Essential Academic Vocabulary

Context clues: In this sentence, what does "fallacies" mean? "The politician's speech was full of fallacies, making it hard to trust his claims."

• Logical mistakes

• Strong opinions

• Facts supported by evidence

• Persuasive arguments

Word usage: What does "inferences" mean in this sentence? "From the evidence presented, the jury made inferences about the defendant's actions."

• Predictions about the future

• Mistakes in reasoning

• Conclusions based on evidence

• Opinions with no support

The student used facts and (a)   to make her argument strong and convincing.

• inferences

• guesses

• opinions

• assumptions

A synonym for "validity" is (a)  

• Truthfulness

• Falseness

• Inaccuracy

• Invalidity

Definition-based: What does "argument" mean in this context? "The scientist's argument about climate change was supported by years of research."

• A disagreement between people

• A claim supported by reasoning and evidence

• A statement of personal opinion

• A prediction about the future

Context clues: Using context clues, "sufficiency" in this sentence "The teacher questioned the (a)   of the student's evidence in supporting her claim." means?

• adequacy

• quantity

• relevance

• clarity

The word "support" in the sentence "The writer added examples to (a)   her main idea." means?

• reinforce

• oppose

• ignore

• complicate

Context clues: The word "opinion" in the sentence "The critic's (a)   of the movie was different from the majority of viewers." means?

• opinion

• view

• thought

• belief

The article mixed (a)   with opinions, making it hard to distinguish fact from personal belief.

• facts

• fiction

• rumors

• guesses

A synonym for "relevance" is (a)   .

• Importance

• Irrelevance

• Unimportance

• Insignificance