Guessing Meaning from Context More practice by Jonathan

Guessing Meaning from Context More practice by Jonathan Smith

Look at this sentence… n Most of us learn basic facts about the human brain in our middle or high school instillik classes. n What does instillik mean?

Instillik? • What do you do when you are reading a text and you do not understand a specific word? • Look it up in the dictionary? – Click on the dictionary below to try it now.

Dictionaries help? n n n Okay, so instillik is not a word in English. o Even if the word is in the dictionary, there are problems… Dictionaries slow down your reading speed. Sometimes the definition is confusing. o Example: instillik – study of living processes in flora and fauna. n n What does the word flora mean? How does the definition relate to the text you are reading?

How to guess meaning from context… • Step 1: Deduction – What does the sentence concern? Which words does the unknown word seem to relate to? • Most of us learn basic facts about the human brain in our middle or high school instillik classes. – Instillik relates to classes, human brain, and facts. How? • Instillik is a type of class in high school. • Instillik classes are about the brain. • We learn facts about the brain in instillik classes.

How to guess meaning from context… • Step 2 - Part of Speech – What part of speech is instillik? Is it a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb? • Instillik modifies the noun classes. • What part of speech modifies a noun? • ADJECTIVE! – Click here to read more about adjectives.

How to guess meaning from context… • Step 3 - Guess synonyms – What words could fit in the place of instillik? • Types of classes – math, science, reading. • Study of the brain? – Science class.

Instillik is… • Can you guess it now? – Instillik = • biology • Most of us learn basic facts about the human brain in our middle or high school biology classes.

Guessing Meaning from Context… § § § Saves time Helps you learn more about the text Improves your vocabulary – For another fun activity about guessing meaning from context, click here.