WWF Context Clues Review

1. Determine the meaning of the word "origin" as used in the following sentence on pg. xii“In 1859, he had published one of the most important books ever written, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.” (*hint: think about these words: original, originated)

• The ending

• The middle

• The beginning or birth

2. Determine the meaning of the word "dominate" as used in the following sentence on pg. xiii “He did not see nature as particularly nice or kind, but as a cruel system in which species attempted to kill and dominate other species in order to secure the survival of their own kind. “(*hint: if you want to dominate you want to control something)

• Be friends with

• Rule over

• Eat

3. Determine the meaning of the word "idly" as used in the following sentence on pg. xiii: “We do not see, or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us, mostly live on insects or seeds and are thus constantly destroying life.” (*hint: think about the word idle.)

• Lazily/Without Care

• Angrily

• Energetically

4. Determine the meaning of the word "elaborate" as used in the following sentence on pg. xiv. “This fish family is fairly evolved, has elaborate fins, and lives in the bottom part of the ocean.” (*hint: if something has changed over time, do you think it has become more simple or more complex?)

• boring

• calm and controlled

• detailed

5. Determine the meaning of the word "voraciously" as used in the following sentence on pg. xiv. “They hunt voraciously the species living directly over and beneath them” (*hint: they are hunting everything that comes their way)

• destroyed

• uncontrollable

• took over

6. Determine the meaning of the word "revolting" as used in the following sentence on pg. xv. “Killing close relatives to our species, like monkeys, though it occurs is revolting to most of us. We tend to care more about our own class-mammals, such as whales and seals and polar bears-than we do about fish.”

• sickening

• pleasing

• interesting

7. Determine the meaning of the word "adapt" as used in the following sentence on pg. xv.“The species that successfully adapt through the use of variations survive, and the others become extinct.” (*hint: think about the word adaptation.)

• stay the same

• change/develop

• go extinct

8. Determine the meaning of the word "eliminate" as used in the following sentence on pg. xvi “Species moved into and out of the areas, there were changes in weather, and some species were eliminated and others became extremely abundant.” (*hint: would every species survive through change?)

• celebrated

• created

• wiped out

9. Determine the meaning of the word "abundant" as used in the following sentence on pg. xvi: “Species moved into and out of the areas, there were changes in weather, and some species were eliminated and others became extremely abundant.”

• wiped out

• beautiful

• plentiful/ a lot of

10. Determine the BEST meaning of the word "miniscule" as used in the following sentence on pg. xvi: “Each shift, sometimes as miniscule as a shift in the wind, day by day-even hour by hour-changed the order of nature.”

• tiny/small

• large/grand

• unimportant