Three Types of Context Clues Using Context Clues That: Explain Give Examples And Show Contrasts Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

Context clues can help you understand the meaning of words in several ways. * Sometimes, context clues give an explanation. These context clues tell you what the word means. Explanation clues are often found in text books. * Sometimes they give you examples. Examples are good hints about the meaning of the word. * Sometimes, they offer a contrast, or the opposite of what the word means. This can be a good hint, too. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

Context clues can help you figure out the meaning of a word by providing an explanation right in the text. The Constitution, the highest law of the United States, begins with the words, “We the people.” This phrase is a context clue that explains what the word Constitution means. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

Context clues can help you figure out the meaning of a word by providing examples. Molly loved to draw arachnids. So far, she had drawn detailed pictures of ghost spiders, wolf spiders, orbweavers, and jumping spiders. These are examples of arachnids. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

Context clues can help you figure out the meaning of a word by telling you its opposite. The weather for their day at the beach was dismal. It was not at all the warm, clear, sunny day that they had hoped for. These words describe the opposite of dismal. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

Directions: highlight the explanation clues in the following passages. Then, tell what each word in italics means. *Check your answers on the last slide. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

1. His writing contained lots of good descriptive words including adverbs, which are words that modify verbs. Adverbs means ________________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

2. If Jon wired his experiment correctly, he will have a circuit, or an unbroken path for the flow of electricity. Circuit means _________________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

3. The primary elections in our state, the ones in which the political parties choose their candidates, will be held next Tuesday. Primary means ________________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

Directions: highlight the example clues in the following passages. Then, tell what each word in italics means. *Check your answers on the last slide. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

4. Color your drawing using just two complementary colors. For example, you could use red and green. You could also use yellow and violet since they are also opposite on the color wheel. Complementary means __________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

5. She used lots of prepositions, such as of, for, in, and by in her newspaper article. Prepositions means _____________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

6. Artifacts such as fossils, tools, and pottery fragments, can teach us many things about the past. Artifacts means ___________ ________________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

Directions: highlight the contrast clues in the following passages. Then, tell what each word in italics means. *Check your answers on the last slide. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

7. The roller coaster flying down the hill has kinetic energy. The one at the top of the hill has just the opposite, potential energy, because it is not moving. Kinetic means _________________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

8. He preferred to take photos at dusk. In contrast, Maria preferred dawn, the time when the sun was just coming up in the morning. Dusk means ___________________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

9. A jellyfish is an invertebrate. In comparison, a shark is a vertebrate, an animal with a backbone. Invertebrate means ____________________. Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

10. Can you use the context clues in this passage to fill in the missing words? Kiley was working on her newest creation, a unique board game. It had a number of unusual rules. One rule said that a certain roll of the dice meant that the player had to divide his score by three, but a different role of the dice meant that he could do the opposite, __(a)_ by three. The markers for her game were all __(b)_, such as cubes, cylinders, and pyramids. The name of her game was unusual, too. She planned to call it __(c)_, which means “an eight-sided figure.” BONUS: Can you identify the three types of context clues in this passage? Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian

Answers 1. Words that modifies verbs 2. An unbroken path for the flow of electricity 3. An election in which a political party chooses its candidates 4. Colors that are opposite 5. Words that begin prepositional phrases 6. Objects from the past 7. In motion 8. Sunset 9. An animal without a backbone 10. a) multiply, b) shapes, or 3-D solids, c) octagon Bonus: a) contrast, b) examples, c) explanation Copyright © 2012 Sharon Fabian