By Fatskills Exam Guides Team — the exam nerds behind 28,500+ quizzes and 2.1M practice questions across 500+ global exams.
Words in Context Context Clues Familiarity with common prefixes, suffixes, and root words assists tremendously in unraveling the meaning of an unfamiliar word and making an educated guess as to its meaning. However, some words do not contain many easily-identifiable clues that point to their meaning. In this case, rather than looking at the elements within the word, it is useful to consider elements around the word—i.e., its context.
Context refers to the other words and information within the sentence or surrounding sentences that indicate the unknown word’s probable meaning.
The following sentences provide context for the potentially-unfamiliar word quixotic: Rebecca had never been one to settle into a predictable, ordinary life. Her quixotic personality led her to leave behind a job with a prestigious law firm in Manhattan and move halfway around the world to pursue her dream of becoming a sushi chef in Tokyo.
A reader unfamiliar with the word quixotic doesn’t have many clues to use in terms of affixes or root meaning. The suffix –ic indicates that the word is an adjective, but that is it. In this case, then, a reader would need to look at surrounding information to obtain some clues about the word. Other adjectives in the passage include predictable and ordinary, things that Rebecca was definitely not, as indicated by “Rebecca had never been one to settle.” Thus, a first clue might be that quixotic means the opposite of predictable.
The second sentence doesn’t offer any other modifier of personality other than quixotic, but it does include a story that reveals further information about her personality. She had a stable, respectable job, but she decided to give it up to follow her dream. Combining these two ideas together, then—unpredictable and dream-seeking—gives the reader a general idea of what quixotic probably means. In fact, the root of the word is the character Don Quixote, a romantic dreamer who goes on an impulsive adventure.
While context clues are useful for making an approximate definition for newly-encountered words, these types of clues also come in handy when encountering common words that have multiple meanings.
The word reservation is used differently in each the following sentences: A. That restaurant is booked solid for the next month; it’s impossible to make a reservation unless you know somebody. B. The hospital plans to open a branch office inside the reservation to better serve Native American patients who cannot easily travel to the main hospital fifty miles away. C. Janet Clark is a dependable, knowledgeable worker, and I recommend her for the position of team leader without reservation.
All three sentences use the word to express different meanings. In fact, most words in English have more than one meaning—sometimes meanings that are completely different from one another. Thus, context can provide clues as to which meaning is appropriate in a given situation.
A quick search in the dictionary reveals several possible meanings for reservation: 1. An exception or qualification 2. A tract of public land set aside, such as for the use of American Indian tribes 3. An arrangement for accommodations, such as in a hotel, on a plane, or at a restaurant
Sentence A mentions a restaurant, making the third definition the correct one in this case. In sentence B, some context clues include Native Americans, as well as the implication that a reservation is a place—“inside the reservation,” both of which indicate that the second definition should be used here. Finally, sentence C uses without reservation to mean “completely” or “without exception,” so the first definition can be applied here.
Using context clues in this way can be especially useful for words that have multiple, widely varying meanings. If a word has more than one definition and two of those definitions are the opposite of each other, it is known as an auto-antonym—a word that can also be its own antonym. In the case of auto-antonyms, context clues are crucial to determine which definition to employ in a given sentence. For example, the word sanction can either mean “to approve or allow” or “a penalty.” Approving and penalizing have opposite meanings, so sanction is an example of an auto-antonym.
The following sentences reflect the distinction in meaning: A. In response to North Korea’s latest nuclear weapons test, world leaders have called for harsher sanctions to punish the country for its actions. B. The general has sanctioned a withdrawal of troops from the area.
A context clue can be found in sentence A, which mentions “to punish.” A punishment is similar to a penalty, so sentence A is using the word sanction according to this definition. Other examples of auto-antonyms include oversight—“to supervise something” or “a missed detail,” resign—“to quit” or “to sign again, as a contract,” and screen—“to show” or “to conceal.” For these types of words, recognizing context clues is an important way to avoid misinterpreting the sentence’s meaning. Affixes Individual words are constructed from building blocks of meaning. An affix is an element that is added to a root or stem word that can change the word’s meaning.
For example, the stem word fix is a verb meaning to repair. When the ending –able is added, it becomes the adjective fixable, meaning “capable of being repaired.” Adding un– to the beginning changes the word to unfixable, meaning “incapable of being repaired.” In this way, affixes attach to the word stem to create a new word and a new meaning. Knowledge of affixes can assist in deciphering the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Affixes are also related to inflection. Inflection is the modification of a base word to express a different grammatical or syntactical function. For example, countable nouns such as car and airport become plural with the addition of –s at the end: cars and airports. Verb tense is also expressed through inflection. Regular verbs—those that follow a standard inflection pattern—can be changed to past tense using the affixes –ed, –d, or –ied, as in cooked and studied. Verbs can also be modified for continuous tenses by using –ing, as in working or exploring. Thus, affixes are used not only to express meaning but also to reflect a word’s grammatical purpose.
A prefix is an affix attached to the beginning of a word. The meanings of English prefixes mainly come from Greek and Latin origins.
The chart below contains a few of the most commonly used English prefixes.
While the addition of a prefix alters the meaning of the base word, the addition of a suffix may also affect a word’s part of speech. For example, adding a suffix can change the noun material into the verb materialize and back to a noun again in materialization.
Through knowledge of prefixes and suffixes, a student’s vocabulary can be instantly expanded with an understanding of etymology—the origin of words. This, in turn, can be used to add sentence structure variety to academic writing. Syntax Syntax refers to the arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses to form a sentence. Knowledge of syntax can also give insight into a word’s meaning. The section above considered several examples using the word reservation and applied context clues to determine the word’s appropriate meaning in each sentence. Here is an example of how the placement of a word can impact its meaning and grammatical function: A. The development team has reserved the conference room for today. B. Her quiet and reserved nature is sometimes misinterpreted as unfriendliness when people first meet her.
In addition to using reserved to mean different things, each sentence also uses the word to serve a different grammatical function. In sentence A, reserved is part of the verb phrase has reserved, indicating the meaning “to set aside for a particular use.” In sentence B, reserved acts as a modifier within the noun phrase “her quiet and reserved nature.” Because the word is being used as an adjective to describe a personality characteristic, it calls up a different definition of the word—“restrained or lacking familiarity with others.” As this example shows, the function of a word within the overall sentence structure can allude to its meaning. It is also useful to refer to the earlier chart about suffixes and parts of speech as another clue into what grammatical function a word is serving in a sentence. Analyzing Nuances of Word Meaning and Figures of Speech By now, it should be apparent that language is not as simple as one word directly correlated to one meaning. Rather, one word can express a vast array of diverse meanings, and similar meanings can be expressed through different words. However, there are very few words that express exactly the same meaning. For this reason, it is important to be able to pick up on the nuances of word meaning. Many words contain two levels of meaning: connotation and denotation as discussed previously in the informational texts and rhetoric section. A word’s denotation is its most literal meaning—the definition that can readily be found in the dictionary. A word’s connotation includes all of its emotional and cultural associations.
In literary writing, authors rely heavily on connotative meaning to create mood and characterization. The following are two descriptions of a rainstorm: A. The rain slammed against the windowpane and the wind howled through the fireplace. A pair of hulking oaks next to the house cast eerie shadows as their branches trembled in the wind. B. The rain pattered against the windowpane and the wind whistled through the fireplace. A pair of stately oaks next to the house cast curious shadows as their branches swayed in the wind.
Description A paints a creepy picture for readers with strongly emotional words like slammed, connoting force and violence. Howled connotes pain or wildness, and eerie and trembled connote fear. Overall, the connotative language in this description serves to inspire fear and anxiety. However, as can be seen in description B, swapping out a few key words for those with different connotations completely changes the feeling of the passage. Slammed is replaced with the more cheerful pattered, and hulking has been swapped out for stately. Both words imply something large, but hulking is more intimidating whereas stately is more respectable. Curious and swayed seem more playful than the language used in the earlier description. Although both descriptions represent roughly the same situation, the nuances of the emotional language used throughout the passages create a very different sense for readers. Selective choice of connotative language can also be extremely impactful in other forms of writing, such as editorials or persuasive texts.
Through connotative language, writers reveal their biases and opinions while trying to inspire feelings and actions in readers: 1. Parents won’t stop complaining about standardized tests. 2. Parents continue to raise concerns about standardized tests.
Readers should be able to identify the nuance in meaning between these two sentences. The first one carries a more negative feeling, implying that parents are being bothersome or whiny. Readers of the second sentence, though, might come away with the feeling that parents are concerned and involved in their children’s education. Again, the aggregate of even subtle cues can combine to give a specific emotional impression to readers, so from an early age, students should be aware of how language can be used to influence readers’ opinions.
Another form of non-literal expression can be found in figures of speech. As with connotative language, figures of speech tend to be shared within a cultural group and may be difficult to pick up on for learners outside of that group. In some cases, a figure of speech may be based on the literal denotation of the words it contains, but in other cases, a figure of speech is far removed from its literal meaning.
A case in point is irony, where what is said is the exact opposite of what is meant: The new tax plan is poorly planned, based on faulty economic data, and unable to address the financial struggles of middle class families. Yet legislators remain committed to passing this brilliant proposal.
When the writer refers to the proposal as brilliant, the opposite is implied—the plan is “faulty” and “poorly planned.” By using irony, the writer means that the proposal is anything but brilliant by using the word in a non-literal sense. Another figure of speech is hyperbole—extreme exaggeration or overstatement. Statements like, “I love you to the moon and back” or “Let’s be friends for a million years” utilize hyperbole to convey a greater depth of emotion, without literally committing oneself to space travel or a life of immortality. Figures of speech may sometimes use one word in place of another. Synecdoche, for example, uses a part of something to refer to its whole. The expression “Don’t hurt a hair on her head!” implies protecting more than just an individual hair, but rather her entire body. “The art teacher is training a class of Picassos” uses Picasso, one individual notable artist, to stand in for the entire category of talented artists. Another figure of speech using word replacement is metonymy, where a word is replaced with something closely associated to it. For example, news reports may use the word “Washington” to refer to the American government or “the crown” to refer to the British monarch. Main Ideas It is very important to know the difference between the topic and the main idea of the text. Even though these two are similar because they both present the central point of a text, they have distinctive differences. A topic is the subject of the text; it can usually be described in a one- to two-word phrase and appears in the simplest form. On the other hand, the main idea is more detailed and provides the author’s central point of the text. It can be expressed through a complete sentence and is often found in the beginning, middle, or end of a paragraph. In most nonfiction books, the first sentence of the passage usually (but not always) states the main idea. Review the passage below to explore the topic versus the main idea.
Cheetahs Cheetahs are one of the fastest mammals on the land, reaching up to 70 miles an hour over short distances. Even though cheetahs can run as fast as 70 miles an hour, they usually only have to run half that speed to catch up with their choice of prey. Cheetahs cannot maintain a fast pace over long periods of time because their bodies will overheat. After a chase, cheetahs need to rest for approximately 30 minutes prior to eating or returning to any other activity. In the example above, the topic of the passage is “Cheetahs” simply because that is the subject of the text. The main idea of the text is “Cheetahs are one of the fastest mammals on the land but can only maintain a fast pace for shorter distances.” While it covers the topic, it is more detailed and refers to the text in its entirety. The text continues to provide additional details called supporting details, which will be discussed shortly. Identifying the Theme or Central Message The theme is the central message of a fictional work, whether that work is structured as prose, drama, or poetry. It is the heart of what an author is trying to say to readers through the writing, and theme is largely conveyed through literary elements and techniques. In literature, a theme can often be determined by considering the over-arching narrative conflict with the work.
Though there are several types of conflicts and several potential themes within them, the following are the most common: - Individual against the self—relevant to themes of self-awareness, internal struggles, pride, coming-of-age, facing reality, fate, free will, vanity, loss of innocence, loneliness, isolation, fulfillment, failure, and disillusionment - Individual against nature— relevant to themes of knowledge vs. ignorance, nature as beauty, quest for discovery, self-preservation, chaos and order, circle of life, death, and destruction of beauty - Individual against society— relevant to themes of power, beauty, good, evil, war, class struggle, totalitarianism, role of men/women, wealth, corruption, change vs. tradition, capitalism, destruction, heroism, injustice, and racism - Individual against another individual— relevant to themes of hope, loss of love or hope, sacrifice, power, revenge, betrayal, and honor
For example, in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, one possible narrative conflict could be the individual against the self, with a relevant theme of internal struggles. This theme is alluded to through characterization—Dimmesdale’s moral struggle with his love for Hester and Hester’s internal struggles with the truth and her daughter, Pearl. It’s also alluded to through plot—Dimmesdale’s suicide and Hester helping the very townspeople who initially condemned her. Sometimes, a text can convey a message or universal lesson—a truth or insight that the reader infers from the text, based on analysis of the literary and/or poetic elements. This message is often presented as a statement. For example, a potential message in Shakespeare’s Hamlet could be “Revenge is what ultimately drives the human soul.” This message can be immediately determined through plot and characterization in numerous ways, but it can also be determined through the setting of Norway, which is bordering on war. How Authors Develop Theme Authors employ a variety of techniques to present a theme. They may compare or contrast characters, events, places, ideas, or historical or invented settings to speak thematically. They may use analogies, metaphors, similes, allusions, or other literary devices to convey the theme. An author’s use of diction, syntax, and tone can also help convey the theme. Authors will often develop themes through the development of characters, use of the setting, repetition of ideas, use of symbols, and through contrasting value systems. Authors of both fiction and nonfiction genres will use a variety of these techniques to develop one or more themes. Regardless of the literary genre, there are commonalities in how authors, playwrights, and poets develop themes or central ideas. Authors often do research, the results of which contributes to the theme. In prose fiction and drama, this research may include real historical information about the setting the author has chosen or include elements that make fictional characters, settings, and plots seem realistic to the reader. In nonfiction, research is critical since the information contained within the work must be accurate and, moreover, accurately represented. In fiction, authors present a narrative conflict that will contribute to the overall theme. In fiction, this conflict may involve the storyline itself and some trouble within characters that needs resolution. In nonfiction, this conflict may be an explanation or commentary on factual people and events. Authors will sometimes use character motivation to convey theme, such as in the example from Hamlet regarding revenge. In fiction, the characters an author creates will think, speak, and act in ways that effectively convey the theme to readers. In nonfiction, the characters are factual, as in a biography, but authors pay particular attention to presenting those motivations to make them clear to readers. Authors also use literary devices as a means of conveying theme. For example, the use of moon symbolism in Shelley’s Frankenstein is significant as its phases can be compared to the phases that the Creature undergoes as he struggles with his identity. The selected point of view can also contribute to a work’s theme. The use of first person point of view in a fiction or nonfiction work engages the reader’s response differently than third person point of view. The central idea or theme from a first-person narrative may differ from a third-person limited text. In literary nonfiction, authors usually identify the purpose of their writing, which differs from fiction, where the general purpose is to entertain. The purpose of nonfiction is usually to inform, persuade, or entertain the audience. The stated purpose of a nonfiction text will drive how the central message or theme, if applicable, is presented. Authors identify an audience for their writing, which is critical in shaping the theme of the work. For example, the audience for J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series would be different than the audience for a biography of George Washington. The audience an author chooses to address is closely tied to the purpose of the work. The choice of an audience also drives the choice of language and level of diction an author uses. Ultimately, the intended audience determines the level to which that subject matter is presented and the complexity of the theme. Supporting Details Supporting details help readers better develop and understand the main idea. Supporting details answer questions like who, what, where, when, why, and how.
Different types of supporting details include examples, facts and statistics, anecdotes, and sensory details. Persuasive and informative texts often use supporting details. In persuasive texts, authors attempt to make readers agree with their points of view, and supporting details are often used as “selling points.” If authors make a statement, they need to support the statement with evidence in order to adequately persuade readers. Informative texts use supporting details such as examples and facts to inform readers. Review the previous “Cheetahs” passage to find examples of supporting details.
Cheetahs Cheetahs are one of the fastest mammals on the land, reaching up to 70 miles an hour over short distances. Even though cheetahs can run as fast as 70 miles an hour, they usually only have to run half that speed to catch up with their choice of prey. Cheetahs cannot maintain a fast pace over long periods of time because their bodies will overheat. After a chase, cheetahs need to rest for approximately 30 minutes prior to eating or returning to any other activity.
In the example, supporting details include: - Cheetahs reach up to 70 miles per hour over short distances. - They usually only have to run half that speed to catch up with their prey. - Cheetahs will overheat if they exert at a high speed over longer distances. - Cheetahs need to rest for 30 minutes after a chase.
Look at the diagram below (applying the cheetah example) to help determine the hierarchy of topic, main idea, and supporting details. Drawing Conclusions When drawing conclusions about texts or passages, readers should do two main things: 1) Use the information that they already know and 2) Use the information they have learned from the text or passage. Authors write with an intended purpose, and it is the readers’ responsibility to understand and form logical conclusions of authors’ ideas. It is important to remember that the readers’ conclusions should be supported by information directly from the text. Readers cannot simply form conclusions based off of only information they already know. There are several ways readers can draw conclusions from authors’ ideas and points to consider when doing so, such as text evidence, text credibility, and directly stated information versus implications. Text Evidence Text evidence is the information readers find in a text or passage that supports the main idea or point(s) in a story. In turn, text evidence can help readers draw conclusions about the text or passage. The information should be taken directly from the text or passage and placed in quotation marks. Text evidence provides readers with information to support ideas about the text or passage so that they do not just rely on their own thoughts. Details should be precise, descriptive, and factual. Statistics are a great piece of text evidence because they provide readers with exact numbers and not just a generalization. For example, instead of saying “Asia has a larger population than Europe,” authors could provide detailed information such as “In Asia, there are over 7 billion people, whereas in Europe there are a little over 750 million.” More definitive information provides better evidence to readers to help support their conclusions about texts or passages. Text Credibility Credible sources are important when drawing conclusions because readers need to be able to trust what they are reading. Authors should always use credible sources to help gain the trust of their readers. A text is credible when it is believable and the author is objective and unbiased. If readers do not trust an author’s words, they may simply dismiss the text completely. For example, if an author writes a persuasive essay, he or she is outwardly trying to sway readers’ opinions to align with his or her own, providing readers with the liberty to do what they please with the text. Readers may agree or disagree with the author, which may, in turn, lead them to believe that the author is credible or not credible. Also, readers should keep in mind the source of the text. If readers review a journal about astronomy, would a more reliable source be a NASA employee or a plumber? Overall, text credibility is important when drawing conclusions because readers want reliable sources that support the decisions they have made about the author’s ideas. Directly Stated Information Versus Implications Engaged readers should constantly self-question while reviewing texts to help them form conclusions.
Self-questioning is when readers review a paragraph, page, passage, or chapter and ask themselves, “Did I understand what I read?,” “What was the main event in this section?,” “Where is this taking place?,” and so on. Authors can provide clues or pieces of evidence throughout a text or passage to guide readers toward a conclusion. This is why active and engaged readers should read the text or passage in its entirety before forming a definitive conclusion. If readers do not gather all the necessary pieces of evidence, then they may jump to an illogical conclusion.
At times, authors directly state conclusions while others simply imply them. Of course, it is easier if authors outwardly provide conclusions to readers because this does not leave any information open to interpretation. However, implications are things that authors do not directly state but can be assumed based off of information they provided. If authors only imply what may have happened, readers can form a menagerie of ideas for conclusions. For example, in the statement: Once we heard the sirens, we hunkered down in the storm shelter, the author does not directly state that there was a tornado, but clues such as “sirens” and “storm shelter” provide insight to the readers to help form that conclusion. Inferences in a Text Readers should be able to make inferences. Making an inference requires the reader to read between the lines and look for what is implied rather than what is directly stated. That is, using information that is known from the text, the reader is able to make a logical assumption about information that is not directly stated but is probably true.
Read the following passage: “Hey, do you wanna meet my new puppy?” Jonathan asked. “Oh, I’m sorry but please don’t—” Jacinta began to protest, but before she could finish, Jonathan had already opened the passenger side door of his car and a perfect white ball of fur came bouncing towards Jacinta. “Isn’t he the cutest?” beamed Jonathan. “Yes—achoo!—he’s pretty—aaaachooo!!—adora—aaa—aaaachoo!” Jacinta managed to say in between sneezes. “But if you don’t mind, I—I—achoo!—need to go inside.”
Which of the following can be inferred from Jacinta’s reaction to the puppy? a. She hates animalsb. She is allergic to dogsc. She prefers cats to dogsd. She is angry at Jonathan
An inference requires the reader to consider the information presented and then form their own idea about what is probably true. Based on the details in the passage, what is the best answer to the question? Important details to pay attention to include the tone of Jacinta’s dialogue, which is overall polite and apologetic, as well as her reaction itself, which is a long string of sneezes. Answer choices (a) and (d) both express strong emotions (“hates” and “angry”) that are not evident in Jacinta’s speech or actions. Answer choice (c) mentions cats, but there is nothing in the passage to indicate Jacinta’s feelings about cats. Answer choice (b), “she is allergic to dogs,” is the most logical choice—based on the fact that she began sneezing as soon as a fluffy dog approached her. It makes sense to guess that Jacinta might be allergic to dogs. So even though Jacinta never directly states, “Sorry, I’m allergic to dogs!”, using the clues in the passage, it is still reasonable to guess that this is true. Making inferences is crucial for readers of literature, because literary texts often avoid presenting complete and direct information to readers about characters’ thoughts or feelings, or they present this information in an unclear way, leaving it up to the reader to interpret clues given in the text.
In order to make inferences while reading, readers should ask themselves: - What details are being presented in the text? - Is there any important information that seems to be missing? - Based on the information that the author does include, what else is probably true? - Is this inference reasonable based on what is already known? Apply Information A natural extension of being able to make an inference from a given set of information is also being able to apply that information to a new context. This is especially useful in nonfiction or informative writing. Considering the facts and details presented in the text, readers should consider how the same information might be relevant in a different situation. The following is an example of applying an inferential conclusion to a different context: Often, individuals behave differently in large groups than they do as individuals. One example of this is the psychological phenomenon known as the bystander effect. According to the bystander effect, the more people who witness an accident or crime occur, the less likely each individual bystander is to respond or offer assistance to the victim. A classic example of this is the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City in the 1960s. Although there were over thirty witnesses to her killing by a stabber, none of them intervened to help Kitty or contact the police. Considering the phenomenon of the bystander effect, what would probably happen if somebody tripped on the stairs in a crowded subway station? a. Everybody would stop to help the person who trippedb. Bystanders would point and laugh at the person who trippedc. Someone would call the police after walking away from the stationd. Few, if any, bystanders would offer assistance to the person who tripped This question asks readers to apply the information they learned from the passage, which is an informative paragraph about the bystander effect. According to the passage, this is a concept in psychology that describes the way people in groups respond to an accident—the more people present, the less likely any one person is to intervene. While the passage illustrates this effect with the example of a woman’s murder, the question asks readers to apply it to a different context—in this case, someone falling down the stairs in front of many subway passengers. Although this specific situation is not discussed in the passage, readers should be able to apply the general concepts described in the paragraph. The definition of the bystander effect includes any instance of an accident or crime in front of a large group of people. The question asks about a situation that falls within the same definition, so the general concept should still hold true: in the midst of a large crowd, few individuals are likely to actually respond to an accident. In this case, answer choice (d) is the best response.
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