READING AND WRITING SKILLS

ACLC COLLEGE OF TACLOBAN

SHS DEPARTMENT

LECTURE NOTES

Lesson 2
Context Clues
Sub-Topics:
a. Synonyms
b. Antonyms
c. Examples
d. Explanations
e. Definitions
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:
a. understand the use of context clues in reading;
b. familiarize the common types of context clues found in texts;

Using Context Clues

What do you do when you can’t fully understand a text?

One technique to improve reading comprehension and reading pace is
using context clues. Context clues are words, phrases, and sentences that
surround an unfamiliar word that can help you recognize the meaning of the
unknown word.

Context clues are hints given by the author to help its readers define a
difficult or unusual word within a text. These clues offer direct or indirect insight
into the portion of text that’s hard to understand. It can appear within the same
sentence as the word or phrase it refers to, or it may follow in the following
sentence giving a direct or indirect suggestion about its meaning.

Synonyms as context clues

Synonyms are the most basic and possibly the most useful types of context clues
given in the text. To explain the unfamiliar word, the author will use more than
one word that has the same meaning in a sentence. For instance, a complex word
can be followed by a paraphrase using a simpler word in the following sentence.

 William felt remorse, or shame, for his actions after the fight.
 Her hostility, or hatred, towards this system makes everyone frown upon
her.
 He’s staunch to his master, so loyal that he will never betray him even if
he’s wrong.

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 READING AND WRITING SKILLS
ACLC COLLEGE OF TACLOBAN
SHS DEPARTMENT

LECTURE NOTES
 She is a miser. She’s always been cheap.

Antonyms as context clues

At times the best way to learn a word is by understanding what it is not, or

what is the opposite, or antonym of the word. Here, in antonym as context clues,
the author explains an unfamiliar word by following it with the word or words
that have the opposite meaning of that unknown word. For example-

 She is so conceited, unlike her brother, who is so humble and down to

earth.
 Even after all that, she was pretty content, not at all angry or upset.
 Her new dog is so gregarious, unlike her cat, who would not even let us pet
her.
 He is always so vivacious. We have never seen him lazy or dull.

Definitions as context clues

Definitions in context clues are when an author gives a straightforward meaning

of the word in the sentence. Here an unfamiliar word is explained within the
sentence or in the sentence immediately after the word. For example

 He knew this job would be perilous as he might have to risk his life on
undercover missions.
 The lawyer started to explain the events in chronological order. He started
with the beginning and finished with the last one.
 The criminal was under police surveillance, where they kept him under
close observation until his court trial.
 His writing was indecipherable; his teachers could not understand what
he had written.

Explanations

Explanation context clues are the ones where the author simply explains the
meaning of the word or provides a bigger picture, or adds detail or context to
explain the unfamiliar word. For example

 He called her a menace because of her risky, unreliable, and unpredictable

nature.

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 READING AND WRITING SKILLS
ACLC COLLEGE OF TACLOBAN
SHS DEPARTMENT

LECTURE NOTES
 The group was enraptured because they had just found out they got
selected for the competition.
 It’s no surprise that she went into an inevitable depression after getting
rejected for the fourth time in the academy interview.
 The meat she served had a rancid taste none of us could eat it after one
bite.

Examples

Examples are specific details in a text that are used to clarify the meaning of
a word.

 Piscatorial creatures, such as flounder, salmon, and trout, live in the

coldest parts of the ocean.

“Piscatorial” obviously refers to fish.

 Celestial bodies, including the sun, moon, and stars, have fascinated man
through the centuries.

“Celestial” objects are those in the sky or heavens.

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