Techniques for guessing

meaningÖzlem KAYA

okaya2@anadolu.edu.tr

This unit focuses on techniques for guessing

At the end of this unit,• You will be able to see the relation

between different items within a text to get the meaning.

What does “guessing meaning from context” mean?

Guessing from context refers to the ability to infer the meaning of an expression using contextual clues.

Techniques for guessing:

• Synonyms and definitions• Antonym and contrast• Cause and effect• Parts of speech• Examples

Synonyms and definitions:

• When he made insolent remarks towards his teacher they sent him to the principal for being disrespectful.

• Kingfishers are a group of small to medium-sized brightly colored birds.

Antonym and contrast:

• He loved her so much for being so kind to him. By contrast, he abhorred her mother.

Cause and effect:

• He was disrespectful towards other members. That’s why he was sent off and penalized.

Parts of speech:

• Whether the word is a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb, functioning as a subject, a predicate or a complement.

Examples:

• Trojan is an example of a computer virus.

Exercises: Choose the correct meaning of the underlined word, and identify the type of context clue used:For example:Our baseball team's pitcher has a few eccentric habits, such as throwing exactly thirteen warm-up pitches and never wearing socks.A) NormalB) StrangeC) MessyThe answer is “B” and the clue is “example”.

1- After the heavy rains, the stream became murky; in fact, the water was so cloudy you couldn't see the bottom.

A) cloudyB) bottomlessC) clear Clue: ________

2- The coach takes every opportunity to censure his players, yet he ignores every opportunity to praise them.

A) approve ofB) criticizeC) choose Clue: ________

3- The newlyweds agreed to be very frugal in their shopping because they wanted to save enough money to buy a house.

A) economicalB) wastefulC) interested Clue: ________

4- The debris on the stadium floor included numerous paper cups, ticket stubs, and cigarette butts.

A) productsB) papersC) Trash Clue: ________