Writing Warmup:
For the last week, we've been discussing our L4 standard, " I can accurately and independently determine or clarify the meaning of unknown words." Part of this standard requires that we describe how context clues help you to come up with educated guesses about a word's meaning.
In the comments section below, please answer the following questions.
1) What is the difference between a context clue and an educated guess?
2) Why are context clues important?
3) In the following quote, what context clues help you to figure out the meaning of one of the unknown words?
"In between we'd worked on radio coms and general strategy, exchanged ideas about how to provide the best cover for the squads we'd be accompanying, and made a dozen tentative tactical decisions, such as deciding whether it would be generally better to shoot from the top floor or the one right below" (137).
—Chris Kyle
1. There is a big difference between a context clue and an educated guess. A context clue is the information around the word you don't know, that helps you understand the word. An educated guess is what you think the word means.
ReplyDelete2. Context clues are very important. They are important because of how much information you can get about the word you don't know, just from reading the few sentences around the word.
3. The unknown word is tentative. The context clues for this word is that by reading the rest of the quote, tentative sounds like an adjective. This word also sounds like it describes something that you decide, as that word was also in the quote.
Oxford English Dictionary Definition: 1. done without confidence; hesitant 2. not certain or fixed
DeleteVariations of tentative: tentatively, tentativeness
Richelle - You really nailed the distinction between "context clues" and "educated guesses" on the head. While it may seem like we say what a word means in our context clues, this isn't always the case, and a lot depends on how many hints an author gives you as a reader.
ReplyDeleteNice job linking your word, "tentative," with its meaning through parts of speech. Parts of speech are an essential clue when figuring out implied meaning. Great work!
Sentence Using Tentative: I was working on my math homework, but I wrote a tentative answer down, not knowing if it was right or not.
ReplyDeleteOxford English Dictionary Definition for Tactical: adj. 1 done or planned to achieve a particular end. 2 (of weapons) for use in direct support of military or naval operations. Often contrasted with strategic. 3 (of voting) aimed at preventing the strongest candidate from winning by supporting the next strongest, regardless of your true political preference.
ReplyDeleteVariations of tentative: tactically, adv.
Sentence using tentative: The military had a very tentative attitude while training.