Vocabulary in Context

CONTEXT refers to the words surrounding an unfamiliar word. These surrounding words provide clues to the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Using context clues to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words helps by:

1.    Saving time since you don’t have to look the word up in the dictionary.
2.    Giving you a good sense of how a word is actually used.

There are four common types of context clues:

1.    Examples:

Sometimes a word's or phrase's meaning is explained immediately following its use.  Example:

"Etymology, which is the study of the origin of words, finds many teachers taking a direct approach when unraveling the mysteries of vocabulary studies."

2.    Synonyms:

Sometimes a challenging word or phrase is clarified in simpler language. Example:

"Maryam felt as though she had been punished when Fatima admonished her for fighting at school."

3.    Antonyms:

Sometimes a word or phrase is clarified by the presentation of the opposite meaning somewhere close to its use. Look for signal words when applying context  clues. Example:

"Raschid thought that his mother's recovery was futile, but Noora remained faithful to the course of her mother's restored health."

4.    General Sense of the Sentence of Passage :

Sometimes a word or phrase is not immediately clarified within the same sentence. Relationships, which are not directly apparent, are inferred or implied. The reader must look for clues within, before, and after the sentence in which the word is used. Example:

"Dementia almost overcame Mohammed when he stepped off the plane in  LA  and felt completely crazy when he realized how different his new life would be."

The following is a sample lesson. Using context clues for help, choose the letter of the best meaning for each italicized word. Write your choices on a piece of paper so you can check your answers after. For an extra "thrill", try to match one of the four context clue types to each sentence.

1.     To carry out his economic programs, Roosevelt had to contend with a Supreme Court that was deeply opposed to them.

a.    travel
b.    surrender
c.    struggle
d.    join

2.     Being unable to write clearly in a liability in a business career, for which one must often express opinions and ideas in writing.

a.    drawback
b.    surprise
c.    necessity
d.    penalty

3.     The idea that off-track betting will work in Alaska because it works in New York is a questionable analogy.  New York and Alaska may not be alike when it comes to off-track betting.

a.    comparison
b.    purpose
c.    contrast
d.    requirement

4.    Indigenous life forms—the cactus and the camel in the desert, the polar bear and the seal in the Arctic , and so on—are suited to their environment in very specific ways.

a.    native
b.    dangerous
c.    extinct
d.    recent

5.     There is an optimum way to approach each kind of exam question.  For a multiple-choice item, for example, first eliminate any clearly wrong answers.  For an essay question, jot down an outline first.

a.    inconvenient
b.    best
c.    annoying
d.    time-consuming

6.     Studies indicate that a predisposition to schizophrenia is inherited.  People who are schizophrenic are more likely than others to have schizophrenic children.

a.    tendency
b.    understanding
c.    fear
d.    avoidance

7.   By giving military aid to dictatorships in Latin America, the United States has seemed to sanction their cruel policies.

a.    criticize
b.    approve
c.    remember
d.    create

8.     A provocative question can be an effective way to open an essay.  Students have begun essays with such interesting questions as, "What do you think your name means?" and "How long do you think it would take you to count to one billion?"

a.    funny
b.    arousing interest
c.    unanswerable
d.    very brief

9.     Manic depression is an emotional disorder in which the patient alternates between feeling delightfully euphoric and being plunged into deep gloom.

a.    overjoyed
b.    bored
c.    exhausted
d.    curious

10.   What makes up a true work of art?  Although no single criterion seems adequate, the novelist James Joyce suggested three standards: "wholeness, harmony and radiance."

a.    novel
b.    question
c.    artist
d.    standard

ANSWERS