TOOLBOX - READING

How to Retrieve Meaning of Unknown Words from Context

When you find a new word in the paragraph that you are reading, you can ask yourself:

1. Does this word appear in a part where the author describes a character, or setting, or something else?
2. Briefly think of what the author wrote before the unknown word.
3. Read some lines immediately after the unknown word.
4. What are the major points of what you just read? So what may it mean?
5. Or use your common sense and think of what it might mean.
6. What would you use instead of that word to make sense of what you are reading?
7. Can you see a connection to life events, or the whole story, or what you already know of the characters, or excerpt that you are reading?
8. Can you recognize any part of the word? What does it tell you? So what could it mean?