Meaning in Context

Context Clues

by Atinuch Wiangkum

มารู้จัก​Context clues

​Context Clues หมายถึง ข้อความหรือคำศัพท์หลายๆ คำซึ่งอยู่แวดล้อมคำศัพท์ที่ผู้อ่านไม่รู้ความหมาย แล้วทำให้ผู้อ่านเดาความหมายของศัพท์ที่ไม่รู้นั้นได้อย่างถูกต้องตามบริบทที่ศัพท์ตัวนั้นปรากฏอยู่ โดย แบ่งหลักการเดาคำศัพท์ออกเป็น

​1. Definition (เดาจากคำนิยามหรือคำจำกัดความ)

2. Restatement(เดาคำจากการกล่าวซ้ำ)

3. Contrast ( เดาจากคำตรงข้าม)

4. Inference (เดาจากข้อมูล/องค์ประกอบต่างๆ

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​ Definition (เดาจากคำนิยามหรือคำจำกัดความ )

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​​1. เดาศัพท์จากความหมาย (definition) โดยสังเกต จาก mean, verb to be, to be called as, to be defined, as to be regarded as, to be known as, may be describes as, refer to, to be a kind/type of หรืออีกแบบหนึ่งคือ การบอกความหมายโดยใช้ เครื่องหมายวรรคตอน

เช่น comma (,), dash (-), parentheses ( ) หรือ colon (:) คำชี้ (signal) เหล่านี้ มีความหมายว่า “คือ/ หมายถึง/ หมายความว่า”

​ตัวอย่าง :Circulate means to move around and return to the same place. Circulate เป็นคำศัพท์ที่ไม่คุ้นเคย (Unknown word)

means เป็นคำชี้แนะ (Clue)

​ดังนั้น Circulate = to move around and return to the same place

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​Restatement(เดาคำจากการกล่าวซ้ำ)

​การกล่าวซ้ำจะไม่ใช่การบอกความหมายของคำศัพท์โดยตรง แต่เป็นการกล่าว ซ้ำหรืออธิบายโดยใช้ภาษาที่เข้าใจง่าย เช่น

in other word/ that is/ that is to say/ etc.

​นอกจากนี้อาจเป็นการยกตัวอย่างปะกอบ

​คำบ่งชี้ (Signal) ที่จะบอกถึงการยกตัวอย่าง และช่วยให้ผู้อ่านเดาความหมายศัพท์ที่ยากจากตัวอย่าง ได้แก่ with for example/ for instance e.g./ such as/ like/as/ as the following/ including /especially/

these as the following example shows

​ตัวอย่าง

​She is very touchy. For example, she usually gets angry when her teacher makes comments on her work.

touchy. = usually gets angry

Multiple Choice

By using applied science, people have changed their lives. Technology gives people instant communication, ever faster transportation, and more free time

Technology means.............................

• applied science

• communication

• transportation

•  live

Multiple Choice

The statement that the politician made was contradictory; that is, one part of it did not support the other parts.

Contradictory means................................

• contrast

• parallel

• result

• restatement

Multiple Choice

The executives must have power in order to control employees who resent discipline or try to avoid working under rules. 

Resent means....................

• maintain

•  support

• dislike

•  obey

Multiple Choice

Above all we need a competent leader--someone who has the proper training, experience and intelligence-- to do this very complicated work.

Competent means....................

• qualified

• considerate

• diligent

• diligent

Multiple Choice

Only Judge Vicery can decide on disposition, or final settlement, of the case she is hearing .

Disposition means....................

• personality

• decision

• settlement

• hearing

​Contrast ( เดาจากคำตรงข้าม)

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​​3. คือ คำชี้แนะประเภทบอกความขัดแย้งหรือตรงกันข้าม โดยการใช้ข้อความที่เปรียบเทียบสิ่งสองสิ่งในลักษณะตรงกันข้าม ถ้าเข้าใจความหมายก็สามารถตีความหมายของอีกสิ่งหนึ่งได้ แบ่งเป็น 3 ประเภท

​3.1 คำชี้แนะประเภทที่บ่งบอกถึงความแตกต่างหรือตรงกันข้าม even though แม้ว่า/though/but / yet แต่/however อย่างไรก็ตาม/nevertheless/in spite of แม้ว่า/despiteon the contrary/on the other hand ในทางตรงกันข้าม/in contrast /conversely ในทางกลับกัน

​3.2 คำชี้แนะที่แสดงการเปรียบเทียบ (แสดงการขัดแย้ง)

ได้แก่ while ในขณะที่/whereas/comparing เปรียบเทียบกับ/compared with

3.3 คำชี้แนะประเภทเปรียบเทียบในแง่ที่ว่าของสิ่งนั้นมีลักษณะอย่างนี้ และอีกอย่างหนึ่งจะมีลักษณะตรงกันข้าม ได้แก่one……..another some…….others

​ตัวอย่าง 

​An elephant is immense, comparing to a mouse.

คำชี้แนะ comparing ทำให้ทราบว่า immense หมายถึง big

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Multiple Choice

The toy car was very lasting. Although the boy dropped it or threw it against the concrete wall many times, it didn’t break at

What is the best meaning of the underline word?

• fragile

• tough

• breakable

• durable

Multiple Choice

We were all pretty apathetic in the movie about animals, but we became interested when it started showing all the tricks dogs could do.

What is the best meaning of the underline word?

• excited

•  gracious

• uninterested

• attentive

Multiple Choice

The omnipotent superhero always won his battles, unlike his weak opponents.

What is the best meaning of the underline word?

• coward

• powerful

• weak

• handsome

Multiple Choice

Although the fire was damaging, he was able to salvage some belongings.

What is the best meaning of the underline word?

• steal

• save

• regard

• return

​Inference (เดาจากข้อมูล/องค์ประกอบต่างๆ)

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​​4. คือ การเดาคำศัพท์จากข้อมูลที่มีอยู่ในบริบทได้แก่

​4.1Explanation คือ คำชี้แนะประเภทให้คำอธิบายเช่น this is because ซึ่งเป็นดังนี้ก็เพราะว่า/the reason for this is that เหตุผลสำหรับสิ่งนี้ก็คือ/the cause of this is that สาเหตุของสิ่งนี้ก็คือ/one of the reasons is เหตุผลประการหนึ่งก็คือ/this explains that นี้อธิบายได้ว่า/it means that นั่นหมายถึงความว่า/that fact is that ความจริงก็คือว่า

​4.2Modifier คือ คำชี้แนะประเภทที่เป็นส่วนขยาย เป็นการตีความหมายของคำศัพท์ที่ไม่คุ้นเคยด้วยการวิเคราะห์ส่วนขยายที่ปรากฏอยู่ในข้อความแวดล้อมนั้นๆ ส่วนขยายเหล่านี้มักมีคำขึ้นต้นเช่น who, which , where, that, without หรือวลี (phrase)

​ตัวอย่าง 

​Tom was an idle boy who did not like work of any kind and who spent most of his time lying around the house.

who เป็นคำชี้แนะ ดังนั้น idle boy จึงหมายถึง เด็กเกียจคร้าน

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Multiple Choice

Lawyers frequently search for precedents in order to cite previous ruling by courts in the past, and so they are used to support their arguments.

What is the best meaning of the underline word?

• leaders

• permissions

• past examples

• old laws

Multiple Choice

Because constant repetition of the same TV programs, it alienates customers rather than attract them.

What is the best meaning of the underline word?

• interests

• drives away

• forces

• frustrates

Multiple Choice

Because constant repetition of the same TV programs, it alienates customers rather than attract them.

What is the best meaning of the underline word?

• interests

• drives away

• forces

• frustrates

Exercise

Multiple Choice

They continued arguing over matters like that for six months, until my sister and her husband left to harvest sugar beets in Idaho. It was grueling work up there, and wages were pitiful, but when the call came through camp for workers to alleviate the wartime labor shortage, it sounded better than their life at Manzanar. They knew they'd have, if nothing else, a room, perhaps a cabin of their own."(Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, Farewell to Manzanar)

• eliminate

• increase

• lessen

• assist

Multiple Choice

"The streets were deserted, the doors bolted. The dogs were the only ones to scent the stranger's breath; they began to bark from within the courtyards. The peasants in this region are wild and misanthropic, suspicious of strangers. I hesitated at every door, extended my hand, but did not dare to knock."(Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco)

• fearful, terrified

• marked by respect and concern for others

• disobedient, unlawful

• marked by a hatred or mistrust of people

Multiple Choice

"An Indian household may have a dining room with table and chairs, but when the family relaxes during the hot afternoon, parents and children sit together on the floor. The driver of a three-wheeled motor scooter in Delhi has to sit on a seat, but instead of doing so in a western manner he squats cross-legged, his feet on the bench instead of on the floor (precariously to my eyes, comfortably to his)."(Witold Rybczynski, Home: A Short History of an Idea)

• in a painful or uncomfortable manner

• in an insecure or unstable manner

• in a humorous or comical manner

• in a dangerous or illegal manner

Multiple Choice

"I awoke with a violent, shuddering start, so abruptly that I felt the sudden ache behind the eyeballs one experiences after bolting an ice-cream soda or ascending too recklessly from the ocean floor."(S. J. Perelman, "I Am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been, a Matrix of Lean Meat")

• eating or drinking very quickly

• refusing to eat or drink

• making or putting together

• spilling or knocking over

Multiple Choice

"At the Commissioners' Party, an enormous gala at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the league owners were penned in a corner apart from the crowd and were guarded by wiry tough guys with walkie talkies. One tough guy had collared a small, tan man with luminous white hair who was headed into the pen."(Susan Orlean, "Super-Duper")

• extremely long

• stringy or knotted in braids

• balding or patchy

• glowing or brightly lit

Multiple Choice

."Then he saw the eagles across the distance, two of them, riding low in the depths and rising diagonally toward him. He did not know what they were at first, and he stood watching them, their far, silent flight erratic and wild in the bright morning."(N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn)

• melodramatic, unbelievable

• irregular, unpredictable

• distant, almost out of sight

• regular, predictable

Multiple Choice

"'These tomatoes come from a remote corner of Afghanistan,' Derryck Brooks-Smith is saying to some hapless client. 'They will send you into ecstasy.' She is young and appears to believe him, but she may be in ecstasy already."(John McPhee, "Giving Good Weight")

• hungry, in need of nourishment

• innocent or unsuspecting

• unlucky or unfortunate

• uninterested or unconcerned

Multiple Choice

"Fasting is an act of homage to the majesty of appetite. So I think we should arrange to give up our pleasures regularly--our food, our friends, our lovers--in order to preserve their intensity, and the moment of coming back to them. For this is the moment that renews and refreshes both oneself and the thing one loves."(Laurie Lee, "Appetite")

• dishonor or disrespect

• honor or respect

• pardon or forgiveness

• foolishness or irresponsibility

Multiple Choice

"New York City is the most fatally fascinating thing in America. She sits like a great witch at the gate of the country, showing her alluring white face and hiding her crooked hands and feet under the folds of her wide garments--constantly enticing thousands from far within, and tempting those who come from across the seas to go no farther. And all these become the victims of her caprice."(James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man)

• seductive, mysteriously attractive

• unpleasantly or shockingly vivid

• repellent, repulsive

• artificial, insincere

Multiple Choice

"The rich man believes he possesses his big house with its many rooms and its elaborate furniture, his pictures and expensive clothes, his horses and his servants and his bank accounts. He does not. He depends on them, he worries about them, he spends most of his life's energy looking after them; the thought of losing them makes him sick with anxiety. They possess him. He is their slave. In order to procure a quantity of false, perishable goods he has sold the only true, lasting good, his own independence."(Gilbert Highet, "Diogenes and Alexander")

• get, obtain

• sell, make a profit

• give back, return

• protect, safeguard