The Cases Study for Guessing Vocabulary in English Reading

马立

Atroubled thing in English language reading is that it seems there are numerous new words, which may always make reading in English monotonous, and even let one lose interest in English learning. Hence this thesis tries to analyze the methods of how to guess unfamiliar words.

GuessNew wordEnglish readingAs is known, the language before or after the word you may not know often gives you enough of a hint as to the meaningof the new word. Meanwhile we need not always know exact definitions or shades of meaning of new words, but a general understanding of them. Therefore it is probable and necessary to guess the meaning of unknown words according to contextual clues so as to help you to speed up your reading pace and get main ideas of reading materials, and become a faster, more effective reader. However, how to guess?

The casesstudy for guessing words in English readingfalls into five categories.

ⅠAccording to punctuation

1.This stream was made up of the tiny larvae- newly-born ants - being carried out of the nest by the workers.

Suppose "larvae"is new to you. Behind "larvae"there are two words "newly-born"and "ants", and they are divided off by dashes. Here the function of the punctuationisto show that "newly-born ants"is an explanatory parenthesis for "larvae". Therefore "larvae mean newly-born ants".

2.They can make the abstract concrete; the elusivecomprehensible; the unfamiliar familiar.

Maybe you don't know "elusive". By observation you may find this sentence is made up of three short ones, and they are parted by two semicolons. That tells us the three are paralleled and some sentence elements are omitted. So through inferring the original sentence should be like this: "They can make the abstract concrete, they can make the elusive comprehensible and they can make the unfamiliar familiar."However, "abstract"and "concrete"are opposite in meaning; "unfamiliar"and "familiar"are opposite too, so do "elusive"and "comprehensible”. It is clear that “comprehensible”means “of being understandable”. The opposite meaning of “comprehensible”should be “not being understandable”. Now you know what does “elusive”mean!

ⅡAccording to signal words: in other words, that is, however, unlike, not, or, etc.

1.It must be lasting and easy to recognize, to divide, and to carry about. In other words it must be "durable, distinct, divisible and portable".

Guess "portable"is unfamiliarto you. In this sentence the signal word is "in other words", which shows the meaning of the first sentence should be repeated in different statement. By comparison, you can find "be lasting"corresponds to "durable""easy to recognize"to"distinct"and"easy to divide"to "divisible", so "portable"is "easy to carry about".

2.Hedonism, that is, believing that pleasure is the purpose of life, seems to bring health, not illness.

"Hedonism"is new, but behind it, thereis signal word "that is"which means "in other word, that is to say or namely". Consequently, "believing that pleasure is the purpose of life"is thedefinition for hedonism.

3.In the past theworld seemed to run in an orderly way. Now, however, everything seems to be in a state of turmoil.

Difficultone is "turmoil". Obviously, "however"is the key signal word, which reveals something contrary. Further more, in the first sentence there is an adverbial of time "in the past", and in thesecond part there is "now". Combined these two clues together, one can find "seems to run in an orderly way"is the opposite meaning for "turmoil".

4. Unlike his sister, who is a warm, interested person, John is apatheticto everyone and everything.

In this example, the signal word is "unlike". Because his sister is a warm and interested person, John must be "a not warm and uninterested person”. Hence you grasp the general idea of “apathetic”.

Ⅲ According to example

1.You may borrow from the library any periodicals: Nature, New Society, News week, or The Listener.

Based on the common knowledge, we know “Nature”,“New Society”,“News week", and "The Listener"are books. You can definitely guess that "periodical"is a kind of book like the above. This process tells us that experience or background knowledge isalso essential in reading.

2.Today young couples who are just starting their households often spend lots of their money on appliances, for instance, washing-machines, refrigerators and color televisions.

Grounded on the instances "washing-machines, refrigerators and color televisions", you may get the meaning of "appliance"is machine powered by electricity for household use.

ⅣAccording to attributive clause

1.The protagonistis themain character in a story, theperson whom we watch from the beginning to the end of the action.

As long as you can understand the structure of thesentence, and can find where the attributive clause is, you will grasp the word "protagonist", namely, "protagonist"is "themain character in a story, and we watch him or her from the beginning to the end of the action".

2.He was a prestidigitatorwho entertained the children by pulling rabbits out of hats, swallowing fire, and othersimilar tricks.

The restrictive attributive clause, "who entertained the children by pulling rabbits out of hats, swallowing fire, and othersimilar tricks", is used to modify and restrict the word “prestidigitator”. And who can pull rabbits out of hats; who can swallowfire; who can play tricks? It is someone who performs magic tricks to amuse an audience, and it is prestidigitator.

ⅤAccording to root, prefix and suffix

Word analysis can be quite useful especially if there is some contextual information in thesentence or paragraph. A root carries the basic meaning of the word, prefix change root's meaning, and suffix part of speech. By breaking them down into parts, one will try to discover the meanings of a great number of unfamiliar words in reading.

1.Some words, like astronaut, are made up entirely of Greek or Latin prefixes and suffixes.

"Astronaut"is formed by three parts: "astro", "nau"and "-t". Root "astro=star", "nau=ship", "-t"is noun suffix. Put them together, it will be "someone flying among stars by taking a ship". Thus "astronaut"means "one engaged in space flight".

2.Flower dehydrationtechniques have also made dried flower a favorite.

If you know the root "hydro"means "water", prefix "de-"is "off, away", and "-ation"is a noun suffix, plus the clue "dried", you can definitely guess the meaning of "dehydration"which means "dryness resulting from the removal of water".

References:

[1]张连仲，牛健，杨启宁.Brenda Dyer Brenda Bushell.新思维英语阅读Ⅲ.中央广播电视大学出版社，1999.8.

[2]教育部《实用英语》教材编写组编.实用英语综合教程（1）2版.北京：高等教育出版社， 1999.