What a word means in the passage for 11 plus English

Lots of words have more than one meaning, and the sentence chooses which one. Look at the words around it for a clue. Then swap each option into the sentence and read it back. The one that keeps the meaning is right. Swap it in, read it back.

The clue: nothing on the coast escaped his notice. So sharp is about noticing. The options: pointed, observant, unfriendly, chilly, thin. Swap in observant. The old keeper was an observant man; nothing escaped his notice. That fits.

The trap is the first meaning you know. Pointed is a real meaning of sharp, and here it makes nonsense: a pointed man. The sentence decides the meaning, not the dictionary's first line.

• 1.1Finding the answer in the textFind it, then check it
• 1.2Reading between the linesNo clue, no answer
• 1.3Characters and why they actWhat they do, and why they do it
• 1.5Why the writer did itSay what it does to the reader
• 1.6Similes, metaphors and moreSay it in plain words
• 1.7Order and structureFind the event, then look either side
• 1.8Reading an older textFind the main sentence, then put old words into today's words

Every 11 plus English topic