Chapter 6: DEFINING FROM CONTEXT
CONTEXT is the circumstances around a situation or event that
can shed light of its meaning. You can use context to figure out the
meaning of an unfamiliar word or phrase.
EXAMPLE:
To get to Piccadilly Circus, walk to the station on the corner and
take the Tube three stops.
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HUH?!
THINK:
If you don't know what "the Tube" is, you can use context clues from the sentence to figure it out.
The words "station" and "stops" help yourealize it's a train, like the subway in
New York City or the Metro in Paris!
You can use context to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word
or phrase in a fiction text. The information surrounding it, and the
words you do know, are clues to its meaning.
EXAMPLE:
We lived on Waverly Place, a warm, clean, two-bedroom flat that sat
above a small Chinese bakery specializing in steamed pastries and dim sum.
In the early morning, when the alley was still quiet, I could smell fragrant
red beans as they were cooked down to pastry sweetness.
- Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
What does the word fragrant mean? If you're not sure, look for context clues in the passage:
~ Fragrant is used to describe the scent of red beans.
~ The narrator describes the red bean smell as sweet.
~ The narrator smells the red beans from her apartment,
above the bakery.
So, fragrant likely means a strong, pleasant smell.
Context clues can also help you understand nonfiction texts.
EXAMPLE:
In the afternoon of that day, we reached Annapolis, the capital of the State.
It was the first large town that I had ever seen. I thought it a wonderful place
for its size---- more imposing even than the Great House Farm!
- Fredrick Douglass,
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass
To figure out what the word imposing means, look at the context
clues around it:
~ Douglass describes Annapolis as a "large" town and "wonderful"
place.
~ He observes Annapolis is bigger than the Great House Farm, the
plantation where he was once enslaved.
Imposing likely means big, impressive, and grand!
Hurray! You finished Chapter 6! Way to go! (너 대단해!) |
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