Part 1: Text Details and Context Clues in an Informational Text

Read the excerpt from "Ship's Chronometer from HMS Beagle." Just as people adopted a common standard time, so numerous aspects of working and daily life were becoming rigidly fixed by the clock, from clocking on at work to school hours and tea-time - which is the subject of our next chapter. What context clue best helps readers determine the meaning of the word standard?

"rigidly fixed"

Read the excerpt from "Ship's Chronometer from HMS Beagle." Our object is one of those lower-cost chronometers, made in 1800 by Thomas Earnshaw. It is made of brass and is around the size of a large pocket watch, with a normal clock dial showing roman numerals and a smaller dial at the bottom for the second hand. The clock is suspended inside a swivelling brass ring fitted to the inside of a wooden box - this is the key to keeping the chronometer level even in an unsteady ship. Which details from the excerpt help readers visualize the chronometer? Check all that apply.

-"around the size of a large pocket watch" -"with a normal clock dial showing roman numerals" -"suspended inside a swivelling brass ring"

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans." His neck is completely invisible - a series of large rings runs from his shoulders right the way up to his lower lip. In his right hand he holds up a ceremonial axe. To either side kneel two high-court functionaries, dressed very like the Oba, but with plainer headdresses and fewer neck-rings. They wear belts hung with small crocodile heads, the emblem of those authorized to conduct business with Europeans - and the heads and shoulders of two tiny Europeans can be seen floating in the background. (PICTURE OF MONKEY LOKKY THINGS LOL) Which details are evident in both the excerpt and the image? Check all that apply.

-ceremonial jewelry -European traders -government leaders

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans." These were enormous and belief-shattering ideas for many people in the nineteenth century, but time was also changing in a much more day-to-day, or rather hour-to-hour, way. Thanks to clockmakers like Earnshaw, precise and reliable clocks and watches became ever more affordable. Before long the whole of Britain was running by the clock, and the measurement of time had been severed from the natural cycle of days and seasons. The clock ruled every aspect of life - shops and schools, pleasure and work. As Charles Dickens wrote, 'There was even railway time observed in clocks, as if the sun itself had given in.' Which central idea is best supported by the details in the excerpt?

As more people began to own clocks, society embraced standardized time.

Which sentence best establishes visual details?

Each painting is a towering portrait of a town founder depicted in bold acrylic.

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans." The Portuguese galleons, cutting out all the middlemen and able to carry much bigger cargoes, offered a totally new kind of trading opportunity. They and their Dutch and English competitors, who followed later in the sixteenth century, carried gold and ivory to Europe and in return brought commodities from all over the world that were greatly valued by the Oba's court, including coral from the Mediterranean, cowry shells from the Indian Ocean to serve as money, cloth from the Far East and, from Europe itself, larger quantities of brass than had ever before reached West Africa. This was the raw material from which the Benin plaques were made. Which central idea is best supported by the details in the excerpt?

The Benin people had access to the riches of the world through trade.

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans." Many wild theories were put forward. It was thought that the plaques must have come from ancient Egypt, or perhaps that the people of Benin were one of the lost tribes of Israel. Or the sculptures must have derived from European influence (after all, these were the contemporaries of Michelangelo, Donatello and Cellini). But research quickly established that the Benin plaques were entirely West African creations, made without European influence. The Europeans had to revisit, and to overhaul, their assumptions of easy cultural superiority. Which central idea is best supported by the details in the excerpt?

The Benin plaques challenged Europeans' beliefs about West Africa.

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans" and consider the accompanying photo. There are several hundred Benin plaques now in European and American museums, and they offer us a remarkable picture of the structure of this West African kingdom. Their main subject is the glorification of the Oba and of his prowess as a hunter and soldier, but they also tell us how the people of Benin saw their first European trading partners. (PICTURE OF THINGS HANGING UP) Which statement best describes how the image reinforces the text?

The image adds interest to the text by offering a glimpse of the plaques.

Read the excerpt from "Ship's Chronometer from HMS Beagle" and consider the accompanying photo. It was not until around 1800 that two London clockmakers managed to simplify the chronometer mechanisms so that virtually any ship - and certainly the larger ships of the Royal Navy - could carry them as routine equipment. (PICTURE OF OLD CLOCKS) Which statement best describes how the image reinforces the text?

The photograph enhances the explanation of the updated chronometer.

Read the paragraph. My grandmother taught me to appreciate architecture. She grew up in Greece and photographed ancient ruins in her youth. She told me that people do not build things of beauty the way they used to, and her favorite example was Greek Ionic columns. As an architecture student today, I wonder if I will ever create anything as beautiful as these. Which image would best enhance the paragraph?

a picture of Ionic columns

Read the excerpt from "Ship's Chronometer from HMS Beagle." As a maritime nation, the British were concerned with one problem in particular: they could make clocks that kept very good time as long as they stayed perfectly still but not when they were shaken about, and particularly not on board a rolling ship. If you wanted to sail, it was impossible to keep a precise record of time. Based on the context clues, what is the meaning of the word maritime in the passage?

bordering the sea; nautical

Consider the paragraph and image. In the early 1900s, a handy invention lightened laundry loads by squeezing water out of garments. Homemakers could attach a clothes wringer to a bucket with built-in vice clamps and crank individual pieces of laundry through two sturdy rollers. How does the image enhance the paragraph?

by reinforcing the description of the clothes wringer

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans." Whatever the real facts, the British, in ostensible revenge for the killing, organized a punitive expedition which raided Benin City, exiled the Oba and created the protectorate of Southern Nigeria. Based on the context clues, what is the meaning of the word punitive in the passage?

designed to inflict punishment

What type of context clue offers information about the function, features, or appearance of an unfamiliar word?

explanation

What type of context clue offers a word with the same meaning as an unfamiliar word?

synonym