Topics · Primary Chinese · Vocabulary-in-context (文中词语)
文中词语: what the word means here
A word underlined in a passage, and four meanings to choose from. The dictionary meaning is often one of the wrong ones — the question is what it means in that sentence.
- 221 exam papers analysed
- appears in 91% of P6 Chinese papers
- ~3 min read
01 Read the sentence, not the word
The commonest way to lose this mark is to look at the underlined word alone, recognise it, and pick the meaning you know.
Cover the word and read the sentence. What would have to go in the gap for the sentence to make sense? Then look at the options.
Read the sentence before and after too. Chinese words shift meaning with what surrounds them more than English ones do, and the clue is often in the next sentence.
02 Use the parts of the word
Most Chinese words are two characters, and each carries meaning. A word you have never seen is often readable from its halves.
赞赏 — 赞 is to praise, 赏 is to appreciate. Both halves point the same way, so the word means praise.
Watch for the opposite pattern. 失望 is 失 (to lose) plus 望 (hope) — losing hope, so disappointment. The halves combine rather than repeat.
The radical helps too. A word written with 讠 has to do with speech; with 忄, with feeling; with 氵, with water. It will not give you the exact meaning, but it rules options out.
| Word | Halves | So the word means |
|---|---|---|
| 赞赏 | 赞 praise + 赏 appreciate | to praise — both halves agree |
| 失望 | 失 lose + 望 hope | disappointed — the halves combine |
| 果然 | 果 result + 然 so | sure enough, as expected |
| 犹豫 | both characters carry 犭 | to hesitate — the radical is the clue |
03 Testing the four options
Put each option back into the sentence. The right one reads naturally; the wrong ones jar, and you can hear it.
Wrong options are usually close. They share a character with the right word, or mean something the word means somewhere else — just not here.
Watch the tone of the sentence. If the passage is praising someone, a negative option is out however well it fits grammatically.
Do not leave it blank. It is multiple choice, so a narrowed guess is worth more than nothing.
04 How to say them
These are words most children have never said out loud, and a word you cannot say is a word you avoid using. The respelling is Hanyu Pinyin, with the tone marked over the vowel. Tap the speaker to hear it.
- 文中词语saywén zhōng cí yǔ
Vocabulary in context — what a word means in the passage it appears in.
- 词语saycí yǔ
A word or phrase, usually two characters.
- 上下文sayshàng xià wén
The context — the sentences before and after the word.
- 部首saybù shǒu
The radical, the part of a character that hints at its meaning: 讠 speech, 忄 feeling, 氵 water.
- 近义词sayjìn yì cí
A word with a similar meaning. The wrong options in this question are often these.
05 What each level is tested on
The same topic, asked differently as it goes up. The percentage is the share of papers at that level in which it appears.
- P4
Underlined words in short passages, with the meaning findable from the same sentence.
Practise P4 Chinese Vocabulary-in-context (文中词语) — 8 questions → Practise P4 Higher Chinese Vocabulary-in-context (文中词语) — 8 questions →42% of P4 Chinese papers
40% of P4 Higher Chinese papers
- P5
Words whose meaning depends on the sentences around them, and options that share a character.
Practise P5 Chinese Vocabulary-in-context (文中词语) — 8 questions →74% of P5 Chinese papers
- P6
Idiomatic and figurative uses, where the dictionary meaning is deliberately among the wrong answers.
Practise P6 Chinese Vocabulary-in-context (文中词语) — 8 questions →91% of P6 Chinese papers
06 Mistakes worth knowing about
Each of these is wrong. Decide why before you open it.
“I knew the word, so I picked the meaning I knew.”
The question is what it means here. The dictionary meaning is often one of the wrong options on purpose.
“I only read the sentence with the underlined word.”
The clue is often in the sentence before or after. Read three sentences, not one.
“Two options looked right so I guessed.”
Put both back into the sentence and read it aloud in your head. The wrong one jars.
“I did not know the word at all.”
Break it into its two characters, and look at the radicals. That usually rules out two of the four options.
“The passage was praising him, but I chose a negative word.”
The tone of the passage is part of the context. A word that fights the tone is wrong.
Now try it
24 questions across 3 levels, marked as you go with the working shown.