CONTEXT CLUES When you are reading an English text, it is impossible for you to no!

the exa"t meaning of e#ery !ord you read, but by de#eloping your guessing ability, you !ill be able to understand enough to arri#e at the total meaning of a senten"e, paragraph, or essay$ One !ay to guess the meaning of unfamiliar !ord is by using "ontext "lues$ Context "lues refer to the senten"e and paragraph in !hi"h a !ord o""urs$ %n using the "ontext to de"ide the meaning of a !ord you ha#e to use your no!ledge of grammar and your understanding of the !riter&s ideas$ To impro#e your ability to guess the meaning of unfamiliar !ords, you ha#e to eep the follo!ing things in minds' Use the meanings of the other !ords in the senten"e (or paragraph) and the meaning of the senten"e as a !hole to redu"e the number of possible meanings$ Use grammar and pun"tuation "lues !hi"h appoint to the relationships among the #arious parts of the senten"e$ *e "ontent !ith a general ideas about the unfamiliar !ord, the exa"t definition or synonyms is not al!ays ne"essary$ Learn to re"ogni+e situations in !hi"h it is not ne"essary to no! the meaning of the !ord$ Exer"ise ,' % remo#ed the ----------- from the shelf and began to read$ .ar#ey is a thief/ he !ould ----- the gold from his grandmother&s teeth and not fell guilty$ Our un"le !as a --------- , an in"urable !anderer !ho ne#er "ould stay in one pla"e$ Unli e his brother, !ho is truly a handsome person, .ogarty is 0uite -------$ The 1sian -----, li e other apes, is spe"ially adapted for life in trees$ *ut surely e#eryone no!s that if you step on an egg, it !ill ------$ Tom got a ne! ---- for his birthday$ %t is a sports model, red, !ith !hite interior and bu" et seat$ Exer"ise 2' We !at"hed as the "at "ame 0uietly through the grass to!ard the bird$ When it !as 3ust a fe! feet from the #i"tim, it gathered its legs under itself, and poun"ed$ What "ould 4ohn expe"t5 .e had left his !et "lothes in the dar "loset for o#er a !ee $ Of "ourse they had begun to milde!$ The sna e slithered through the grass$ 1fter the a""ident, the ship !ent do!n so fast that !e !eren&t able to sal#age any of our personal belongings$ 1fter a day of hunting, .arry is ra#enous$ 6esterday, for example, he ate t!o bo!ls of soup, salad, a large "hi" en, and a pie"e of "ho"olate "a e before he !as finally satisfied$ The man thought, that the "hildren !as defenseless, so he !al ed boldly up to the oldest and demanded money$ %magine his surprise !hen they began to pelt him !ith ro" s$ %n spite of the fa"t that the beautiful egret is in danger of dying out "ompletely, many "lothing manufa"turers still offer handsome pri"es for their long, elegant tail feathers, !hi"h are used as de"orations on ladies& hats$ When he learned that the "lub !as planning to admit !omen, the "olonel began to in#eigh against all forms of liberalism/ his shouting atta" began !ith uni#ersal #oting and ended !ith a protest against the #olunteer army$ Expert in inesi"s, in their study of body motion as related to spee"h, hope to dis"o#er ne! methods of "ommuni"ation$ Unli e her gregarious sister, 4ane is shy, unso"iable person !ho does not li e to g to parties or to ma e ne! friends$ The ing manifested his pleasure !ith a hearty laugh$ The ma3or points of your plan are "lear to me, but the details are still ha+y$

IDIOM IN ENGLISH
Try to guess the meaning of the underline words.

1. He s holding down two !o"s and attending s#hool. He s really "urning the #andle at "oth ends. $. She is "uying a lot of new furniture "efore she e%en has a !o". She s &utting the #art "efore the horse. '. E%ery time he o&ens his mouth( he immediately regrets what he said. He s always &utting his foot in his mouth. ). He s always too fast and out of #ontrol on his motor#y#le. He s &laying with fire. *. She wanted to get that man s &hone num"er( "ut she wasn t sure of his last name or where he li%ed. It was li+e loo+ing for a needle in a haysta#+. ,. He s not telling me e-a#tly what ha&&ened. He s "eating around the "ush. .. She +ee&s as+ing if I was the one who was s&reading rumors a"out her( "ut I wasn t. She s "ar+ing u& the wrong tree. /. He too+ the "est &ortions for himself and didn t lea%e enough for the others. He s !ust loo+ing out for num"er one. 0. She s "een wor+ing on the assignment for o%er two months( and I don t thin+ she s e%er going to finish it. She s ta+ing fore%er and a day. 11.She has to go to the "an+( and while she s out she ll sto& and %isit her friend. She s +illing two "irds with one stone. 11.He was admitted to Har%ard( and he would ha%e gone there "ut he forgot to send in the a&&ro&riate form in time. He has really missed the "oat. 1$.I +now that you thought that this &art of the &rogram was diffi#ult ( "ut wait until you see the ne-t &art. 2ou re !um&ing out of the frying &an and into the fire. Definition a. Ma+ing a mista+e o&&ortunity ". 3##om&lishing two things at on#e things #. Doing something dangerous d. Doing things in the wrong order diffi#ult

g. missed an h. saying em"arrassing i. s&ea+ing indire#tly !. doing something

e. Going from "ad to worse time f. Doing too mu#h himself

+. ta+ing a really long l. thin+ing only a"out

4O5D ST6D27 STEMS 3ND 388I9ES

Using "ontext "lues is one !ay to dis"o#er the meaning of an unfamiliar !ord$ 1nother !ay is a !ord analysis, that is, loo ing at the meanings of parts of !ords$ 7any English !ords ha#e been formed by "ombining parts of older English, 8ree , and Latin !ords$ %f you no! the meanings of some of these !ord parts, you "an often guess the meaning of an unfamiliar English !ord$ 9or example, report is formed from re, !hi"h means "a#+, and &ort !hi"h means #arry$ Scientist is deri#ed from sci, !hi"h means no!, and ist, !hi"h means one who$ Port and sci are "alled stems$ 1 stem is the basi" part on !hi"h groups of related !ords are built$ Re and ist are "alled affixes, that is , !ord parts !hi"h are atta"hed to stems$ 1ffixes li e re, !hi"h are atta"hed to the beginning of stems are "alled :refi-es$ 1ffixes atta"hed to the end, li e ist, are "alled Suffi-es. 8enerally , prefixes "hange the meaning of a !ord and suffixes "hange the part of spee"h$ .ere is an example' Stem' pay (#erb) honest (ad3e"ti#e) :refix' repay (#erb) dishonest (ad3e"ti#e) Suffix' repayment (noun) dishonestly (ad#erb) Word analysis is not al!ays enough to gi#e you the pre"ise definition of !ord you en"ounter in a reading passage, but often it !ill help you to understand the general meaning of the !ord so that you "an "ontinue reading !ithout stopping to use a di"tionary$ *elo! is a list of some "ommonly o""urring stems and affixes$ Study their meanings$ 1nd then do the exer"ise !hi"h follo!s$

:refi-es7 Com-,"on-,"ol-,"or-,"o%n-,im%n-, im-, il-, ir7i"ro:re;e-, retroStem7 -audi-, -audit-"hron-di"t-, -di"-graph-, -gram-

together !ith in, into, on not small before ba" !ard, ba" , behind

hear time say, spea !rite, !riting

-log-, -ology-metr-, -meter-phon-s"op-s"opeobser#ing -s"rib-, -s"ript-spe"t-

spee"h, !ord, study measure sound see, loo at instrument for seeing or !rite loo at

Suffi-es7 -er, -or -tion, -ation a"t of

person !ho "ondition, the

Exer"ise' try to guess the meaning of this !ords$ 1. Microscope 2. Audition 3. Micrometer 4. Chronic 5. Chronicler 6. Chronology 7. Audiometer 8. Predict 9. Inspect 1 . !contr"dict!

;E1<%N8 CO7:;E.ENS%ON
When you have difficulty understanding a passage, just reading further will often make the passage clearer. Sometimes, however, comprehension depends on your being able to understand a single sentence. Sentences which are very long, sentences which have more than one meaning, or sentences which contain difficult grammatical patterns often cause comprehension problem for readers. Although there is no formula that will help you to arrive at an understanding of a difficult sentence, you should keep the following points in mind. 1. Try to determine what makes the sentence difficult

a. f the sentence contains a lot of difficult vocabulary it may be that the sentenced can be understood without knowing the meaning of every word. Try to crossing out unfamiliar items! The West had sent armies to capture and hold Jerussalem; instead themselves fell victim to a host of new ideas and subtle influences which left their mark on the development of European literature, chivalry, warfare, sanitation, commerce, political institutions, medicine, and the papacy itself. b. f the sentence s very long, try to break t up into smaller parts. The West had sent armies to capture and hold Jerussalem. The West fell victim to a host of new ideas and subtle influences.These ideas and influences left their mark on the development of European literature, chivalry, warfare, sanitation, commerce, political institutions, medicine, and the papacy c. f the sentence is very long, try to determine which parts of the sentence e"press specific details supporting the main idea. #ften clauses which are set off by commas, or introduced by words which, who, and that are used to introduce e"tra information or to provide supporting details. Try crossing out the supporting details in order to determine the main idea! These ideas, which left their mark on the development of European literature, chivalry, warfare, sanitation, commerce, political institutions, medicine, and the papacy, greatly changed Western culture. $. %earn to recogni&e the important grammatical and punctuation clues which can change the meaning of a sentence. a. %ook for single words and affi"es which can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Summery weather is not uncommon. The average daytime high temperature is appro imately !" #. b. %ook for punctuation clues Wally $sings% at all of his friends& parties. 'arry said,% (eorge has been elected president)% c. %ook for key words that tell you of relationship within a sentence. '"ample! from*. to in order to as a result of because of

1. The students revolt is not only a thorn in the side of the president(s newly established government, but it has international implications as well. Who or what does this revolt affect) a* The students b* The side of the president(s body c* #nly the national government d* +ational and international affairs. $. disagreed then as now with many of ,ohn Smith(s judgements, but always respected him, and this book is a welcome remainder of his big, honest, friendly, stubborn personality.

-ow does the author of this sentence feel about ,ohn Smith) a* -e dislikes him but agrees with his ideas b* -e considers him to be a disagreeable person c* -e disagrees with his ideas but respects him d* -e disagreed with him then but agrees with him now .. n order for you to follow the schedule set by the publisher, your paper must be looked over over the weekend, revised and handed in in its formal form on /onday. What must you do on Saturday and Sunday) a* /eet the publisher b* c* d* '"amine your paper -and in a paper %ook over the weekend

0. The real reason why prices were, and still are, too high s complicated, and no short discussion can satisfactorily e"plain the problem What word or phrase best describes prices) a* 1omplicated b* Ade2uately e"plained c* Too high in the past but low now d* Too high in the past and in the present

3. This is not just a sad4but4true story5 the boy(s e"perience s horrible and damaging, yet a sense of love shines through every words -ow does the author of this sentence feel about the story) a* t transmit a sense of love b* t is just sad c* t is not true d* t is horrible and damaging