Context Clues: Compare, Contrast, and Cause-Effect

When reading, good readers use ____ to figure out the meaning of difficult or unfamiliar words.

• a guessing system

• context clues

• imaginary clues

Some types of context clues in text include the following:

• Compare

• Good Guesses

• Cause and Effect

• Contrast

Context Clues are hints and clues in the text that contain _____ to indicate the relationship between the word and its meaning.

• signal words

• bolded words

• unfamiliar words

• obvious words

Some signal words that show a "comparing" relationship include:

• like

• similar

• or

• as

Some signal words that show a "contrasting" relationship include:

• however

• on the other hand

• but

• although

Some signal words that show a "cause and effect" relationship include:

• because

• as a result

• so

• like

What is the signal word in the following sentence? - Their apartment had been covered with travel guides full of cultural information ever since Mrs. Gorski’s sister and her husband had relocated to Argentina six months ago.

• been

• of

• since

What does the bolded word in following sentence mean? - Their apartment had been covered with travel guides full of cultural information ever since Mrs. Gorski’s sister and her husband had relocated to Argentina six months ago.

• to move from one place to another

• to return from somewhere

• to revisit a location one has been at before

What is the signal word in the following sentence? - “We speak Spanish, but I really need to be multilingual."

• but

• need

• be

What is the meaning of the bolded word in the following sentence? - “We speak Spanish, but I really need to be multilingual.”

• to speak Spanish and English

• to speak the language spoken in Argentina

• to speak other languages, and not only Spanish