Read the excerpt from the hot zone. she took up a scalpel and slit the monkey's abdomen, making a slow and gentle cut, keeping the blade well away from her gloved fingers. the spleen was puffed up and tough, leathery, like a globe of smoked salami. she did not see any bloody lesions inside this monkey. she had expected that the monkey's interior would be a lake of blood, but no, this monkey looked all right, it had not bled into itself.
which strategy would be most in determining the meaning of the word “scalpel”?
a replacing “scalpel” with the nearby synonym “blade”
b substituting the word “object” for the word “scalpel”
c using context clues “away from her gloved fingers”
d becoming familiar with prefixes, roots, and suffixes

The correct answer is A. Replacing “scalpel” with the nearby synonym “blade”

Explanation:

In texts, it is common to encounter unfamiliar or unknown words and these can be understood by using different strategies such as determining the meaning of a word based on the prefixes or suffixes that are part of it, using context clues provided by the words that surround the unknown word and even replacing the word by a familiar word if it provided.

In the case of the excerpt presented the unknown word is "scalpel" and this word is part of the section "She took up a scalpel and slit the monkey's abdomen, making a slow and gentle cut, keeping the blade well away from her gloved fingers", in this sentence the word "scalpel" is used to describe the object to cut the monkey's abdomen in the first sentence but then it is replaced by the word "blade" in the second sentence.

This means the excerpt provides the word "blade" which is a more familiar sentence to understand the unknown word "scalpel" and because of this the most helpful and simple way for knowing the meaning of scalpel is "replacing “scalpel” with the nearby synonym “blade” that is provided in the text and has a similar meaning to the unknown word.

A replacing “scalpel” with the nearby synonym “blade”

Glad i could help!

Morgan T. Malice