ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Interpreting words and phrases in context Videos 27 videos

SAT Reading 1.1 Short Passages
263 Views

SAT Reading: Short Passages Drill 1, Problem 1

SAT Reading 2.2 Short Passages
214 Views

SAT Reading: Short Passages Drill 2, Problem 2

The Word "Fostering" in Line 6 Most Nearly Means...What?
211 Views

SAT Reading Long Passages Drill 1, Problem 2

See All

SAT Reading: Defining "Swell" in the Context of Twain's Essay 2 Views


Share It!


Description:

Swell - a term last found in 40s yearbooks when you didn't know what else to say...or was it? Find out in this SAT Reading video.


Transcript

00:03

all right you poor Shmoopers having to study for the SAT exam art we're gonna

00:07

just keep going with the pain because a band-aid that gets ripped off quickly [bandaid getting ripped off arm]

00:10

hurts last all right here we go as you say like 25 20 SEC's well let's get wet

00:14

so we're going here 25 and we're looking for swell here we are never his book was [text on screen]

00:20

laid off he would come home and swell around the town in his last and Reese's

00:22

clothes I don't get open everybody was also just easing me talk as if he was in

00:27

it all right what's the correct answer it's uh you know swell is like you're

00:33

thinking you're swelling up huffing up like that inflammation all right yes [man's lips swelling]

00:38

anyway yeah it's correct answer' swagger right there the word swell generally [man dancing]

00:43

does mean to puff up with inflammation so context is key and figuring out how [text on screen]

00:48

the word is used here this words home sentence is all about how the boy wants

00:52

people to know he has a job as a steamboatman

00:55

and he walks around all day in dirty book clothes to show off his enviable

00:59

position well that doesn't sound like inflammation it's more like this river

01:03

bro has a swagger in his step yeah so this boy isn't trying to hide so get rid

01:09

of that one there he wants everyone to see him that also means he's not gonna

01:12

lurk around cuz that'd be kind of like hiding in fact he's proud of those

01:16

greasy black clothes and what they represent sort of like varsity football [man's greasy clothes]

01:20

players wearing their jerseys around class in high school to show how cool

01:24

they are yeah you know Bob we're looking at you he may be coming off as cool and

01:28

collected but intentionally parading around the town takes energy and effort [greasy man walks downtown]

01:32

and well that's not the best way to relax don't do it yeah all right moving

01:37

on that's it

Related Videos

SAT Reading: Citing Evidence to Identify a Theme in Walden
35 Views

Contemplating one's life is key to fulfilled happiness. Thoreau's theme revolves around the simple life well lived. He clearly never tried virtual...

What Does the Author Mean by "Front" in this Context?
25 Views

Thoreau uses "front" to mean "face". He wants to face The Facts of Life without shying away from our natural tendencies, roots, and the simply way...

SAT Reading: Using Context to Define a Word
12 Views

What does "frittered away" mean in this context? Wasted. Wasted by the way. Thoreau claims we fritter away our lives praying to modern complex dist...

SAT Reading: Inferring Information from a Passage
12 Views

Thoreau moved to Walden - now what? He... ate only a few, simple meals. No 3 meals a day schedule for him. He wanted to diet complexity and calorie...

SAT Reading: Supporting an Inference from Walden with Evidence
25 Views

The "strongest answer" is a common question in readings like those on the SAT - the strongest is usually that which maps most directly to the theme...