CONTEXT CLUES

The secret to mastering fill-in-the-blank questions!

DEFINITION & RESTATEMENT

Which isThat isOr

Also known as Also called In other words

Jeanne trained herself to be an ambidextrous basketball player, which

means she can shoot, pass, and dribble with both hands!

Signal Words

EXAMPLE

Like Including Such as For instance

Especially Other This These

The work of an argonomist includes the selective breeding of crop plants and the development of methods to preserve oil.

Signal Words

These include For example

COMPARISON

Like As In the same way Similar to

Resembling Likewise Also Similarity

Similar to the way a mother consoles a crying baby, my fears were assuaged

when my teacher gave us an extension on my term paper.

Signal Words

Identical Related

CONTRAST

But Although On the contrary On the other hand

Unlike In contrast to Different

The intrepid child, unlike her more fearful playmates, never doubted her ability to climb to the top of the tree.

Signal Words However Dissimilar

CAUSE & EFFECT

Because Since Consequently Therefore

When As a result “If-then” statements

Since both sides of the people arguing about the labor dispute were intransigent, now a federal mediator had to be brought in to help reach an

agreement.Signal Words

HOOPTY DEFINITION: (n) an old, beaten-up, dilapidated car.

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HOOPTY

RESTATEMENT: This is so much better than rolling in your HOOPTY,

in other words your old beat-up station wagon.

EXAMPLE: Ridin’ in your HOOPTY is like riding in one of those cars

on “Pimp My Ride” before they fix them!

HOOPTY COMPARISON:

This HOOPTY is similar to that beater car your uncle drives!

CONTRAST: Your HOOPTY is a piece of junk unlike that hot Aston Martin

over there!

CAUSE & EFFECT Since you got in that accident and let your brother spray paint

the rust spots, you car looks like a HOOPTY.

PRACTICE: OFF THE HOOK - awesome, cool

Restatement:

Example:

Comparison:

Contrast:

Cause/Effect:

SLANG CONTEXT CLUES Write the word AND its definition at the top

of your paper.

Write a sentence for each type of context clue ( 5 sentences) for your slang word using the signal words! Somehow identify the word in each sentence AND the signal word/phrase like I did in the sample sentences

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are needed to see this picture.

EXAMPLE FOR COMPARISON:This HOOPTY is similar to that beater car your uncle drives!

CONTEXT CLUES: Review

Pick two sentences from your table from different types of context clues and write them on the board. Identify the slang word and the signal words.

FOR EXAMPLE: Giving mad props to peeps involves giving proper respect and praise.

You need to stop tripping that is flipping out!

CONTEXT CLUES: Restatement

That girl has way to much bling, or expensive jewelry, on her wrist!You need to stop tripping, that is flipping out!I would not want to roll up at the club wearing that janky outfit, or in other words, that tacky shirt.

CONTEXT CLUES: Example

That car is so ghetto, for instance, the seats and mirrors are missing.Students at school are such biters, especially the ones that don’t do their work.Giving mad props to peeps involves giving proper respect and praise.

CONTEXT CLUES: Comparison

Although she had a sweet voice, her words were cold.Allen Iverson is a sick basketball player resembling Michael Jordan.My dawgs and I are tight. For instance, we help each other out when we’re feeling down.

CONTEXT CLUES: Contrast

My crib needs to be cleaned, unlike that sparkling house!Although she had a sweet voice, her words were cold.She didn’t want me to call her, but I holla’d at her anyway.

CONTEXT CLUES: Cause & Effect

If a boy has a girl and flirts with another girl on the D.L., then he would be considered a playa.She has a big house and hot tub, so hanging out with her was off the hook!Since the two kids when to the club looking like giant tools in their tye-dyes and sweats, none of the girls wanted to chill with them.

CONTEXT CLUESI certainly appreciate your praise, but I must say that I can see nothing so remarkably meritorious in having done what any decent person would do.

CONTEXT CLUESThe only way to defeat the party in power is for all the reform groups to form a coalition and back a single slate of candidates.

Although we tried to express our sympathy, we knew that mere words could do nothing to assuage her grief.

GRAMMAR PRACTICEWhen (1)I was young me (2) and my mama had beefSeventeen years old kicked out (3) on the streetsThough back at the time, I never thought I’d see her faceAin’t a (4) woman alive that could take my (5) mama’s placeSuspended from school; and scared to go home, I was a fool(6) With the (7) big boys breaking all the rulesI shed tears with my(8) baby sister(9) Over the years we were poorer that the other little kidsAnd even though we had different daddy’s, the (10) same dramaWhen things went wrong (11) we blamed mamaI reminisce on the(12) stress I caused, it was hellHugging on my mama from a (13) jail (14) cell

GRAMMAR PRACTICEAnd who’d think (15) in elementary?

Heeeey! I’d see the penitentiary, (16) one day

And running from the police, that’s right

Mama catch me, put a whoopin’ to my backside

And even as a crack (17) fiend, mama

You always was a black (18) queen, mama

I finally understand

For a woman it ain’t easy trying (19) to raise a man

You always was committed

A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how you did it

There’s no way I can pay (20) you back

But the plan is to show you that I understand

You are appreciated.

Renowned curator JA CQUES SAUNEI ERE (1) staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery. He LUNGED (2) for the nearest painting he could see, a Carravagio. Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-three-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Saunière collapsed backward I N (3) a heap beneath the canvas.

As HE (4) anticipated, a thundering iron gate fell nearby, barricading the entrance to the suite. THE (5) parquet floor shook. Far off, an alarm began to ring.

The curator lay a moment, gasping for breath, taking stock. I am still alive. He crawled out from under the canvas AND (6) scanned the cavernous space for someplace to hide.

A voice spoke, CHI LLI NGLY (7) close. "Do not move." On his hands and knees, the curator froze, turning his head slowly. Only fifteen feet away, outside the sealed gate, the MOUNTAI NOUS (8) si lhouette of

his attacker stared through the iron bars. He was broad and tall, with ghost-pale skin and thinning white hair. His irises were pink with DARK RED (9) pupils. The albino drew a pistol from his coat and aimed the long silencer through the bars, directly at the curator. "Yo u should not have run." HIS (10) accent was not easy to place. "Now tell me where it is."

"I told you ALREADY (11)," th e curator stammered, kneeling defenseless on the floor of the gallery. "I have no idea what you are talking about!"

"You are lying." The man stared at him, perfectly immobile except for the glint in his GHOSTLY (12) eyes. "You and your brethren possess something that is not yours."

The curator FELT (13) a surge of adrenalin. How COULD (14) he possibly know this? "Tonight the rightful guardians will be restored. Tell me where it is hidden, and you will

live." The man leveled his gun AT (15) the curator's head. "Is it a secret you will die f or?" Saunière could not breathe. The man tilted his head and closed one eye, peering down the barrel of his gun. Saunière held up his hands in defense. "Wait," he said slowly. "I wil l tell you what you

need to know." The curator spoke his next words carefully. The lie he told was one he had rehearsed many times… each time praying he would never have to use it.

When the curator HAD (16) finished speaking, his assailant smiled SMUGLY (17). "Yes. This is exactly what the others told me."

Saunière recoiled. The others? "I found them, too," the huge man taunted. "All three of them. They confirmed what you

have just said." It cannot be! The curator's true identity, along with the identities of his three sénéchaux,

was almost as sacred as the ancient secret they protected. Saunière now realized his sénéchaux, following STRICT (18) procedure, had told the same lie before their own deaths. It w as part of the protocol.

The attacker aimed his gun again. "When you are gone, I wil l be the only one who knows the truth."

The truth. I n an instant, the curator grasped the true horror of the situation. I f I die, th e truth will be lost forever. Instinctively, HE (19) tried to scramble for cover.

THE (20) silencer spat, and the curator felt a searing heat as the bullet lodged in his stomach. He f ell forward…struggling against the pain. Slowly, Saunière rolled over and stared back through the bars at his attacker.

The man was NOW (21) taking dead aim at Saunière's HEAD (22). Saunière closed his eyes, his thoughts a swirling tempest of fear and regret. The click of an empty chamber ECHOED (23) through the corridor. The curator's eyes flew open. The man glanced down at his weapon, looking almost amused. He re ached for a second

clip, BUT (24) then seemed to reconsider, smirking calmly at Saunière's gut. "My work here is done."

The curator looked down and saw the bullet hole in his white linen shirt. I t was framed by a small circle of blood a few inches below his breastbone. My stomach. Almost cruelly, the bullet had missed his heart. As a veteran of La Guerre d'Algérie, the curator HAD (25) witnessed this HORRI BLY (26) drawn out death before. For fifteen minutes, he w ould survive as his stomach acids SEEPED (27) IN TO (28) his chest cavity, slowly poisoning him from within.

"Pain IS (29) good, monsieur," the man said. Then he was gone. Alone now, J acques Saunière turned his gaze again to the iron gate. He was trapped,

and the doors could not be reopened for at least twenty minutes. By the time anyone got to him, he would BE (30) dead. Even so, the fear that now gripped him was a FEAR (31) far greater than that of his own death.