in today's lesson we are going to learn
about context clues if you want to
improve your reading comprehension then
being aware that context is what gives
meaning to the author's words is the key
to comprehending complex text context
clues are hints that the author gives us
to determine the meaning of unknown
words or phrases sometimes understanding
what we read can be confusing if the
author uses vocabulary words that we are
not familiar with but did you know that
you can usually determine the meaning of
most words from the context it's true
most authors give us clues to help us
understand what they're writing this is
why it is so important that you know the
major types of context clues and how to
use them let's take a look at context
clues that you can use to improve your
comprehension skills number one
definition or explanation and a
definition or explanation context clue
the unknown word is equated to a more
familiar word or phrase usually a form
of the verb to be is used as in this
example entomology is the study of
insects in this example the verb is Lynx
entomology - study of insects number 2
punctuation when you use punctuation the
meaning of the word is usually right
after the unfamiliar word and it is
often separated from the rest of the
sentence with commas dashes or
parentheses sometimes the word or that
is or in other words is also used let's
look at these three examples carnivores
or meat eaters are at the top of the
food chain you'll notice that the phrase
or meat-eaters encased in commas is used
to define the word carnivores let's look
at the next example she enjoyed biology
the study of living things in this
example biology means the study of
living things
how do we know because it is in
parentheses let's look at another
example
Australia is home to many interesting
marsupials kangaroos koalas wombats and
Tasmanian devils are among the most
commonly known the punctuation used here
is the colon the colon is used to give
examples of marsupials the third contact
clue would be contrast or antonym
context clues when an author uses
contrast or antonyms context clues the
unfamiliar word is shown to be different
from or unlike another word and is often
an opposite the words but however
although otherwise unless instead on the
contrary on the other hand while never
know or not may be used to signal the
contrast let's look at this example
Mike's parrot was loquacious but Maria's
said very little we see the use of the
word but to contrast Mike's loquacious
parrot to Maria's parrot who says very
little
therefore loquacious must mean talkative
let's look at another example although
the English language seems difficult to
learn it is actually much easier than
you think in this example the word
although signals the contrast the fourth
context clues is comparison when you use
this context clue remember that the
unfamiliar word is shown to be the same
as or like another word look for signal
words like - like as similar to or in
the same way let's look at this example
my brother is enthralled by birds in the
same way that I am fascinated by insects
the words in the same way signal
comparison therefore we must understand
that enthralled means nearly the same as
fascinated let's go on to the fifth
context clue and this is example when
the author gives an example the
unfamiliar word is cleared up by using
signal words such as for instance such
as for example let's look at this
example the archaeologists found
different amulets such as a rabbit's
foot and bags of herbs near the book of
spells we can infer that an amulet must
be something related to charms and
spells
the sixth type of context clue is the
list or the series the unfamiliar word
is included in a series of related words
that give an idea of the words meaning
here you can also go back to the
punctuation context clues because you
will see the commas let's look at the
example North American predators include
grizzly bears
Pumas wolves and foxes the next type of
context clue is cause-and-effect the
meaning of an unfamiliar word is
signaled by a cause and effect
relationship between ideas in the text
let's look at this example due to a
dearth of termites the aardvark starved
to death
we can infer that aardvarks eat termites
if not it would not have starved to
death and obviously if there is a dearth
of termites that means there aren't a
lot of termites for the aardvark to eat
the last type of context clue is a
general inference or logic type of
context clue the meaning of an
unfamiliar word can be inferred from the
description of a situation or experience
for example the monkeys vociferous
chatter made me wish I had earplugs on
let's look at the word vociferous if I
need earplugs the monkey is being very
loud
to summarize context clues help you
unlock the meaning of a word sentence or
paragraph there are eight main types of
context clues definition or explanation
punctuation contrast or antonyms
comparison example Lister series
cause-and-effect general inference or
logic learning how to use context clues
is an effective strategy that good
readers have in their reading toolbox by
using context clues you not only improve
your comprehension skills but you can
build up your vocabulary as well we hope
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