Context Clues  

 

 How to Guess the Meaning of Unknown Words

Step 1: Decide if you need to know the meaning of the word in order to understand the sentence 
or the paragraph. If you do, then try to guess the meaning from context. If you don’t, then SKIP OVER
 the word. Forget it.

Because of the heat, Martin collapsed.
What happened to Martin?
Do you need to know the meaning of this word?

Yes! If you do not know, you will not know what happened to Martin.

Because of the heat, Martin decided to collapse on the couch instead of going outside.
What happened to Martin?
Do you need to know the meaning of this word?
No. Martin decided not to go outside. He is going to stay on the couch. That is all the reader needs to know about
Martin. So there is no need to understand what "collapsed" means.

 
Step 2: If there is a word that you don’t know BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO UNDERSTAND the sentence or the paragraph, you should imagine that there is a blank line there. Then substitute a word that you know in the space. This word will probably be similar in meaning to the word that you don’t know, as long as the sentence still makes sense.

In the following paragraph, some words have been left out. Read all the sentences; then go back and fill in the words you think belong in the blanks.

When Columbus made his second                          to the new                     in 1494, he sailed too far south, missing Hispaniola, and reaching Jamaica. He went ashore to find fresh water for his                         , discovered a lake within walking distance, and ordered his sailors to fill the casks with fresh                      . He knew it was fresh for he had                       it himself.

 

You probably had little trouble choosing words to fill in the blanks to make sense of the sentences because of the help you got from the context. 

The words are: voyage, world, crew, water, tasted.

When you see an unfamiliar word in your reading, just pretend there is a blank there instead of a word and fill it in with a word of your own that makes sense in the sentence. In many cases, the word you choose will be close in meaning to the word you don't know.

 

Direct Context Clues

(1) Many U.S. companies are downsizing -- or reducing the number of employees -- order to say money and increase the amount of profit that the companies can make.

(2) Sports are universal, and very few people have not succumbed, or given in, to their lure at one time or another.

(3) The restaurant specializes in European gourmet foods such as paella (a rice based dish from Spain), crepes (an egg based food from France), and torte (a fruit pastry dish from Germany).

These sentences contain an unfamiliar word, but also include a word or phrase which directly explains or defines the word. These words or phrases are called DIRECT CONTEXT CLUES. They may be set off by dashes (as in example 1), or commas (as in 2), or by parentheses (as in 3) or other punctuation.

 

 

Indirect Context Clues

Sometimes there are no direct context clues; that is, there is no explanation or definition given in the sentence. But you may still be able to guess to meaning of the word that you do not know. For example, have you ever been on a diet? If you have, then you have personal experience that may help you to guess the meanings of some of the following words.

1) You've gone diet after diet yet still haven't shed those unwanted pounds, or -- worse -- your weight it actually going up!

In this sentence, the best meaning for shed is:

a) taken in
b) taken off
c) put on 
d) put in

Remember to use the substitution method -- especially if you are given multiple choice questions. Put each answer in place of the underlined word and decide which one makes the best sense.

You've gone diet after diet yet still haven't taken in those unwanted pounds, or -- worse -- your weight it actually going up!

You've gone diet after diet yet still haven't taken off those unwanted pounds, or -- worse -- your weight it actually going up!

You've gone diet after diet yet still haven't put on those unwanted pounds, or -- worse -- your weight it actually going up!

You've gone diet after diet yet still haven't put in those unwanted pounds, or -- worse -- your weight it actually going up!

As you can see, only one answer, "b" makes sense when substituted in the sentence.

2) The problem could be your metabolism -- your body's "operating speed" -- which determines the rate at which you burn calories.

Metabolism is:

This context clue is:

a) direct
b) indirect

 

3) If you have fast metabolism, you'll burn calories quickly and easily. If your metabolism runs slowly, no matter how little you eat, a greater portion of the calories you consume will be stored as fat.

The best meaning for portion is:

a) quality
b) particle
c) amount
d) bigger

The best meaning for consume is:

a) contain
b) eat
c) condition
d) have

These context clues are:

a) direct
b) indirect

 

4) But don't give up. Recent research shows it's possible to rev up a sluggish metabolism so you can burn calories and lose weight faster.

Sluggish means:

a) quick
b) strange
c) lazy
d) slow

 

5) In addition to slow metabolism, other essential factors can make or break your diet.

Essential means:

a) important
b) unnecessary
c) eager
d) eating

 

6) Take temptation for instance. Is it impossible for you to stick to a diet because you can't resist eating too many of the wrong things?

Temptation comes from the verb tempt, which means:

a) to test, try
b) to tell, say
c) to overeat
d) to react

 

Resist means:

a) pertain
b) withstand
c) react
d) avoid

 

Keep in mind that you may not need to guess the meaning of every word that you see. As you begin to read faster, you should guess the meaning of words that you do not know by using the context clues given. It takes too long to look up many words in the dictionary. But there are times when you do not need to guess the meaning of a word either -- you can skip over the word completely.

 

 

When to Use Context Clues, When to Use the Dictionary and When to Skip Over a Word

There is no rule! You -- the reader -- must decide whether a word is important to the meaning of what you are reading or not. If the word is important, then you should first try to guess its meaning. If that doesn’t work, then you must look the word up in the dictionary. On the other hand, if the word is not important, then skip over the word completely.

So how do you know if a word is important or not? Here are a few guidelines to help you decide.

  • If you cannot understand the Main Idea without understanding a word, then it is important.
  • If the word is in the title or one of the subtitles, it is probably important.
  • If the word is the subject or main verb of a sentence, it may be important.
  • If the word is repeated several times, it may be important.
  • If you do not feel comfortable without knowing a word, then it is important to you, so guess at it!
  •  

Practice:  Is the underlined word in the following sentences important or unimportant? Do you need to understand the word in order to understand the entire sentence?

Leo ate so much fettucine that he could not eat another bite. He felt like his stomach would explode.

Is fetticine important?

a) yes
b) no

 

What can you guess about this word? It must be a kind of food because we know that Leo ate so much of it, but do you need to know what kind of food it is? No -- so this is not important.

Is explode important?

a) yes
b) no

 

What can you guess about this word? How does Leo’s stomach feel? How would your stomach feel if you ate "so much" of something? You may not know the meaning of this word, but you can guess that Leo’s stomach is full of food and he feels uncomfortable because of that. In this case, the word explode is important in order to understand how Leo feels, so you need to guess at the meaning of this word.

Context Clues or the Dictionary?

Once you have decided that a word is important to understand the meaning of the sentence or paragraph, you must either use context clues or use the dictionary. Start with context clues because it is faster and easier to guess -- especially if a direct context clue is given. Use the dictionary only if it is impossible to guess from the context because consulting the dictionary will cause you to stop reading completely to look up a word.

Context Clues help you guess the meaning of unknown words as you read, to save you time, effort and trouble - no one has time to look up every word in the dictionary! You should be able to tell when the context gives you enough clues to guess the meaning, and when the context is not enough. Not all unfamiliar words will have adequate context clues. At times you may HAVE to consult the DICTIONARY!

 

 

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