English Teaching

ELT365 · Day 170 — Guessing vocabulary from context

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Idea — Readers need not know every word. Surrounding clues — grammar, examples, contrast — often reveal enough meaning to keep going. Training this guess-and-go habit builds independent readers.

Example — "It was a sweltering day, so we stayed inside" — "sweltering" must mean very hot, from the consequence.

Try — Cover one word in a sentence with an X. Ask learners to guess its meaning and say which clue helped.


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