Language Learning Skills

USING CONTEXT CLUES MATA KULIAH

PENGEMBANGAN
KEPRIBADIAN
What do you usually do when you come to a word that you do not know in your reading? Do you
TERINTEGRASI
a. look it up in the dictionary?
b. ask your teacher?
c. ask another student or a friend?
d. Try to guess what it means?

If you answered a, b, or c, then you are not reading as effectively and efficiently as you could be. In fact, the
best strategy for dealing with an unknown word is to try to guess what it means. This strategy

 is fast because you don‘t interrupt your reading.

 helps your comprehension because you stay focused on the general sense of what you are reading.

 helps build vocabulary because you are more likely to remember the words.

 allows you to enjoy your reading more because you don‘t have to stop often.

Context clues exercises are designed to help you improve your ability to guess the meaning of unfamiliar
words by using context clues. (Context refers to the sentence and paragraph in which a word occurs.) In
using the context to decide the meaning of a word, you have to use your knowledge of grammar and your
understanding of the author‘s ideas. Although there is no formula that you can memorize to improve your
ability to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words, you should keep the following points in mind:

1. Use the meanings of the other words in the sentence (or paragraph) and the meaning of the sentence
as a whole to reduce the number of possible meanings.

2. Use grammar and punctuation clues that point to the relationships among the various parts of the
sentence.

3. Be content with a general idea about the unfamiliar word; the exact definition or synonym is not
always necessary.

4. Learn to recognize situations in which it is not necessary to know the meaning of the word.

Example: Do you know what ‗misogynist‖ means? If not, try to make a guess:

A misogynist is _________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

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Now read these sentences. Try again to guess what misogynist means.
MATA KULIAH
PENGEMBANGAN
a. She realized that her boss was a misogynist soon after she started working for him.
KEPRIBADIAN
TERINTEGRASI
b. It is difficult for a woman to work for a misogynist. She is never sure of the reason for his criticism.

c. She knew that no woman would ever get a top-level job in a company owned by a misogynist.

We know from sentence a that a misogynist is a man. From sentence b we learn that a misogynist criticizes
women‘s work. Then from c we understand that a misogynist has negative feelings about women.

Exercise 1

In each of the following items, there is a word you may not know. Guess the meaning of the word from the
context of the sentences. Than compare your work with another student.

1. What does ―ravenous‖ mean?

_____________________________________________________________________
 Could I have a piece of bread? I missed breakfast and I‘m simply ravenous.
 The poor horse was ravenous and it ate the leaves and bark off the trees.

2. What does ―gaudy‖ mean?

____________________________________________________________________________
 She was wearing such gaudy clothes that it was easy to find her in the crowd.
 My mother always said that old ladies shouldn‘t wear bright colors. She thought that they would
look gaudy and foolish.

3. What does ―dike‖ mean?

____________________________________________________________________________
 After so much rain, the river flowed over the dike and into the fields.
 People in this area began building dikes many centuries ago. It was the only way to keep the sea out
of their villages.

4. What does ―sallow‖ mean?

____________________________________________________________________________
 The poor child had sallow skin and very thin, bony arms and legs.
 You could tell from his sallow complexion that he had lived in an unhealthy climate for many years.

5. What does ―shred‖ mean?

____________________________________________________________________________

 He read the letter carefully and then tore it to shreds.

 Sammy was a real mess when he came home; his clothes were in shreds and he was covered with
mud.

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6. What does ―mold‖ mean?

MATA KULIAH
PENGEMBANGAN
____________________________________________________________________________
KEPRIBADIAN
TERINTEGRASI
 The liquid plastic was poured into a mold and left there until it was hard.
 The dentist first makes a mold of his patient‘s teeth. From that he makes a model of the teeth to
decide how to correct any problems.

7. What does ―eaves‖ mean?

____________________________________________________________________________

 Some birds had built a nest high up on the eaves of our house.
 Houses in the mountains have wide eaves so the snow will not pile up against the windows.

8. What does ―porch‖ mean?

____________________________________________________________________________

 On nice days, old Mrs. Willows always sat out on her porch and watch the people pass by.

 From the second floor porch, there was a wonderful view of the ocean.

9. What does ―imp‖ mean?

____________________________________________________________________________

 What an imp he was! Little Tommy was always getting into trouble, but making us laugh about it.

 With her pointed little chin, bright eyes and impish expression, we didn‘t know whether to believe
the child.

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Exercise 2
MATA KULIAH
PENGEMBANGAN
Guess the meaning of the word in italics using the context of the sentences.
KEPRIBADIAN
TERINTEGRASI
1. Labor union leaders have been bitter foes of job specialization and scientific management, yet they
complain that job enrichment programs are management ploys to get more work out of employees
for less money.

foe _________________________________________________________________________

ploy ________________________________________________________________________

2. Self-monitoring includes designing artificial feedback where natural feedback does not occur.
Production staff might have gauges on computer feedback system installed so they can see how
many errors are made on the production line.

gauge ______________________________________________________________________

3. One person‘s consumption of the security provided by our national defense system doesn‘t decrease
the security of someone else—defense is nonrival.

nonrival ____________________________________________________________________

4. Creativity flourishes when employees are given freedom deciding how to accomplish tasks and solve
problems.

flourish _____________________________________________________________________

accomplish __________________________________________________________________

5. Employees may have reward power by extolling praise and extending personal benefits within their
discretion to other co-workers.

extol _______________________________________________________________________

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