Context Clues - TTU-

Ministry of higher education and scientific research

University of Ain Temouchent BELHADJ Bouchaib
Faculty of Letters, Languages, and Social sciences
Department of Letters and English language

By: AISSANI Abir

Level : L2 (TTU)
Teacher : Ms. Brahimi

Academic year: 2022/2023

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Context Clues - TTU-

DEFINITION

 Context /ˈkɑːnˌtɛkst/, noun, Plural : contexts

[count, noncount]
1 : the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its meaning
To really know a word, you must be able to use it in context. [=in a sentence with other
words]

◊ If the words that someone has said are taken or quoted out of context, they are repeated
without explaining the situation in which they were said so that their meaning is changed.
◊ When taken out of context, his comments sound cruel, but he was really only joking.
The actor claimed he'd been quoted out of context.

2 : the situation in which something happens : the group of conditions that exist where and
when something happens

◊ We need to look at the event within the larger/broader context of world history.
◊ The book puts these events in their proper historical and social contexts.
We need to consider these events in context.

 Contextual /kɑnˈtɛkstʃəwəl/, adjective

contextual information
To find the meaning of an unknown word you should look at the contextual clues provided
by the words that are around it.

 Contextually /kənˈtɛkstjʊəli/, adverb

In a way that relates to the context or circumstances surrounding an event, statement, or idea.

◊ The rules and regulations must be interpreted contextually"

CONTEXT CLUES

The term context clues is used as a way of referring to the bits of information within a text
that can serve as hints to help a reader understand the meaning of an unfamiliar or unusual
word or passage. In effect, context clues can be anything that helps you to figure out or guess
the meaning of a word or passage when you’re unsure of its meaning. Context clues can be
part of the same sentence or they may be part of the text that comes before or follows.
Because most of our vocabulary is gained through reading, it is important that we are able to
recognize and take advantage of context clues.

There are at least four kinds of context clues that are quite common:

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Context Clues - TTU-

 Synonym (or repeat context clue):

An author will use more than one word that means the same thing, there may be a complex
word followed by a restatement using a simpler word in the same or following sentence.

Example:
◊ Felipe is a miser. He’s always been a cheapskate.

 Antonym (or contrast context clue):

The text may include a word or words that have the opposite meaning, which can reveal the
meaning of an unknown term.

Example:
◊ Stella has always dressed flamboyantly. I’ve never seen her wear a dull color.

 Explanation (or a definition context clue):

An unknown word is explained within the sentence or in the sentence immediately after.

Example:
◊ On Friday, we visited the arboretum, a garden dedicated to the exhibition of trees and
plants.

 Specific example (or an example context clue):

The text provides one or more examples used to define the term:

Example:
◊ The children were able to observe several crustaceans, including crabs, lobsters, and
shrimp.

 Inference (or an inference clue)

Sufficient clues might be available for the careful reader to make an educated guess at the
meaning.

Example:
◊ She told her friend, “I’m through with blind dates forever. What a dull evening! I was
bored every minute. The conversation was absolutely vapid.”
“Vapid” means “uninteresting.”

There may also be word-part context clues in which a common prefix, suffix, or root will
suggest at least part of the meaning of a word.
A general sense context clue lets the reader puzzle out a word meaning from whatever
information is available—and this is the most common kind of context clue. The
relationships between words are not directly obvious and instead implied.

Others describe context clues in three ways:

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 Semantic or meaning clues:
For example, when reading a story about cats, the reader will have the expectation that it will
contain words associated with cats.
 Syntactic or word order clues:
The order of the words in a sentence can indicate what part of speech a missing word must
be (for example, a verb).
 Picture clues:
From an early age, beginning readers are taught to look at illustrations to help with the
identification of a word.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Britannica Dictionary Copyright © 2022 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/context/

What Are Context Clues? August 15, 2022 https://www.dictionary.com/e/context-clues/

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