Welcome back to the English Portal blog! This week, we are going to review one of our reading skills: being able to guess meaning from context. In our introduction to this topic, we focused on standard vocabulary. In another lesson, we focused on guessing the meaning of some different idioms. This week we are going to return to focusing on ‘normal’ vocabulary that is not idiomatic.
Let’s briefly review why it is so valuable for English language learners to be able to guess meaning from context. First, you don’t always have a dictionary, a native English speaker or a teacher with you, so it is important to feel confident in this skill. Obviously, in our 21st century world, many people often have a gadget that allows them to access the Internet, and, by extension, any online dictionary. However, ‘often’ isn’t the same as ‘always’, and besides, as we noted previously, even if you always have a dictionary, stopping constantly to look up new words can take the fun out of reading or simply slow your progress. Maybe most importantly, possessing this skill gives you the freedom and the confidence to approach a wide variety of different texts.
Let’s do a few examples and then have a look at an exercise!
We can begin with one of our sentences from above.
Example 1:
Obviously, in our 21st century world, many people often have a gadget that allows them to access the Internet, and, by extension, any online dictionary.
Our focus here is to guess the meaning of the word ‘gadget’. This is a common English word but also one that is not always included in English textbooks.
Our first goal is to determine the part of speech. If you would like to review that topic, definitely check out our previous blog post about parts of speech. Determining the part of speech will be very helpful in guessing the meaning of the word. In this case, we have a useful clue, the article ‘a’ that directly precedes ‘gadget’. We can conclude in this case that ‘gadget’ is a noun because it comes after ‘a’. Remember, however, that this is not always true. Sometimes there could be another word between ‘a’ and the noun, like an adjective. Note this example: ‘She has a red sweater’. In this case, we have ‘a’ + adjective (red) + noun (sweater).
In our example, there isn’t another noun immediately following ‘gadget’, so we can probably conclude that ‘gadget’ is a noun. We can also see that ‘gadget’ is the object of a clause: people (subject) + have (verb) + gadget (object), so we know that a ‘gadget’ is something that people possess.
It is likely that our most valuable information is the clause that describes ‘gadget’: ‘allows them to access the Internet’. Now we have a lot of context. Only a relatively small group of nouns are things that allow us to access the Internet. In a sense, all of these nouns are the answer to our question. A ‘gadget’ is not one specific item. ‘Gadget’ refers to a small piece of equipment or a device, so gadget (in this context) probably refers to a computer, a tablet or a smartphone. Another clue from this sentence that is useful is ‘21st century world’. This information implies that ‘gadget’ is something in a modern or technologically-advanced era.
Let’s try another one:
Example 2:
Shopping and spending habits have changed over the years, and using an outdated marketing strategy could prevent you from increasing your sales.
Having a lot of information is very helpful when guessing meaning from context. Fortunately, we have a quite a bit of context here. Part of speech? We have ‘an’, so maybe ‘outdated’ is a noun. However, if we look more closely, we can see that the next words are ‘marketing strategy’. ‘Strategy’ is a noun, so ‘marketing’ is a type of strategy, and ‘outdated’ is an adjective that describes this ‘marketing strategy’.
Now let’s look at connotation, which, as we noted in an earlier post, is the way that words ‘feel’ to us. What about ‘prevent you from increasing your sales’? Is this positive or negative? Definitely negative, yes? Yes, so this must mean that ‘using an outdated marketing strategy’ must also be negative. From this we can probably guess that ‘outdated’ might not be a positive thing.
What other information do we have? Shopping has ‘changed over the years’. This suggests time moving forward. ‘Changed’ suggests that a situation is not the same. ‘Outdated’ includes the root ‘date’, which also suggests a connection to time. From all these points, we can at least arrive at the conclusion that being ‘outdated’ is similar to being ‘old’ or ‘not current or modern’. We are close. If we go to the dictionary, we will likely see that ‘outdated’ means ‘old-fashioned’.
One more example:
Example 3
I love nonagenarians!
This example is just a joke. We don’t really have any context here, so guessing the meaning from context would be difficult or even impossible. In a case like this, we should recognize that our skill won’t help us as much as we would like.
What if there was some context outside the sentence, though?
Example 3 (expanded)
I went to visit my great-grandmother at her retirement community. We had tea with her friends. I love nonagenarians! They are so interesting to talk to.
Now we might be able to use this reading skill to help us. ‘Nonagenarians’ is the object of the verb ‘love’, and it ends in ‘s’, so we can conclude that it may be plural, especially since the next sentence uses the referent ‘they’. Context? We have ‘great-grandmother’, ‘retirement community’ and ‘interesting to talk to’. ‘Nonagenarians’ might be ‘old people’. Specifically, a ‘nonagenarian’ is a person whose age is between 90 and 99.
Even though ‘old people’ isn’t as specific as ‘person from age 90 to 99’, ‘old people’ is a logical guess that is close enough to the actual meaning. Remember that making a logical guess is the most important part of this skill. Our goal isn’t necessarily to arrive at a meaning that is identical to the one in the dictionary. We want to reach an understanding that makes the text that we are reading clear to us.
Alright, let’s try a new exercise. Look at the sentences and try to guess the part of speech and meaning of the underlined word. Try to makes some notes on paper and then check your answers.
Good luck!
1 It was difficult to interview the experienced politician because he had had a lot of practice at evading questions.
2 The post office is easy to find because it is adjacent to the gold statue in the town square.
3 Even though she is only nine years old, she is very intrepid and was not afraid to ride the roller coaster.
4 He decided not to attend the private university in New York City because the tuition was too high.
5 Reading legal documents can be difficult because they are filled with so much jargon.
6 Many people love Michelle Obama because they feel she is the epitome of intelligence and beauty.
7 Although she scrutinized his essay, she could not find a single grammatical mistake.
8 Unfortunately, right now they cannot afford to buy a new car.
9 My grandfather was illiterate because he left school at the age of ten to work on the family farm.
10 His teacher reproached him because of his terrible attendance record.
3
2
1
Answers
1
Part of speech: verb
Meaning: to avoid
2
Part of speech: adjective
Meaning: near, next to
3
Part of speech: adjective
Meaning: brave, fearless
4
Part of speech: noun
Meaning: cost to attend school
5
Part of speech: noun
Meaning: language used my specific groups of people that is difficult to understand
6
Part of speech: noun
Meaning: perfect or ideal example of something
7
Part of speech: verb
Meaning: examine very carefully
8
Part of speech: verb
Meaning: be able to purchase
9
Part of speech: adjective
Meaning: unable to read
10
Part of speech: verb
Meaning: criticize someone
Remember, even if your answers are not exactly the same, the most important thing is that your answers are logical.
To see more detailed definitions and additional examples, have a look at one of these dictionaries:
Meriam-Webster:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beam
Cambridge:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/beam
We hope this has been helpful in reviewing how to guess meaning from context. A good goal moving forward is to try to read in English for a general understanding of a text without looking up as many words as you might want to. Finally, since not all reading you might do in English is enjoyable, try to find something in English to practice reading that is fun for you! Good luck!