Best practices and transitions

The Praxis rarely asks you to define a word directly, but vocabulary still matters because you need to understand the reading passages and the answer choices. The most challenging vocabulary on the Praxis often appears in the reading passages - especially in excerpts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Best practices

• Don’t look at the answer choices first. Read the passage and fill in the blank with a word that makes sense in the sentence. Then choose the answer choice that matches the meaning of the word you supplied.
• Never assume the word you don’t know is the answer unless you’re sure all the other answer choices are wrong.
• Always read contextually. Many English words have multiple meanings, so it helps to think broadly about how a meaning might apply. Two “weather” words, temperate and inclement, are good examples.

“We live in a temperate climate.” Here, temperate means “mild, without extremes in temperature.” Similarly, the sentence “Mary had a temperate disposition” means that Mary has a calm disposition and isn’t prone to violent extremes of emotion.

Similarly, when “inclement weather” is forecast, most people understand that the weather will be windy, wet, and possibly dangerous. However, when we hear that “The president granted clemency to thirty-three people this month,” we know that clemency means “mercy” rather than “sunny weather,” and that thirty-three people will be released from prison.

• Answer choices that contain extreme language such as always, never, or completely are generally wrong. Most correct answers are more nuanced and middle-of-the-road.
• Trust your gut about what words mean. Most people have a passive vocabulary (words they recognize in context but don’t use themselves) of about twenty thousand words. However, their active vocabulary (words they use in daily life) is only between two and five thousand, depending on the source. When you get a gut feeling that a given word means X, you’re drawing on your passive vocabulary. Trust that feeling, and don’t change your answer unless you have a clear reason.

Transition words

Transition words, such as also, however, and finally, tell you how ideas in a sentence or paragraph connect to one another. There are several kinds of transitions: continuers, contrast words, cause-and-effect words, and sequence words.

Continuers

When continuers appear in a sentence or passage, they signal that you should look for a synonym, a restatement, or a logical addition to what’s being said.

For example:

For five years after Robespierre’s downfall, France struggled economically while also trying to conduct several wars, including against the British.

Here, adding the fact that France was fighting wars to the fact that it was struggling economically helps you see the full extent of France’s difficulties.

The sentence could also be written this way:

France struggled after Robespierre’s downfall, not only because of its economic difficulties but also because it was conducting several wars, including against the British.

Notice that both sentences communicate the same information, even though they’re worded differently.

Contradictors

Contradictors are words or phrases that signal a contrast.

For example:

Although our path led through dark tunnels and over hazardous mountains, we persevered.

Or

Our path led through dark tunnels and over hazardous mountains, yet we persevered.

Or

We persevered despite the long tunnels and hazardous mountains that lay in our path.

In each sentence, the perseverance contrasts with the difficulty of the path. That contrast suggests the speaker was determined and/or tough enough to continue.

Here’s a test-level example from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, found at Project Gutenberg. Jane is waiting for a chance to open a letter.

Here, the contrast phrase fortunately, however is easy to miss because it appears near the end of the passage. It matters because it shifts the passage from a list of frustrations Jane faces to her one stroke of good luck.

Cause and effect

Cause and effect continuers show a relationship between events or explain why something is happening.

You can often substitute colons and dashes for these words. For example:

Russia did not industrialize as fast as the rest of Europe did because its vast size made it difficult to travel, communicate, or develop urban centers for industry and manufacturing.

Russia did not industrialize as fast as the rest of Europe did: its vast size made it difficult to travel, communicate, or develop urban centers for industry and manufacturing.

Russia did not industrialize as fast as the rest of Europe did-its vast size made it difficult to travel, communicate, or develop urban centers for industry and manufacturing.

Here’s a harder example from Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen, found at Project Gutenberg.:

This passage is challenging partly because it’s long and uses older vocabulary. It’s also easy to lose focus because the cause-and-effect word therefore appears in the middle, right where your attention is likely to drift. The word therefore connects Henry’s wealth (the cause) to the fact that he needs the Norland estate less than his sisters do (the effect).