily replaced by
(A) fortunately
(B) effortlessly
(C) without mistake
(D) with guidance

12. The word "minuscule" in line 5 is closest in meaning to

(A) charge
(B) fast-moving
(C) circular
(D) tiny

13. The word "unforeseen" in line 12 is closest in

(A) forewarned
(B) blind
(C) unappreciated
(D) unpredictable