This activity will help you meet these educational goals: You will evaluate the definitions of new vocabulary; and analyze the meaning of words in context. Directions Read the instructions for this self-checked activity. Type in your response to each question, and check your answers. At the end of the activity, write a brief evaluation of your work. Activity As you read Snow's piece, you probably encountered some unfamiliar words. Although you can often guess the meaning of a word from its context, it's a good idea to note unfamiliar words and look up their meaning and pronunciation in a thesaurus or dictionary. The table lists some words that appear in the first reading selection. Look at their definitions, parts of speech, pronunciations, synonyms, and antonyms. Vocabulary Word and Part of Speech Pronunciation Definition Other Parts of Speech Synonyms Antonyms prevalent (adj) PREH-vuh-luhnt common or existing in a large area at a particular time prevalence (n); prevail (v) dominant, prevailing, predominant unconventional, unpopular, unusual virulence (n) VEER-uh-luhns extreme bitterness, dangerous, and spreading very quickly virulent (adj); virulently (adv) malignancy softness, benignity, tenderness effluvia (n) eh-FLOO-vee-ya an unpleasant exhalation or smell effluvium (n. singular) exhalation, waste morbid (adj) MAWR-buhd unpleasant, relating to death morbidly (adv); morbidity (n) unpleasant, diseased cheerful, comforting, requisite (adj)/(n) REH-kwuh-ziht required requisiteness (n) necessary dispensable, inessential, needless propagate (v) PRAW-puh-gayt to spread (an idea or belief) propagation (n) spread, transmit conceal, restrict pathology (n) puh-THAW-luh-jee the science of the causes of diseases pathological (adj); pathologically (adv) flocculent (adj) FLAW-kyuh-luhnt occurring in the form of loose particles or soft flakes soft, wooly hard Part A Create a sentence of your own using each of the words provided. You can use a dictionary or a thesaurus for reference. prevalent virulence effluvia pathology