Context Clues Definition and Overview

1
Argus High School
English Lesson 7 Figurative Language
2

Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary
Development

• Context Clues
• Figurative Language

3
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

• Figurative language is language that is not meant
  to be taken literally. Similes and metaphors are
  two of the most common types of figurative
  language.

4
In a simile, the word like or as is used to
compare two things. In addition to similes,
metaphors can provide context clues about
unfamiliar words. A metaphor is a comparison
between two things in which one thing is said to
be another thing.
5
When an unfamiliar word appears in comparison to
something else, the meaning of the word can be
found in the comparison.The comparison gives the
reader something with which they can compare the
unfamiliar word.
6

• For example
• The city was as desolate as a
• ghost town.

7

• In this sentence, the simile
• compares the city to a ghost town.
• The reader could easily deduce
• that the word desolate means
• deserted.

8

• Notice the context clues that provide the
• meaning of the word chasm in this
• sentence
• Their disagreement became a
• chasm that could not be bridged.

9

• In this metaphor, which compares a
• disagreement to a chasm that could not
• be bridged, a reader might deduce that the
• word chasm means a deep crack in the
• earths surface a gorge.

10

• Now lets try one together.
• His face was as pallid as someone who is ailing.
• (Discuss the context clue in this sentence.)

11

• In this simile, which compares
• someone who is ailing with the mans face the
  reader might deduce that the word pallid means
  pale.

12

• Here are some sentences to determine the
• meanings of figurative language from
• context clues.
• Observing the sloppiness of my room, my parents
  said it looked as if a tornado had passed
  through it.

13

• The front of the house was like the prow of a
  ship.

14

• The dissonance was harsh and disagreeable, like
  the sound of a radio broadcasting two different
  stations.

15

• He was obstinate as a mule.

16
25. Observing the sloppiness of my room, my
parents said it looked as if a tornado had passed
through it.

• In this sentence the simile compares the
• condition of the room to the aftermath of a
  tornado. The reader could easily
• deduce that the word sloppiness
• means messy.

17
26.The front of the house was like the prow of a
ship.

• In this sentence the simile compares a part of
  the house to a part of a ship.The reader could
  deduce that the word prow means front of a ship.

18
27. The dissonance was harsh and disagreeable,
like the sound of a radio broadcasting two
different stations.

• In this sentence the simile compares the sound
  of two different radio stations
• broadcasting at the same time with the sound of
  dissonance. The reader could
• easily deduce that dissonance means
• confused.

19
28. He was obstinate as a mule.

• In this sentence the simile compares the mans
  behavior to the behavior of a mule. The reader
  could easily deduce that obstinate means
  stubborn.

20
The End