The Cases Study for Guessing Vocabulary in English Reading

◆马立

(汕尾职业技术学院)

The Cases Study for Guessing Vocabulary in English Reading

◆马立

(汕尾职业技术学院)

As is known，the language before or after the word youmay not know often gives you enough of a hint as to the meaning of the new word.Meanwhile we need not always know exact definitions or shades ofmeaning of new words，buta general understanding of them.Therefore it is probable and necessary to guess themeaning of unknown words according to contextual clues so as to help you to speed up your reading pace and getmain ideas of readingmaterials，and become a faster，more effective reader.However，how to guess?

The cases study for guessingwords in English reading falls into five categories.

ⅠAccording to punctuation

1.This stream wasmade up of the tiny larvae －newly－born ants－being carried out of the nest by the workers.

Suppose"larvae"is new to you.Behind"larvae"there are two words" newly－born"and"ants"，and they are divided off by dashes.Here the function of the punctuation is to show that"newly－born ants"is an explanatory parenthesis for"larvae".Therefore"larvaemean newly－born ants".

2.They can make the abstract concrete;the elusive comprehensible;the unfamiliar familiar.

Maybe you don＇t know"elusive".By observation youmay find this sentence ismade up of three shortones，and they are parted by two semicolons.That tells us the three are paralleled and some sentence elements are omitted.So through inferring the original sentence should be like this:"They can make the abstract concrete，they canmake the elusive comprehensible and they canmake the unfamiliar familiar."However，"abstract"and"concrete"are opposite in meaning;"unfamiliar"and"familiar"are opposite too，so do"elusive"and"comprehensible”.It is clear that“comprehensible”means“of being understandable”.The oppositemeaning of“comprehensible”should be“not being understandable”.Now you know what does“elusive”mean!

ⅡAccording to signal words:in other words，that is，however，unlike，not，or，etc.

1.Itmust be lasting and easy to recognize，to divide，and to carry about.In other words itmust be"durable，distinct，divisible and portable".

Guess"portable"is unfamiliar to you.In this sentence the signal word is "in other words"，which shows themeaning of the first sentence should be repeated in different statement.By comparison，you can find"be lasting"corresponds to"durable""easy to recognize"to"distinct"and"easy to divide"to"divisible"，so"portable"is"easy to carry about".

2.Hedonism，that is，believing thatpleasure is the purpose of life，seems to bring health，not illness.

"Hedonism"is new，but behind it，there is signal word"that is"which means"in other word，that is to say or namely".Consequently，"believing that pleasure is the purpose of life"is the definition for hedonism.

3.In the past the world seemed to run in an orderly way.Now，however，everything seems to be in a state of turmoil.

Difficult one is"turmoil".Obviously，"however"is the key signal word，which reveals something contrary.Furthermore，in the first sentence there is an adverbial of time"in the past"，and in the second part there is"now".Combined these two clues together，one can find"seems to run in an orderly way"is the oppositemeaning for"turmoil".

4.Unlike his sister，who is awarm，interested person，John isapathetic to everyone and everything.

In this example，the signal word is"unlike".Because his sister is a warm and interested person，John must be"a not warm and uninterested person”.Hence you grasp the general idea of“apathetic”.

ⅢAccording to exam p le

1.You may borrow from the library any periodicals:Nature，New Society，News week，or The Listener.

Based on the common knowledge，we know“Nature”，“New Society”，“Newsweek"，and"The Listener"are books.You can definitely guess that" periodical"is a kind of book like the above.This process tells us that experience or background knowledge is also essential in reading.

2.Today young couples who are just starting their households often spend lots of theirmoney on appliances，for instance，washing－machines，refrigerators and color televisions.

Grounded on the instances"washing－machines，refrigerators and color televisions"，youmay get themeaning of"appliance"ismachine powered by electricity for household use.

ⅣAccording to attributive clause

1.The protagonist is the main character in a story，the person whom we watch from the beginning to the end of the action.

As long as you can understand the structure of the sentence，and can find where the attributive clause is，you willgrasp theword"protagonist"，namely，" protagonist"is"the main character in a story，and we watch him or her from the beginning to the end of the action".

2.He was a prestidigitator who entertained the children by pulling rabbits out of hats，swallowing fire，and other similar tricks.

The restrictive attributive clause，"who entertained the children by pulling rabbits out of hats，swallowing fire，and other similar tricks"，is used tomodify and restrict the word“prestidigitator”.And who can pull rabbits out of hats; who can swallow fire;who can play tricks?It is someone who performsmagic tricks to amuse an audience，and it is prestidigitator.

ⅤAccording to root，prefix and suffix

Word analysis can be quite useful especially if there is some contextual information in the sentence or paragraph.A root carries the basic meaning of the word，prefix change root＇smeaning，and suffix part of speech.By breaking them down into parts，one will try to discover themeanings of a great number of unfamiliarwords in reading.

1.Some words，like astronaut，aremade up entirely of Greek or Latin prefixes and suffixes.

"Astronaut"is formed by three parts:"astro"，"nau"and"－t".Root" astro=star"，"nau=ship"，"－t"is noun suffix.Put them together，itwill be "someone flying among stars by taking a ship".Thus"astronaut"means"one engaged in space flight".

2.Flower dehydration techniques have alsomade dried flower a favorite.

If you know the root"hydro"means"water"，prefix"de－"is"off，away"，and"－ation"is a noun suffix，plus the clue"dried"，you can definitely guess themeaning of"dehydration"whichmeans"dryness resulting from the removal ofwater".

［1］张连仲，牛健，杨启宁.Brenda Dyer Brenda Bushell.新思维英语阅读Ⅲ.中央广播电视大学出版社，1999.8.

［2］教育部《实用英语》教材编写组编.实用英语综合教程(1)2版.北京:高等教育出版社，1999.