1. The Importance of Words
Words are the building blocks of meaning.
Vocabulary is all the words used or understood by a person.
By age 18, you know about 60,000 words and increase this number by an additional 20,000 words in college.
You learn words by interacting with them and practicing.
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2. Context Clues
A context clue is the information that surrounds a new word, used to understand its meaning.
Synonyms
Antonyms
General Context
Examples
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3. S A G E Approach Synonyms Antonyms General Context Examples
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4. Synonym Clues
A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word.
Example:
A memorial or tribute, such as the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., is a way to honor the great Presidents of our country.
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5. Synonym Clue
A synonym can be set off with a pair of dashes, a pair of parenthesis, or a pair of commas.
Common synonym signal words are: Or
That is
Ashamed of his flaccid—flabby—muscles, Glen joined the local gym.
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6. Synonym Clue
A cross-section (slice) of the leaf is studied under the microscope.
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7. Antonym Clues
An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning of another word.
Example:
Trying to save money by putting off going to the doctor may have a detrimental, not helpful, result.
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8. Antonym Clue
In short stories, some characters remain static (not changing) in their beliefs and actions. What is the meaning of “static?”
a. shocking
b. changing
c. fixed
d. confused
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9. Antonym Signal Words As opposed to Not Instead of On the other hand
But
However
In contrast
Not
On the other hand
Rather than
Unlike
Yet
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10. Antonym Clue
Kim first noticed the posterior instead of the head of the rattlesnake because of the noise of its rattles.
What does “posterior” mean?
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11. General Context of the Passage
Often, word pictures, or descriptions, of a situation can give a sense of the word’s meaning.
Example:
Jordan demonstrated his agility as he caught the football, turned in mid-air, outran the defense, and scored a touchdown.
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12. Example Clues
Examples often show the meaning of a new or difficult word.
Signal words, colons, and dashes introduce examples as context clues.
Some signal words are:
for instance
for example
such as
including
consists of
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13. Example Clue
The player seemed suspended in mid-air as he jumped as high as the basket to score the winning point in the game.
a. pushed
b. shocked
c. slapped
d. hanging
What does “suspended” mean?
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14. Example Clue
Lagomorphs (which include rabbits and hares) used to be thought of as rats.
a. animals with scales
b. animals with wings
c. animals with large front teeth
d. animals without fur
What are “lagomorphs”?
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15. Visual Clues to Vocabulary
Textbooks often use a graph, chart, or photograph to tie into a vocabulary word.
Example:
The land was parched from the lack of rain.
Rich
Moist
Dry
Overgrown
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16. Review Vocabulary is all the words used or understood by a person.
Context is the information that surrounds a new word, used to understand its meaning.
Skilled readers use context clues to learn new words.
The first letter of each of the four common context clues spells: SAGE.
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17. Review
A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as the other word.
An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning of another word.
The general context requires you to read the entire sentence or read ahead for a few sentences.
Often the signal words such as or including introduce an example as a context clue.
© 2005 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers