Another way is to look at the word in context. What that means is checking out the way it's used in the sentence or paragraph around it.

Let's say you read this in a book report:

Tony Hillerman has written a number of novels set in the American Southwest. His protagonist, Navajo policeman Jim Chee, solves many crimes by combining ancient tribal wisdom with modern police procedures.

What do you think the word "protagonist" means? Well, since it is obvious from the context that Jim Chee solves crimes in many of Hillerman's books,  protagonist must mean "continuing character" or "hero."

Or take this context question from a quiz. The sentence reads, "The addax was seen grazing in the grass off in the distance." You are then asked to choose one of these definitions for addax: (a) medieval calculating tool, (b) a long-horned desert antelope of North Africa, or (c) a blank page in a book before the title page. Since a calculating tool or book page are unlikely to be seen grazing anywhere, the answer must be: (b) a long-horned desert antelope of North Africa.

Context is especially important in figuring out a word with several meanings. The word "tongue," for example, can mean "language," "an organ of speech," or "the flaps under the lacings of shoes." But if you read the sentence, "Mr. Carter speaks in many tongues," only one of those meanings applies. That meaning is "language."

Or take this sentence, "the matter was of no consequence to the ambassador." The word "consequence" has several meanings. But in this context, it doesn't have anything to do with cause and effect; it means "importance."

And in the sentence "Kathryn's report was to trace the source of English Christmas customs," the word trace doesn't mean "to copy" or "to form letters," it means "to uncover by investigation."

Words with multiple meanings are tricky. Take the word "shade," for example. "A beautiful shade of red," is quite different from "let's sit in the shade and cool off." Or the word "caught." "He caught a fish," is not the same as "the house caught on fire." Or "notes." "Don't write notes in class" and "she can't sing the high notes" have very different meanings. Context counts!

As we said at the beginning of this lesson, words are the way we humans communicate. Have you ever heard the old saying, "sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me?" It's not true. Words can hurt, but they can also help and heal and teach and entertain us. So it's important to learn as much about words as possible.

for Students, Parents and Teachers

Now let's do Practice Exercise 1-3 (top)

Summary

You have now completed Lesson 1 on Word Analysis, Fluency and Vocabulary Development and are ready to do the Problem and Test sections. You may wish to review any or all of the topics before answering the questions that follow. You may also wish to obtain additional material from the links below before answering the questions.

Good luck!

http://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/June2000/art152000.shtml  (Idioms)

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/rootaffix.html  (Roots vs. Affixes)