Transcript Chapter 2: Building Word Power From this chapter, you’ll learn 1. how the context, or setting of word, can provide clues to its.

Chapter 2: Building Word Power
From this chapter, you’ll learn
1. how the context, or setting of word, can
provide clues to its meaning.
2. how breaking a word into its parts can help
you determine a definition.
3. what to expect from dictionaries both online
and in print.
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Defining Terms
Context Clues are
• hints about word meaning.
• are part of the sentence or passage in which a
word appears.
• approximate definitions that are correct
enough to help readers avoid turning to the
dictionary every few minutes.
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Four Common Context Clues
Although there are many different kinds
of context clues, these four are especially
common:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Example
Contrast
Restatement
General Knowledge
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Example Clue
“Unlike his partner, Attorney Franco was a
very altruistic person; he was forever taking
on cases that paid him little or nothing.”
Explanation: This sentence gives you an
example of altruistic behavior. An altruistic
person gives his time away without expecting
payment.
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Based on the example, how would
you define the word advocate?
“For most of his adult life, Cesar Perales has
been a strong advocate of using the courts to
fight discrimination against minorities; he has
won numerous lawsuits filed by workers who
had unfairly been denied promotions.”
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Contrast Clue
“Normally shy and withdrawn around
people, the scientist became surprisingly
gregarious after drinking even a single
glass of wine.”
Explanation: By telling readers what
gregarious does not mean, the contrast clue
suggests an opposite meaning: “social and
friendly.”
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Based on the contrast clue in red, how
would you define the word lucid?
“As she continued climbing toward the peak,
altitude sickness overcame the young climber,
making her dizzy and confused. Soon she
wasn’t making sense when she spoke.
However, as soon as she began climbing back
down the mountain, her thinking and speech
became lucid again.”
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Restatement Clue
“In the nineteenth century, the Liberty Party
called for the abolition, nothing less than the
complete elimination, of slavery.”
Explanation: The context clue offers a
restatement, or another way of saying,
abolition, making “elimination” a good
approximate definition.
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Based on the restatement clue in red,
how would you define the word
juncture?
“At this critical juncture, or point in time,
we cannot afford to let someone else do
our thinking for us; we need to take the
time to become informed and make the
right decision about our country’s future.”
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General Knowledge Clues
“The efficient function of the military relies on a clear
chain of command, which is why acts of insubordination
are severely punished.”
Explanation: Even those not in the military know
something about its demand for rigid obedience and
the punishments exacted for failure to follow rules.
Thus their general knowledge would tell them that
insubordination means disobedience or rulebreaking.
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Based on your general knowledge, how
would you define the word futility?
“He was full grown and five feet four, so
the futility of fulfilling his childhood dream
of playing professional basketball was
obvious even to him.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
A Word to the Wise
Context clues can appear anywhere. They
can be in the sentence in which an
unfamiliar word appears. But they can
also be in one of the previous or
succeeding sentences.
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Breaking Words into Parts
In addition to context clues, knowing
how to figure out word meaning from
recognizing its parts can double
your chances of coming up with the
appropriate definition.
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Breaking Words into Parts
Imagine that you didn’t know the meaning
of the word dermatitis in the following
sentence:
“Lyme disease often begins with a
particularly ugly dermatitis on the
inside of the arm or leg.”
The context suggests dermatitis means “rash,”
but you can confirm your guess by breaking the
word into parts:
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Breaking the Word into Parts
Based on the word parts, “rash” is a good
approximate definition for dermatitis.
derma = skin
itis = irritation
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© Ulrich Flemming
A Word to the Wise
Regularly review the three kinds of
word parts—roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
There are numerous lists on the Web
and whole books devoted to listing those that
appear most frequently in words.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Defining Terms
Roots
• give a word its core or central meaning.
• do not change their meaning with the
addition of other word parts, e.g.,
farmer, farming, respect, inspect,
disrespect.
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Defining Terms
Prefixes
• appear at the beginnings of words.
• change the meaning of the entire word,
without affecting the core meaning.
• can consist of one letter or several, e.g.,
preview, review, interview.
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Defining Terms
Suffixes
• appear at the end of words.
• affect word function, or part of
speech, and meaning, e.g.,
sleeping, sleepless, sleeper.
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© Ulrich Flemming
A Word to the Wise
Combining context clues with a knowledge of
a word’s parts is a sure fire way to unlock
word meaning. For instance, if the root cred
means “belief” and the suffix ous means “full
of,” what does credulous in the following
sentence mean?
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Using Context Clues and Word Parts to
Unlock Word Meaning
“My sister-in-law is very smart, but she is
also one of the most credulous people I
have ever met. On the way back from New
York, a man told her he had been robbed
while he was boarding the train, and he
desperately needed money to buy another
ticket. My sister-in-law handed the guy a
twenty.”
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Turning to the Dictionary
Dictionaries, whether online or in print,
• provide the meanings of a word.
• tell us how to pronounce it.
• explain the word’s history.
Whichever type of dictionary you choose to use,
you’ll usually need to choose among two or more
possible meanings.
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Selecting the Right Meaning
Dictionaries order word meanings in different
ways. Among those various ways are:
1. historical order with the oldest or most recent
meaning appearing first.
2. most common meaning heading the list.
3. everyday meanings followed by more
technical ones.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
A Word to the Wise
Whatever dictionary you’re using, be sure to
select the meaning that matches the context
of the word you don’t know.
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Matching Meaning and Context
The American Heritage Dictionary gives
three meanings for the word spar, with
the most common meaning appearing first:
1. To fight with an opponent in a short
practice session
2. To engage in an argument
3. To fight by striking with feet and spurs
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Which one of those meanings fits
the following passage?
“When the interview first started, the
reporter’s heart sank. The senator
seemed ready to spar over every little
detail, but as time wore on, she opened
up about how difficult it was to be a
woman running for president, and the
reporter felt his dislike turn into
sympathy.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
A Word to the Wise
• If you are looking up words for writing, use a hardbound, print
dictionary.
• Print dictionaries are more likely to give you grammar and
usage tips that will help you use the word correctly.
• For quick approximate definitions while you read, consider
using Google’s search engine box. Type in the word define with
a colon followed by the word (define:catapult), hit return, and
you’ll get a brief, general definition that will probably be
accurate enough to let you continue reading without reference
to a more detailed definition.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
Finishing Up: Building Word Power
You’ve previewed the major
concepts and skills introduced in
Chapter 2. Take this quick quiz to
test your mastery of those skills,
and you are ready to read the
chapter.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Building Word Power
1. What kind of context clue appears in the
following sentence?
2. Based on that clue, how would you define
the word in red?
“Unlike his charismatic older brother, the
younger one did not draw people to him like a
magnet attracts iron; just the opposite, people
seemed repelled by his presence in a room.”
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Finishing Up: Building Word Power
3. What kind of context clue appears in the
following sentence?
4. Based on that clue, how would you define
the word in red?
“The factory farm manager tried hard to
instigate trouble among the union organizers,
but no matter how hard he tried to start them
quarreling among themselves, the activists
always managed to make peace.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Building Word Power
5. What kind of context clue appears in the
following sentence?
6. Based on that clue, how would you define
the word in red?
“The poem’s solemn cadence, its slow, weighty
rhythm, underscored the poem’s sad subject:
the death of Abraham Lincoln.”
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Finishing Up: Building Word Power
7. What kind of context clue appears in the
following sentence?
8. Based on that clue, how would you define
the word in red?
“After drinking too much at the office party and
telling her manager that he was disorganized
and lacked people skills, she was in a quandry
about how she should act toward him when she
returned to work on Monday.”
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Finishing Up: Building Word Power
9. The root carn means “flesh” or “meat.” Based
on that knowledge plus the context, how
would you define the word in red that appears
in the following sentence:
“At one time, it was widely assumed that
chimpanzees ate only fruit and nuts, but as
researcher Jane Goodall observed decades ago,
there are settings in which they become
carnivorous.”
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Finishing Up: Building Word Power
10. The prefix omni means “all.” Based on that
knowledge plus the context, how would you
define the word in red that appears in the
following sentence.
“While it was once assumed that chimpanzees
were vegetarians, it’s clear that chimps, although
their diet relies heavily on fruit and nuts, are
omnivores.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
Brain Teaser Challenge
Commenting on the second war in Iraq, the actor
Johnny Depp aroused much controversy and
attracted a good deal of public criticism when he
said that the United States was like a “dumb
puppy.” In response to all the criticism, Depp
made the following comment:
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Brain Teaser Challenge
“Taken in context, what I was saying was that,
compared to Europe, America is a very young
country and we are still growing as a nation. It
is a shame that the metaphor I used was taken
so radically out of context and slung about
irresponsibly by the news media.”
• Which of the following best paraphrases
Depp’s use of the word context?
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Brain Teaser Challenge
1. Because he was speaking without thinking
beforehand, what he said was much different
from what he meant.
2. Reporters will do anything to sell papers and do
not care if they have to make things up in order
to win readers’ attention.
3. Those who quoted him did not include the rest
of his statement. Separated from its setting, his
words sounded harsher than they were.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.