22

STUDENT ACTIVITY
TYPES OF CONTEXT CLUES
There are several types of clues to help you guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word from its context.
1. Definition: Often a sentence will contain the actual definition of the word.
For example:
People who suffer from acrophobia, or the fear of heights, shouldnt climb mountains.
The exact definition of acrophobia is given to you in the sentence.
2. Example-Illustration: Often, a sentence will provide many examples and details which help you see
and understand the word even if you dont know the exact definition. For example:
Mr. Jones is a real recluse. He lives alone on the edge of town and he never comes out of his house
except to go to work.
Its easy to get a picture of recluse from these sentences. It must mean a person who is alone and
isolated.
3. Contrast: Sometimes an unknown word is used in contrast to a word that you do know or that is
explained in the sentence. For example:
Unlike Professor Dixon, who is extremely nervous, Professor Benton is very placid.
Even if you dont know the meaning of placid, it has to be the opposite of nervous, so placid
must mean calm or relaxed.
4. Logic: Your knowledge about the world or of a particular situation can help you understand a word you
dont know. For example:
The baby-sitter put a pacifier in the babys mouth and suddenly little Jimmy stopped crying.
Common knowledge about infant care will help you understand the pacifier is the little piece of rubber
on a ring that is used to calm down a crying baby.
5. Latin and Greek Word Parts: Even if you dont have all these stems, prefixes and suffixes memo-
rized, if you know a few of them, you will have clues about many unfamiliar words. For example:
Many politicians still favor the use of geothermal energy.
23
The prefix geo may remind you of the word geography, so you have a clue that the word has something
to do with the earth. The stem therm may remind you of words like thermometer or thermos, so
there is a clue that the word is related to heat. In fact, geothermal refers to energy that is produced by the
earths heat.
6. Grammar: When you know the part of speech of an unfamiliar word, you know a lot about that word.
For example:
On a computer, you can change a word by simply moving the cursor to the place where you want to
make the change.
Here the article the gives you a clue that the unfamiliar word must be a noun. Knowing this helps you
limit your guess to nouns only. You dont need to think about other parts of speech, so your guessing is
much easier.