Vocabulary and Context

Discussion: In your groups, discuss: What does the word ‘set’ mean?

A few Examples: When he set his glass down he spilled a little drink. I forgot to set my alarm and I overslept. There must be one set of laws for the whole of the country. Graf was leading 5-1 in the first set. The band continued with their set after a short break. From the first moment he got on the set, he wanted to be a director too. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/set

Context Can you see why the question, “What does set mean?” doesn’t really make sense? Very few words have meanings on their own, and a word like set can have many, many meanings and usages! Context usually helps to disambiguate.

Context Context 1. The context of an idea or event is the general situation that relates to it, and which helps it to be understood. 2. The context of a word, sentence, or text consists of the words, sentences, or text before and after it which help to make its meaning clear. BOTH of these are important when you study vocabulary.

Example 1 Graf was leading 5-1 in the first set. Graf I know she is a famous tennis player was leading Can also mean winning 5-1 This looks like a score, especially because we have seen ‘leading’ in the first set. Now I know that ‘set’ in this context means “In tennis, a set is one of the groups of six or more games that form part of a match.”

Example 2 I forgot to set my alarm and I overslept. Does this mean “If you set something somewhere, you put it there, especially in a careful or deliberate way.” Maybe, I suppose … “I forgot to put my alarm on the table …” But probably not. Because of Alarm and overslept we know it probably means: “When you set a clock or control, you adjust it to a particular point or level.”

An example from the book:

Balanced having weight evenly distributed; being in a state of equilibrium Is this the definition we are looking for?

Balanced 2. (of a person) mentally and emotionally stable Is this the definition we are looking for?

Balanced 3. (of a discussion, programme, etc) presenting opposing points of view fairly and without bias Is this the definition we are looking for?

Balanced 4. (of a diet) consisting of all essential nutrients in suitable form and amounts to maintain health Is this the definition we are looking for?

Finally! YES! The general context is food. Specifically, the sentence in the book is: “Since super tasters avoid bitter fruits and vegetables, their diets are sometimes not balanced, which could put them more at risk for certain types of cancers.”

The Lesson Meaning is (almost) always contextual! This means that memorizing long lists of words is probably not very helpful, especially if your list has only one definition. Learning the most frequently used definitions can certainly be helpful, but always be prepared to look down the list of definitions in a dictionary until you find the one that makes sense in the context you are encountering the word. Don’t just look at the first one and assume that’s the one being used! The Lesson