Question

Based on the context of each quote from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs, find the word that most closely matches the denotation of the bolded word. 1)But as she grew older she ENVINCED so much intelligence, and was so faithful, that her master and mistress could not help seeing it was for their interest to take care of such a valuable piece of property 2)He told her all; only he FORBORE to mention how sick and pale her darling looked. 3)She did this to prevent the cook and her children from EKING out their meager fare with the remains of the gravy and other scrapings 4) O, how I despised him! I thought how glad I should be, if some day when he walked the earth, it would open and swallow him up, and DISENCUMBER the world of a plague.

A:to make a supply last by economy

B: to free from

C:to refrain from

D:to show


Need help matching letters to the numbers please

Answer 1

1. evinced = D. to show

If you read the sentence carefully, you can infer the meaning of the word in bold letters just based on the context and the surrounding words. So, it says that 'she evinced so much intelligence,' meaning that she showed it, exhibited it, it was made obvious to other people.

2. forbore = C. to refrain from

The meaning of this word can also be deduced based on the context. So, in the sentence, it says that this person was able to tell anything to that woman, except for the fact that her darling looked sick. So he refrained from telling her that, meaning that he stopped himself.

3. eking = A. to make a supply last by economy

If you were unsure about this one, you could have matched every other option and then match this one to the remaining one. :) However, you can see in the sentence that this woman did something in order to help the cook and her children from having to live solely on gravy and other scrapings.

4. disencumber = B. to free from

In this sentence, you can see that the narrator would like one particular man to perish from the face of the Earth. She considers him plague, and would like to rid the planet from him. Thus, disencumber in this context means to free something from something bad.

Answer 2

1. evinced = D. to show
If you read the sentence carefully, you can infer the meaning of the word in bold letters just based on the context and the surrounding words. So, it says that 'she evinced so much intelligence,' meaning that she showed it, exhibited it, it was made obvious to other people.

2. forbore = C. to refrain from
The meaning of this word can also be deduced based on the context. So, in the sentence, it says that this person was able to tell anything to that woman, except for the fact that her darling looked sick. So he refrained from telling her that, meaning that he stopped himself.

3. eking = A. to make a supply last by economy
If you were unsure about this one, you could have matched every other option and then match this one to the remaining one. :) However, you can see in the sentence that this woman did something in order to help the cook and her children from having to live solely on gravy and other scrapings.

4. disencumber = B. to free from
In this sentence, you can see that the narrator would like one particular man to perish from the face of the Earth. She considers him plague, and would like to rid the planet from him. Thus, disencumber in this context means to free something from something bad.