Reading Concept Hand-out Context Clues for New Vocabulary
What is the best way to learn new vocabulary? Contrary to popular belief, the best way to build your vocabulary is not a dictionary. The best way to build vocabulary is to read. Quite simply, the more you read, the more words you will encounter, and the more words you will become familiar with. But how can we understand what we are reading if we don’t stop to look up the words we don’t know? And how do we increase our reading speed if we have to stop and look up so many words? The answer is in the context. CONTEXT CLUES Oftentimes, an alert reader can figure out the meaning of unknown words from the context of the reading itself. Context refers to the sentence or sentences that surround the unknown word. It may include a part of a sentence, a whole sentence, or even a whole paragraph. Consider the following: Yesterday, when I went to the osmotle to buy some wattish for dinner, I saw a slamret I knew when I was 10 years old. He smiled and was very ovish to see me, but I was amvish to see him because I had some bad dosilums from the last time I had seen him. In the paragraph above, the words in italics are clearly not English, nor any other known language. But you could probably make an educated guess as to what they mean. You probably guessed that an osmotle was a type of store and wattish is a type of food. A slamret is a person, maybe a friend or acquaintance, and ovish might mean happy. These may not be the precise meanings, but they are pretty close. How did you make these guesses? What exactly in the paragraph above helped you determine these meanings? By understanding the context – the text surrounding the vocabulary – you could make these guesses, not only about the meaning but also about the type of word. That is, you probably guessed that osmotle, wattish, and slamret are nouns while ovish is an adjective. TYPES OF CONTEXT CLUES As you can see, being able to identify context clues will help you understand new vocabulary without turning to a dictionary every time. There are four different types of context clues: 1. definition or synonym clues
Fong/Huerta Source: A Community of Readers
Reading Concept Hand-out Context Clues for New Vocabulary
2. example clues 3. information clues 4. comparison/contrast clues Definition Clues A definition clue is context in which the definition of the word is actually provided in the text. Sometimes the definition is in the form of an explanation while sometimes it’s in the form of a synonym – a word that means the same thing as another word. Definition clues are easiest to recognize because they are often set apart in the text by punctuation or visual clues. Between or after commas: Computer output, useable information in the form of text or graphics, is generated by the computer when it processes input data. Between dashes: Output devices show people the processed data – information – in understandable and usable form. (Capron, Computers) In parentheses: Computers perform millions of instructions per second. To measure computer speed, we use nanoseconds (billionths of a second). A definition clue can also follow certain words, such as means, consists of, is called, or that is. For example: The equipment associated with a computer system is called hardware. In this example, hardware is the vocabulary word and the underlined text is its definition. Example Clues Example clues are exactly that: examples. Consider the following paragraph and the vocabulary word, applications. Most computer applications, such as word processing, are more convenient to use on a faster machine. Many applications that use graphics and computations, such as statistical programs, graphic design programs, and many computer games, require faster machines to produce satisfactory results. (Beekman, Computer Confluence) What examples of applications are provided? Based on these examples, what is the definition of applications?
Fong/Huerta Source: A Community of Readers
Reading Concept Hand-out Context Clues for New Vocabulary
Information Clues Often you can understand an unfamiliar word based on the rest of the information in the surrounding sentences or group of sentences. Sometimes the text itself explains what the word is or does. Input devices accept data or commands in a form that the computer can use; they send the data or commands to the processing unit. (Capron, Computers) The sentence above explains what input devices do. We can define them, then, as parts of the computer that accept data in a form that the computer can use. Contrast Clues Contrast clues give us a hint as to the meaning of a word by telling us what it is not. To identify these types of clues, look for words such as: but in contrast to although on the other hand however unlike
E.g., Unlike public domain software, copyrighted software must be purchased and cannot be copied. In the sentence above, we know that public domain software is unlike copyrighted software. The information given about copyrighted software is that it must be purchased and it cannot be copied. What can we conclude, then, is the meaning of public domain software?
Now that you are familiar with the different types of context clues, here’s a question to consider: for those times when you do need to look up a word in the dictionary, how might context help you find the right definition?
Fong/Huerta Source: A Community of Readers