A young boy and his older brother were taught by
his parents to divide materials equally and fairly. This
is a rule they tried to follow.
A system has evolved in
which in dividing things, the other
gets to select first. This
guaranteed an equal sharing for
the two. Otherwise, one is bound
to get more than the other.
One day, the two boys had a pair of fish for lunch.
One big fish and the other small one. The young boy
thought the older brother would give in (magparaya)
to him as a younger and a weaker sibling so he said
“Kuya (older brother) please go ahead and make the
first selection.”
To the younger boy’s surprise, his kuya chose to
eat the bigger fish, and the only thing left for him was
the small one.
“What do you complain about, are you
protesting?” asked the older brother, “at least you
have something to eat”.
Next time around, the two boys
have to share a bottle of soda.
They were in the rice field with no
container like glass or cup.
“Let us drink directly from the
bottle”, suggested the older
brother. “Be sure it’s exactly half.
You go ahead and drink your
share.”
The younger boy took the bottle
and raved it to his mouth.
The
refreshing fluid eddied out and down
his throat in succeeding big gulps. He
practically held his breath while the
older brother waited.
After a minute, the contents of
the whole bottle was gone, it was no
longer full.
The younger brother had drunk
all and wiped his mouth his wrist. He
smiled contentedly.
“Why did you drink all of it?” cried
the older boy.
The younger brother replied. “My
half share was at the bottom part of
the bottle.”
Context clues are hints and extra
information in a sentence or passage
that help you understand the meaning
of an unknown word. Context clues
essentially let you learn new words
without outside assistance, like from a
teacher or dictionary.
1. Definitions
The easiest and most helpful type of context clue is
when a definition is provided directly in the text
Context clues example sentences
Abigail knew that to get a catfish, she would have
to try bottom fishing, a technique of dropping the
lure to the water floor to catch the fish that dwell
there.
2. Examples
Sometimes, you can guess the definition of a word
by seeing some of its examples. You may be familiar
with some of the specific examples without knowing
what category those things belong to.
Context clues example sentences
Arthropods like millipedes, dragonflies, and
scorpions grew to enormous sizes during the
Carboniferous period, about 350 million years ago.
3. Synonyms
You can easily understand a new word if you
can tell it has the same meaning as another
word you already know.
Context clues example sentences
We’ll use the food court as
our rendezvous, unless you can suggest a
better meeting place.
4. Antonyms or contrast
Antonyms or words with opposite meanings,
can be context clues like synonyms
Context clues example sentences
Even though he was prejudiced as a
teenager, his life experiences as an adult led
him to be more accepting and open-minded.
5. Root words and affixes
If you’re familiar with the root words and affixes in
an unknown word, you can figure out its meaning.
Context clues example sentences
The student chose to specialize in dermatology.
(The root word derma means “related to skin,” while
–ology and –tology are suffixes for scientific
disciplines. Therefore, dermatology must be the
scientific study of skin.)
Let’s go back to the story!
Why do we need to learn
about context clues?