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Vocabulary Builder
Understanding Social Studies

A. Content Vocabulary
Directions: Select a vocabulary term from the box that best answers each
question below. Write the terms in the space provided.

century

decade

relative chronology

absolute chronology

primary source

secondary source

bias

urban

rural

absolute location

relative location

age distribution

growth rate

federalism

republic

popular sovereignty

legislative

executive

judicial

citizen

free enterprise

generalization

inference

plagiarism

citation

1. The United States government is made up of the

, and
branches.

is a period of 10 years, and a

2. A
is a period of 100 years.
is written by someone who witnessed an
3. A
is written by someone who
event. A
learned of an event after it happened.
4.

is a form of government in which some powers are

given to the federal government, while others are given to the states.

5. A

of the United States has the right to vote.

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and
6. When writing a research paper, always avoid
to give credit for your source materials.
use a

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cont.

Understanding Social Studies

7.
place.

describes where one place is in relation to another

describes exactly where a place is.
area like Dallas, while
area.

8. Some people live in a large

others live in an unpopulated
9. The
time. The

tells how much a population changes over

tells how old a population is in an area.

10. When reviewing sources for research, it is important to understand the

.
authors
11.

is an economic system in which individuals have

the right to own property and start their own businesses.
is a government of the

12.
people.

is used to tell exactly when an event occurred.

is used to tell when an event occurred in relation

13.
to another event.

is a statement that is usually true based on the

14. A
is a conclusion drawn from
facts available. An
information that is not directly stated in a text.

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cont.

Understanding Social Studies

B. Academic Vocabulary
Directions: Select the part of speech that the underlined words represent.

15. Sam organized his baseball card collection into categories by player
positions.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective
16. When Laura included a quote in her report, she made sure she gave
proper attribution to the author.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective
17. When Aleksander moved to a new country, he found the culture to be much
different from his home.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective
18. Suki thought it was difficult to differentiate between the black shirt and
the navy blue shirt.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective

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19. The government of Texas does not have the authority to make laws for
the entire nation.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective

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cont.

Understanding Social Studies

20. Rashawn has the potential to become a tennis star if he continues to
practice.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective
21. Alexis did not predict that she would get a good grade on the test.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective
22. Sanjeet has never observed a tornado, which is a severe weather
phenomenon.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective
23. The governments of all 50 states are similar, but they are separate
entities.
a. noun
b. verb
c. adjective

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cont.

Understanding Social Studies

C. Combined Vocabulary Reinforcement

Directions: Match each term to the correct definition.

the structure of a population based on age

25. entity

to tell the difference between two or more things

26. differentiate

government in which state and national

government have power

27. century

an individual or organization that stands on its own

28. relative chronology

a mixture of people within a culture

29. landform

a statement that is usually true based on available

information

30. age distribution

to make an educated guess about what will

happen

31. growth rate

a period of 100 years

32. popular sovereignty

presenting another persons work as ones own

33. federalism

the change in a population over time

34. diversity

a natural feature of the land

35. immigrate

government of the people

36. generalization

when an event occurs in relation to another event

37. inference

a formal listing of a source

38. plagiarism

a conclusion based on information that is implied

39. citation

to move to a new country

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24. predict