This document provides strategies and examples for determining the meaning of unknown words using context clues. It discusses 9 different strategies: 1. A sentence may contain the definition of the word. 2. Additional context helps understand the word's meaning even without an explicit definition. 3. Unknown words can be understood by their relationship to known synonyms or antonyms. 4. Prior knowledge about a topic can provide context for understanding a word. 5. Word roots, prefixes and suffixes provide clues to a word's meaning. 6. A word's part of speech provides limitations on possible meanings. 7. Punctuation like commas and semicolons can indicate definitions or explanations.

1. C
USING CONTEXT
CLUES

2. • When reading a passage, what are some strategies that you
use to determine the meaning of words with which you are
not familiar?
• Discuss and write down strategies in your Cornell Notes
• You will be sharing your findings in seven minutes.

3. By the end of workshop today, you should be
able to utilise context clues to ascertain the
meaning of complex vocabulary

4. The Cornell method has been proven to help students and workers retain
information for longer periods of time.
When do you
have to take
notes at
home, school,
or at work?
Do you
always
remember
what you
wrote or
typed?

6. Strategy: Often, a sentence will
contain the actual definition of
the word.
Example: People who suffer
from acrophobia, or fear of
heights, should not climb
mountains.
Explanation: The exact definition of
“acrophobia” is given in the sentence.

7. Strategy: Often, a sentence will
provide information that helps
the reader see and understand
the word, even if the exact
definition is not known.
Example: Mr. Jones is a real
recluse. He lives alone at the
edge of town and never
comes out of his house,
except to go to work.
Explanation: It’s easy to get a picture of “recluse” from these
sentences. It most probably means a person who is alone and
isolated.

8. Strategy: Sometimes, an
unknown word is used in
comparison to (synonyms), or
in contrast with (antonyms), a
word that is already known or
that is explained in the
sentence.
Example: Unlike Professor
Dixon, who is extremely
nervous, Professor Benton is
very placid.
Explanation: The meanings of “placid” has to be the
opposite of nervous, so it must mean calm or relaxed.

9. Strategy: The reader’s innate
knowledge about the world, or
of a particular situation, can
help that reader with an
unknown word.
Example: The baby-sitter put a
pacifier in the baby’s mouth,
and suddenly little Marty
stopped crying.
Explanation: People who have knowledge of
infant care in the U.S. would know that a
“pacifier” is that little piece of rubber on a ring
and that it is used to calm a crying baby.

10. Strategy: Even if you don’t have
all these stems, prefixes, and
suffixes memorised, you will
know a few and will have clues
about many unfamiliar words.
Example: Many politicians still
favour the use of geothermal
energy.
Explanation:
1. Prefix “Geo-”= something to do with the earth (Like in the word “geography”)
2. Stem “therm” = something to do with heat (Like in the words “thermos” or
“thermometer”)
3. In fact, “geothermal” refers to energy that is produced by the earth’s heat.

11. Strategy: Knowing the part of
speech of an unfamiliar word
tells us a lot about the word.
Example: A computer user can
change a word simply by
moving the cursor to the place
where the change is to be
made.
Explanation: Here, the article “the” gives the clue that the unfamiliar
word must be a noun. Knowing this helps us limit guesses to nouns
only. You don’t need to think about other parts of speech, so
guessing is easier.

12. Strategy: Commas, dashes, parentheses,
and semicolons help to tell us quite a
bit about unfamiliar words.
• Commas, dashes, and parentheses
are often used to show us that a
writer is providing definition.
• Meanwhile, a sentence that follows a
semi-colon may explain a word or
idea in the first sentence.
Examples:
1. My aunt is an incurable kleptomaniac, a
person with an uncontrollable desire to
steal, and one day she will be arrested.
2. My aunt is an incurable kleptomaniac- a
person with an uncontrollable desire to
steal- and one day she will be arrested.
3. The weather in San Francisco is very
erratic; one day it’s cold and windy, and
the next it’s hot and muggy.
Explanation: Looking at the third example, it is easy to see from the
second sentence that “erratic” means constantly changing or
unstable.

13. Strategy: Sometimes a sentence
will give us information about a
word because of its association in
a series of more familiar words.
Examples: Spring brings
sparrows, finches, robins, and
magpies to our yard.
Explanation: By viewing “magpies” in a series of familiar
words, readers can figure out that they are a species of
bird.

14. Strategy: Understanding that an
outcome or result has happened
because of a source or reason can
give us clues about and unfamiliar
word.
Examples: When too many
students loitered in the cafeteria,
lunch periods were shortened to
20 minutes, in order to make
room for the next lunch period.
Explanation: Recognising that one part of the sentence is the result of
another helps to figure out the meaning of the word, “loitered.”

15. Time to use the strategies that you
learned about today and apply
them to passages similar to what
you may see on the GCSE and in
real life.

16. Statement:
We are changed
by war.
Do you agree or
disagree?
• Move to the side of the room that
corresponds to your response.
• Agree  window side and Disagree
 whiteboard side
• Once you have selected a side, move
into groups of three with people on
your side and come up with three
examples from your personal
experience, literature, art, or history
to support your stance.

17. Using the passages provided, I
will demonstrate an
understanding of how to
determine the meaning of
complex words by using
context clues.
1. Read and annotate the passage
quietly by yourself.
2. Then, as a group, work together
to respond to the questions
following each section.
3. Be sure to respond thoroughly to
all questions.
Be prepared to
share your
findings with the
class.

18. C
USING CONTEXT
CLUES
Day 2: The etymology of a word

19. What is a “chalk talk”?
• It is a learning strategy that encourages
thoughtful conversation on paper
about a topic.
Rules for the activity:
• Everyone has a different colour marker
and will use that marker throughout the
chalk talk.
• Everyone will share their thoughts on
paper, therefore, speaking is not allowed.
• You should be reading, questioning, and
commenting on what the last person said
in relation to the topic.
Why should I care?
More businesses are using this strategy and
variations of it to ensure that everyone in their
company or business have an opportunity to
share their thoughts and ideas during
professional development opportunities.

20. What does the world etymology mean?
Simply put, etymology is the study of the origin
words.
Why is this important?
One of the strategies we spoke about yesterday
was using Latin and Greek word parts to
the meaning of a word.
Greek and Latin Word Parts:
While you don’t need to know every Greek and
Latin root or stem to read a text, knowing the
more common ones, can help you read complex
texts more easily.
Be careful, there are exceptions to every rule.
• Be wary of false cognates- that is, words that sound
like they have the same roots (and thus related
meanings) but actually don’t.
• Always look for other context clues to confirm your
preliminary hypothesis.

22. Practice with Roots and Stems- Greek
• Take the word “bio”
• In Greek, this word means “life”
• Let’s test it out….
• Biology
• Is the study of life and
living organisms
• Biography
• Is a story about someone’s
life
• So, while the roots/stems may not tell
us everything about the meaning of
the word, there may be other things
we can look at to confirm our
suspicions or expand our
understanding.
• Other context clues (Look at the nine
strategies we studied yesterday).
• Other parts of the word (prefix or
suffix).
• Or think of other words that may use
similar parts of the word.

23. Practice with Roots-Latin Roots
• Take the Latin word “cent”
• What English words contain this root?
• Century
• Centennial
• Percent
• Okay, now what is common about the
meaning of cent in each of these?
• Century – is one hundred years
• Centennial- is the one hundredth year
anniversary
• Percent- is a number or ratio expressed as a
fraction of a hundred.
• If you had not known the meaning of
“centennial,” the knowledge of the Latin
root word would help you to make an
educated guess at the word’s meaning.

24. • Using the handout
provided, you are going to
research meaning of the
prefixes, suffixes, and
roots/stems to create
words.
• I have done the first one for
you.
• Prefix: In-
• meaning NOT
• Root Word: Cred-
• meaning BELIEVE
• Suffix: -ible
• meaning possible to
• Complete word definition: It
means not possible to believe.
• Dictionary Definition: Impossible
to believe

25. “The Perils of Indifference”
• Step 1: Using the article “The
Perils of Indifference” and your
notes,annotate the text by
making note of where you see
context clues which help you
understand the meaning of each
of the underlined words.
• Step 2: Feel free to use a
highlighter and pen while
marking up the article.
• Step 3: Finally, respond to the
comprehension questions which
follow in order to assess
whether or not you
comprehended the text and its
purpose.

26. C
USING CONTEXT
CLUES
Day 3: Summative Assessment

27. Anticipatory Activity: Elbow Partner
Chat and QuickWrite
• Discussion and QuickWrite Prompt: Imagine for a moment that you are a young person who has been
drafted to enter a war that you do not fully support.
• What are some emotions or questions that may be running through your mind? Is war sometimes
necessary? When is war not an appropriate response?
• Yesterday, you read a speech about indifference. How then does a country balance the safety of its people
verses the ethics of an inaction? In other words, how does a country protect its people and deal with the
concern of not doing anything. When is it appropriate for a country to remain neutral and when is a country
obligated to act?
Document your group’s discussion on your Cornell Notes. Each person in the group should document
the group’s findings.
• Reading Prompt: We are going to read an excerpt from a book titled The Things They
Carried by Tim O’Brien. In this excerpt, the main protagonist has just been drafted to join the
Vietnam War.
• He is a young man who has just finished university and does not agree with the United
State’s rationale for going to war.

28. Summative Assessment
• Now that you have worked in small groups and pairs to
practice using different strategies to uncover the meaning of
challenging words, it is time to see where you stand on your
own.
• In this exit ticket, you will be asked to read an article and
define underlined words by using context clues.
• Your objective is to prove to me all that you learned about
context clues over the past few days.