Attacking Unknown or

Multiple-meaning Words

Strategies for

Comprehension

Have you ever been reading and felt the way this guy looks?

Me too.

What “hurdles” stand in our way of

understanding?

vocabulary

text structuretext lengthlack of context

Let’s Tackle One Hurdle Today…

Voca

bulary

Strategies for Attacking Words

You have to have a

playbook..

PLA

Y 1

PICK YOUR BRAIN.

What do you already know about the word?

If you don’t know what it means, you might be able to identify connotations.

Cono-what?

DENOTATION

• The dictionary definition

CONNOTATION

• The emotional overtones of a word

• Typically described using “positive”, “negative”, and “neutral”.

WORD

CONNOTATION

DENOTATION

PLA

Y 2

LOOK AT THE GUYS AROUND IT.

Context clues are important!

PLA

Y 3

MAKE IT YOUR LAB RAT.

Dissect the word.

Prefixes?

Suffixes?

Roots?

PLA

Y 4

MAKE FRIENDS WITH A DICTIONARY &

A THESAURUS.

Research:

• Denotation

• Part of speech

• Origin

• Synonyms

HA

IL MA

RY!

It’s 4th down and none of the other plays have worked?

• Run ‘em all at the same time!

Let’s try it.

SA

MPLE

WO

RD

Let’s use “indifference” as our example today, we’ll practice against that opponent before we meet the other guys on the “field”.

PLA

Y 1

What do you already know?

What connotations does the word carry?

PLA

Y 2

Use context clues. Can you figure out

the definition by considering it’s

environment? Look at these passages:

• “So much violence; so much

indifference.”

• “Can one possibly view indifference

as a virtue?”

• “Yet, for the person who is

indifferent, his or her neighbor are of

no consequence.”

PLA

Y 3

Look at the parts of the word.

Prefixes?

Suffixes?

Roots?

PLA

Y 4

Pull out the big guns:

Look it up…

HA

IL MA

RYDo you need the Hail

Mary?

Let’s review…

What are the strategies to use when you don’t “get” a word?

1.Use your brain; examine connotations.

2.Use context clues.

3.Dissect its parts.

4.Look it up.