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Guessing Meaning From Context

This document discusses techniques for guessing the meaning of unknown words from context clues. It explains that when readers encounter difficult words, they can often infer the meaning from the surrounding sentences rather than looking the word up. The document provides examples of different types of context clues like synonyms, antonyms, examples, and general knowledge that can help readers determine a word's definition. It also contains exercises for students to practice identifying context clues and guessing word meanings.

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Mersan Benson
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751 views

Guessing Meaning From Context

This document discusses techniques for guessing the meaning of unknown words from context clues. It explains that when readers encounter difficult words, they can often infer the meaning from the surrounding sentences rather than looking the word up. The document provides examples of different types of context clues like synonyms, antonyms, examples, and general knowledge that can help readers determine a word's definition. It also contains exercises for students to practice identifying context clues and guessing word meanings.

Uploaded by

Mersan Benson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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YAŞAR UNIVERSITY SoFL

2021-22 / TRACK 1
DELTA / INTERMEDIATE
READING SKILLS / GUESSING MEANING FROM CONTEXT
Guessing Meaning from Context

No matter what level students are in, they often come across difficult words in texts they
are exposed to. The first thing that a learner does to understand a difficult word is to look
it up using the dictionary. There are; however, techniques learners may use to get the
meaning of such vocabulary items without a dictionary. One of these techniques is guessing
meaning from context.

Building a powerful vocabulary means more than learning new words. Sometimes it is
necessary to try to figure out a word from the context. Context is the sentence or sentences
around a word. Obviously, you do not have a dictionary in the exam, so there are likely to
be a lot of words in the reading text that you do not know. If you come across a word you
are not familiar with, you cannot spend a lot of time figuring out its meaning because you
only have a limited time for each reading text in the exam. Therefore, guessing meaning
from context is a necessary technique.

Guessing meaning from context means the ability to infer the meaning of an expression
using contextual clues. These clues may be purely linguistic or situational, this means you
should be able to infer the meaning of an unknown word using:
1. the meaning of vocabulary items that surrounds it;
2. the way the word is formed;
3. background knowledge of the subject and the situation.

Techniques for Guessing Meaning

You can use the relation between different items within a text to get the meaning. Your
prior knowledge of the world may also contribute to understand what an expression
means.
§ Synonyms and definitions:
§ Kingfishers are a group of medium-sized brightly coloured birds.
§ When he made insolent remarks towards his teacher they sent him to the principal
for being disrespectful.
§ Antonym and contrast
§ He loved her so much for being so kind to him. By contrast, he abhorred her
mother.
§ Cause and effect
§ He was disrespectful towards other members. That’s why he was penalized.
§ Parts of speech
§ Whether the word is a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb, functioning as a
subject, a predicate or a complement.
§ Examples
§ Trojan is an example of a computer virüs.
§ Word forms (the morphological properties of the word)
§ Getting information from prefixes and suffixes to understand a word
misunderstand, careless, replay...
§ General knowledge
§ The French constitution establishes laïcité as a system of government where there is
a strict separation of church and state.
Choose the correct meaning of the underlined word.

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YAŞAR UNIVERSITY SoFL
2021-22 / TRACK 1
DELTA / INTERMEDIATE
READING SKILLS / GUESSING MEANING FROM CONTEXT

1. Our team's goalkeeper has a few eccentric habits, he never wears socks, never eats more
than three olives when he has breakfast and always carries an umbrella.
A) normal
B) strange
C) messy

2. After the heavy rains, the river became murky; in fact, you couldn't see the bottom.
A) unclear
B) bottomless
C) clear

3. The debris on the stadium floor included numerous paper cups, tickets, and cigarettes.
A) products
B) papers
C) trash

4. The coach takes every opportunity to censure his players, but he never says good
words about them.
A) approve of
B) criticize
C) choose

5. The newlyweds agreed to be very frugal in their shopping because they wanted to save
enough money to buy a house.
A) economical
B) wasteful
C) interested

6. Although Alex usually looks unkempt, he looked very clean at the interview, he even
wore a jacket and a tie.
A) orderly
B) handsome
C) messy

Now that you know what guessing meaning from context is, let’s do something a bit more
challenging. Here, we practise comparison /contrast clues. Let’s remember them.
Sometimes you can figure out the meaning of a word because the sentence contains words
such as also or like that indicate a comparison between two similar ideas.

Example: John was astounded when he won first prize, and I was also surprised.
The word also gives you the clue that astounded means the same as surprised.

Sometimes you can figure out the meaning of a word because the sentence contains words
such as but or however that indicate a contrast between two opposite ideas.

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YAŞAR UNIVERSITY SoFL
2021-22 / TRACK 1
DELTA / INTERMEDIATE
READING SKILLS / GUESSING MEANING FROM CONTEXT

Example: My jeans are filthy, but my T-shirt is clean.


The word but gives you the clue that filthy means the opposite of clean.

Directions: Sort the following words into the comparison or contrast category.

too similar to unlike not on the other hand

although like and but related in


contrast
Comparison Contrast

Use the comparison and contrast clues to guess the meaning of the underlined word in
each of the following sentences.

1. Like my father’s commands, my mother’s orders seem reasonable.


___________________________________________________________________________
2. The whole team was let down when we lost the game, and the coach was just as
disappointed.
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Lisa is a diligent student, but her sister doesn’t work hard in school.
___________________________________________________________________________
4. My father plans to retire when he turns 65. On the other hand, my mother plans to
keep working.
___________________________________________________________________________
5. Although my cat is usually lethargic on hot days, he has lots of energy today.
___________________________________________________________________________

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YAŞAR UNIVERSITY SoFL
2021-22 / TRACK 1
DELTA / INTERMEDIATE
READING SKILLS / GUESSING MEANING FROM CONTEXT
Match the underlined bold words with their meanings. Use comparison and contrast
clues where necessary.

McDonald’s Boss Dies Suddenly


The (1) chief executive, the very loved boss of McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast-food (2)
chain, has died from a heart attack. Jim Cantalupo, 60, was taken ill during a meeting of franchise
owners in Orlando, Florida, the company said. His death is a shock to McDonald’s at a time when
the chain is trying to (3) shed its image as a supplier of high-fat, high-salt and high-sugar food
because this image was a bit negative.
In his 16 months at this position, Mr Cantalupo tried to address criticisms that McDonald’s had a
role in the obesity in the US and Europe as well as slowing its expansion programme and closing
hundreds of (4) under-performing restaurants. When Mr Cantalupo became chief executive last
year McDonald’s was in the (5) doldrums. Changing tastes and the mad cow disease were the main
reasons for this. In December 2002, McDonald’s (6) went into the red for the first time in its 48-year
history, this was a financial crisis for the company. So, Mr Cantalupo, a former vice-chairman and
president, who had (7) retired a year earlier, was brought back as the new boss.

a. A group of shops or restaurants owned by the same company: _____________


b. Lose money: _________________
c. Failing: _________________
d. Manager: _________________
e. Give up a position: _________________
f. Change: _________________
h. Distress, black mood: _________________
• Mikulecky, Beatrice and Linda Jeffries. Advanced Reading Power. White Plains: Pearson Education, 2007.
• Blanchard, Karen and Christine Root. Ready to Read Now: A Skills-Based Reader. White Plains: Pearson Education, 2005.
• http://www.myenglishpages.com/blog/guessing-meaning-from-context/
• http://www.grammarbank.com/context-clues-worksheet.html

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