GUESSING MEANING FROM CONTEXT

&
REFERENCING
Prepared by CMDU

READING SKILLS
WEEK 4
How can I guess new vocabulary from context?

There are more words in English than we can ever use or

remember. Even in our own language, when we read, we often
meet words we don’t know. Look back at a text you have read
recently.

• Quickly underline two words you don’t know then stop.

• How could you discover the meaning of those new words?
• Of course, we can check the dictionary, or just skip them, but
sometimes, it is useful to develop our vocabulary skills
by guessing the meaning from context. 

‘Context’ means the words and ideas around it.

When you meet a new word, read before and after the word and ask
yourself some of the questions below:
PRACTICE
• 1) You can hear a tiger's roar in villages far
away. What does roar probably mean?

A) food a tiger eats

B) a tiger's dream
C) a tiger's ear
D) a sound a tiger makes
• The answer is D

• ‘hear’ is the context clue.

• 2) The thought of eating a rat is abhorrent to
most people. What does abhorrent probably
mean?

A) fun
B) horrible
C) delicious
D) sweet
• The answer is B
• ‘eating a rat’ can’t be sweet, fun or delicious. Is
it? 
• 3) Petra has so many friends because she is a
gregarious person. What does gregarious
probably mean?

A) quiet
B) shy
C) friendly
D) rude
• The answer is C.
• ‘has so many friends’ are the key words.
REFERENCING
When you read English texts, you will find many examples of the
following common words (pronouns): it, they, he, she, his, her, its,
that, their, and there. We use those short, common words instead of
using many other words – usually nouns. To understand the text or
speech, it is important to understand what those common words
refer to.

For example: Tom loves drinking coffee. He drinks it every day.

• In that example, it = coffee. Tom loves drinking coffee. He
drinks it every day.
• We can write, “Tom loves drinking coffee. He drinks coffee every
day” but it is more natural and common in English to use ‘it’
instead. 
Here are some more easy examples:

• I think your teacher is nice. Why don’t you like him?

 (him = the teacher) 
• I’m going to Japan next week. Have you ever been there?
(there = Japan) 
• I like Celine Dion. I think she is a great singer. (she =
Celine Dion)
• Do you like the Spice Girls? No, I don’t
like them or their music. (them = the Spice Girls) (their
[music] = the Spice Girls’ [music])
• Do you like Korean music? Yes, I love it. (it = Korean
music)
A sentence can have more than one
referent word.
For example:
• Peter was playing with a ball with his friends, John and Tom. When they started
teasing him, he picked it up and threw it at them.

There are seven referents in two sentences.

• his [friends] = Peter’s [friends], they = John and Tom, him = Peter, he = Peter, it = the
ball, it = the ball, them = John and Tom.

If we re-write the sentences, they become:

• Peter was playing with a ball with Peter’s friends, John and Tom. When John and
Tom started teasing Peter, Peter picked the ball up and threw the ball at John and
Tom.

You can see that the sentences with referents are shorter than the sentences without the
referents.
Different ways to ask referent questions:

In reading tests, you are often asked to connect

referent words to the words or meanings they refer
to.

• What does it refer to?  

• What does xxx refer to?  
• What does the word xxx refer to? 
• In paragraph 2, what does xxx mean?
• In line 6 of paragraph 1, “them” refers to: (a) ………. (b)
………. (c) ………. (d) ……..
• In line 16, Peter says, “They always help us.”  Who are they?
 SALLY’S FAMILY – What do these words refer to?
This is Sally Milton. She’s married, and this is her family. Their house is in

London. Sally Sally’s Sally and her family’s

She’s a teacher. Her school is in the centre of town.

Sally Sally’s

Tom is Sally’s husband. He’s a bank manager. His bank is in the centre of
Tom Tom’s
town, too.

‘Our children are Kirsty and Nick. They’re students at Camden College.
Sally and Tom’s Kirsty and Nick
We’re happy in London.
Sally and her family
• Thanks for reading!
• You will do more practice in
class with your teacher.
• Don’t forget to do your quiz!