1. Ten Steps to Improving College Reading Skills
Fifth Edition
John Langan
© Townsend Press

2. Chapter One: Vocabulary in Context
Context clues help you figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words in your reading.
There are four common types of context clues:
1. Examples
2. Synonyms
3. Antonyms
4. General Sense of the Sentence or Passage
See pages 21 and 22 in textbook.

3. One Type of Context Clue: Examples
A sentence may contain an example or examples of an unfamiliar word.
See page 22 in textbook.

4. What do you think the word initiative means in the cartoon?
See pages 22 and 23 in textbook.
ANSWER: C. ability to take charge (The next slide explains the choice.)
HERMAN: © Jim Unger/Dist. by Newspaper Enterprise Association
What do you think the word initiative means in the cartoon?
A. anger B. will power C. ability to take charge
HERMAN: © Jim Unger/Dist. by Newspaper Enterprise Association

5. Initiative means “ability to take charge.”
In the cartoon, the woman “takes charge” by selling the man’s car.
Selling the car is an example of taking charge, or initiative.
See pages 22 and 23 in textbook.

6. A Second Type of Context Clue: Synonyms
A synonym is a word that means the same—or almost the same— as another word.
See page 26 in textbook.

7. What do you think the word terminate means in the cartoon
What do you think the word terminate means in the cartoon? Which word in the cartoon is a synonym for terminate?
See page 26 in textbook.
ANSWER: “end.” (The next slide explains the answer.)
Cartoon © Randy Glasbergen.
© Randy Glasbergen.

8. In the cartoon, the word end is a synonym that helps you understand that terminate means “end.”
“My doctor said that smoking could terminate my life. But I told him, ‘Everybody’s life has to end sometime.’ ”
See page 26 in textbook.

9. A Third Type of Context Clue: Antonyms
Another context clue is an antonym— a word that means the opposite of another word.
Antonyms are often signaled by words and phrases such as however, but, yet, on the other hand, and in contrast.
See page 28 in textbook.

10. See page 28 in textbook.
ANSWER: “lowers.” (The next slide explains the answer.)
Cartoon copyright 2001 by Randy Glasbergen.
What do you think amplifies means in the cartoon? Which word in the cartoon is an antonym for amplifies?
Copyright 2001 by Randy Glasbergen.

11. In the cartoon, the antonym lowers helps you figure out that amplifies must mean “increases.”
“It’s a special hearing aid. It lowers criticism and amplifies compliments.”
See page 28 in textbook.

12. A Fourth Type of Context Clue: General Sense of the Sentence
Sometimes you need to look carefully at the entire sentence in which an unfamiliar word appears.
There may be clues within the sentence that help you figure out the word.
See page 31 in textbook.

13. See page 31 in textbook.
ANSWER: lessen (The next slide explains the answer.)
Copyright 2006 by Randy Glasbergen.
Based on the context clues in the cartoon caption, what do you think alleviate means?
Copyright 2006 by Randy Glasbergen.

14. If the patient wants to look and feel better, what would he want the prescription to do to his aches and pains? The patient’s words strongly suggest that alleviate means “lessen.”
See page 31 in textbook.
“I’d like a prescription that will alleviate my aches and pains and also make me younger and thinner.”

15. Chapter Review In this chapter, you learned the following:
To save time when reading, you should try to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words. You can do so by looking at their context—the words surrounding them.
There are four kinds of context clues: examples (marked by words like for example, for instance, including, and such as); synonyms (words that mean the same as unknown words); antonyms (words that mean the opposite of unknown words); and general sense of the sentence (clues in the sentence or surrounding sentences about what words might mean).
Textbook authors typically set off important words in italic or boldface and define those words for you, often providing examples as well.
The next chapter—Chapter 2—will introduce you to the most important of all comprehension skills, finding the main idea.
See page 35 in textbook.