ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Language Arts Videos 92 videos

ELA 4: Complete Sentences
775 Views

In this lesson we'll subject you to some verbs and predicates. Each one is a necessary part of a complete breakfas—er...sentence.

ELA 4: Word Choice
222 Views

Choosing words carefully is important. You may end up vexing the assemblage of citizens you're conversing with...or you might even just plain bore...

See All

ELA 4: Dictionaries vs. Context Clues 343 Views


Share It!


Description:

If you're not like us carrying a handy dandy super-heavy dictionary around, you might need another strategy to figure out what words mean. You know, aside from googling them. Today's video is all about using context clues.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:05

[Dino and Coop singing]

00:13

Picture it: you're reading along, happy as a clam…

00:16

…when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, BOOM! [Clam with a smile]

00:19

A word you don't recognize. [The clam explodes]

00:20

So what do you do??

00:21

Well, you could cry in the fetal position and never read a book again… [Boy on the floor crying]

00:24

…or you could look it up in the dictionary…

00:26

…or you could figure out what it means from context clues, those little hints about

00:30

meaning we find in the text. [Sherlock appears]

00:32

But which route should you take?

00:33

Definitely not the fetal position…it's not great for your back. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

00:37

Which leaves the highway to Dictionary City, or the road to Context Clueville. [A roadsign]

00:41

And in case you were wondering, no, you don't need a driver's license. [No sign appears over a driver's license]

00:44

So let's start with dictionaries!

00:46

There are a whole bunch of benefits to using a dictionary, and the main one is that we'll [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

00:50

know that the definition is correct.

00:52

After all, the dictionary is put together by a whole bunch of language experts. [Two language experts deciding what to name their job title]

00:56

Another plus?

00:57

The words are all in alphabetical order, which makes the definitions really easy to find.

00:59

And we're glad they went for the alphabetical system instead of, say…the system of how

01:03

much some guy named Larry likes the word. [Larry stood next to his order of words]

01:06

Does he like "cardigan" more than "sweater"?

01:08

Who knows.

01:09

But, for all their plusses, dictionaries do have some drawbacks.

01:12

For one thing, they're kind of a pain to haul around.

01:14

If you're going to the park for a quiet read, you don't necessarily want to drag your Merriam-Webster [Guy with a giant dictionary on his back]

01:18

along with you.

01:19

They can also be a bit confusing.

01:21

Sometimes they offer definitions that are hard to understand, or lots of definitions

01:25

for one word.

01:26

And everyone knows, the only place you want to go to get more confused is a magic show. [Dictionary performing at a magic show]

01:31

Looking something up in a dictionary also ruins the flow of your reading.

01:34

If you're finally getting to a story's exciting climax, a guest appearance by a dictionary [Two men about to fight]

01:39

is going to slow things down. [A dictionary appears in between them]

01:41

No offense, dictionary.

01:42

Context clues, on the other hand, don't interrupt the flow of our reading.

01:45

By figuring stuff out on the fly, you can keep pesky dictionaries from ruining the action.

01:49

Which is good, if you prefer action to dictionaries. [One of the men kicks the dictionary away]

01:52

Also, since context clues require us to really think, we're more likely to remember the word.

01:56

That said, context clues aren't without their flaws.

01:59

For one thing, it's hard to tell if we came up with the right definition.

02:02

Without the authority of the dictionary on our side, we're really just making an educated [Guy is stopped from passing onto a bridge by a guy asking him the definition of loathsome]

02:05

guess, so we might be right...

02:07

…or we might be very, very wrong. [The guy explodes]

02:09

Another weakness of context clues?

02:11

Sometimes the text doesn't give us all of the clues we need…

02:13

…which leaves us floating around without a paddle, unlikely to reach the Shores of [Boy looking unhappy on a boat]

02:17

Clarity.

02:18

We might make it to the Rapids of Confusion, but uh…that's not a great place to be… [Boy looks worried]

02:23

So as we can see, dictionaries and context clues have all sorts of pros and cons, but

02:26

we're sure that when the time comes, you'll pick the right one.

02:30

…or maybe you'll pick "Taking a two-hour break from reading to play video games." [Two guys playing video games]

02:34

Great.

02:35

Real helpful.

Related Videos

ELA 4: How Words Can Help
1205 Views

Sticks and stones, right? Well...only sometimes. It's a good idea to make sure your words aren't going to hurt others. Let's look at some ways to d...

ELA 4: Debating Like a Champ
744 Views

Learn to debate like a champ. It's way better than debating like a chimp. That just takes mudslinging to a whole new level.

ELA 4: Types of Biographies
277 Views

Today we'll learn about biographies and autobiographies. And no, the second one has nothing to do with the lives of cars. 

ELA 4: Complete Sentences
775 Views

In this lesson we'll subject you to some verbs and predicates. Each one is a necessary part of a complete breakfas—er...sentence.

ELA 4: Word Choice
222 Views

Choosing words carefully is important. You may end up vexing the assemblage of citizens you're conversing with...or you might even just plain bore...