1 Vocabulary in Context
Learn to infer unfamiliar word meanings from surrounding text, meaningful word parts, and relationships between ideas, then check whether a proposed meaning fits.
Use
are information in the surrounding words, sentences, or passage that helps explain an unfamiliar word. Different kinds of clues point toward a possible meaning:
Definition or restatement: “The path was perilous—dangerous and difficult to travel.” The restatement indicates that perilous means dangerous.
Example: “Nocturnal animals, such as owls and bats, are active at night.” The examples suggest that nocturnal means active at night.
Contrast: “Unlike her timid brother, who avoided attention, Lena confidently addressed the crowd.” The contrast suggests that timid means shy or hesitant.
Cause or result: “The sidewalk was slick, so several people nearly slipped.” The result suggests that slick means slippery.
Description: “The kitten was frail, too weak to climb the steps.” The description suggests that frail means weak or delicate.
Examine word parts
Many words contain meaningful parts that can help you predict their meanings. A comes at the beginning of a word; re- often means “again,” as in reread. A carries the central meaning: read is the in reread. A comes at the end and may change a word’s meaning or grammatical role; -less means “without,” as in fearless, or “without fear.” A is a meaningful word element shared by related words: spect relates to looking or seeing in inspect and spectator.
Combine familiar parts to make a prediction, then test it against the sentence. For example, disagree contains dis-, meaning “not” or “opposite,” and agree, so disagree means to have a different opinion. Word-part clues are helpful, but they do not always reveal a word’s full or exact meaning.
Read relationships and
Signal words show how ideas connect and can narrow a word’s possible meaning. But, however, and unlike often signal contrast; because and therefore signal cause and result; such as and for example introduce examples.
Also consider : the subtle difference in meaning or feeling between related words. Thin, slender, and skinny all describe a small width, but slender often sounds positive, while skinny can sound critical. The best interpretation depends on the sentence and situation.
Test and verify a meaning
Mark the unfamiliar word, reread its sentence, and check nearby sentences for more clues. Propose a meaning and reread the sentence with that meaning in place. If it does not fit, revise your guess. Sometimes the context is too limited to settle the meaning, so check a dictionary or glossary to confirm it.
In “The hikers were exhausted; they had walked for hours without a break,” the second clause provides a clue: the long walk suggests that exhausted means extremely tired. The semicolon links the explanation to the word. Replacing exhausted with “extremely tired” preserves the sentence’s meaning.