Do you hate studying word lists? Is it hard for you to keep the words in mind by memorizing them? Do you find it impossible to use them after studying? Then, stay with me here as I am going to tell you how to learn new words more practically.
What is “context”?
The Oxford dictionary says that context is “the words that come just before and after a word, phrase or statement and help you to understand its meaning.” This definition is saying that to understand a new word you can guess its meaning by looking at the surrounding words.
Let me help you get it better by making an example:
“Susan washed the socks, trousers, and belleces yesterday. She ironed and folded these clothes and put them back in the closet.”
The word “belleces” does not have any meaning. I made it myself. But from the words around it you can understand that:
- You can wash it
- You can iron it
- You can fold it
- It is cloth, so you can wear it.
Therefore, the surrounding word can help us understand the meaning of a new word. Even if we are not sure of it 100%.
Why is the “context” so important?
Let’s consider the word “spring”. It is a simple and basic word that almost all language learners at different levels can understand its meaning. But let’s take a look at this example:
“There was an old armchair with broken springs.”
Looking at this example brings up this question “why should and old armchair have the season of spring? Not only one but also several seasons!!!”
The point is that according to the context here spring means “something, usually a twisted piece of metal, that will return to its previous shape after it has been pressed down.” If you open a dictionary, you will see that almost every word in English has multiple meanings, and the most common one always comes first.
Look at three different meanings of “spring” from the Longman dictionary:
As you see there are three meanings for one basic vocabulary, so if there is no context, we will not be able to infer the correct meaning of the word.
