Guessing the meanings of words

Guessing words

In some cases it is not the text that is difficult but the topic may not be very familiar. In this post we’ll look at how we can understand the meanings of questions and possible answers.

Context : Types of Text

As always where we find the word in a text can help us guess. The type of text we are reading can help give us an idea of what type of word it is.

Understand water science

Hydrogen bonding between water molecules also makes them hard to separate, pushing up the boiling point.

In our example above the title shows this is probably a scientific text.

The highlighted word refers to a scientific description. As the sentence refers to boiling water and separating something the word probably means joined together.
If we look at a simple definition our guess is quite close and enough to understand the sentence.

Definition: A chemical bond is an attraction between molecules.

Context : Using sentences

Let’s look at another example where we use information in the sentence to help us decide the meaning.

But when there’s a high tide and the water rises the half a metre or so above the road and nothing can pass until the tide goes out again a few hours later, then you know it’s an island.

In this example one of the highlighted words is repeated.

From the context of the sentence we can see it refers to the sea.
The sentence also refers to a road and an island. So it probably means how the sea moves.

Definition: When the sea is at its highest level on land or a beach.

Guessing types of words

Finally we can look at the type of word that we are not sure about. They do not always refer to key information and we may not need to guess their meanings.

It is her steely determination in hard times that produced one of our century’s much-loved icons.
The box is perfect for holding oddly shaped objects!
People of the South of the US generally opposed government control of commerce. Notwithstanding this opposition, millions was spent in the South.

In our examples we have three types of word – an adjective, an adverb and a linking word

We can guess at the meaning of steely but it’s less important to guess the meaning as the key information in this sentence is really how people feel about the person. We can say here that it is probably a positive quality.
In the second example the description of the box is the key information. Oddly just tells about the types of things we put in the box; in this case the shapes that will fit in this box.
In our final example it is clear the linking word notwithstanding is used to show a contrast of information. It has the same as despite. That is enough to understand the information in the text.

Candidates can spend unnecessary time trying to understand words or expressions that are not important to the overall meaning of text or a question and guessing the meaning of words is an important skill when you are trying to understand the meaning of a text or question. Consider these ideas about words you may not know in a text or question.

Is this a key word or phrase?
Do I need to know the exact meaning of this word or phrase?
Do I generally understand the text or question without knowing this word or phrase?

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Guessing types of words

Finally we can look at the type of word that we are not sure about. They do not always refer to key information and we may not need to guess their meanings.

It is her steely determination in hard times that produced one of our century’s much-loved icons.
The box is perfect for holding oddly shaped objects!
People of the South of the US generally opposed government control of commerce. Notwithstanding this opposition, millions was spent in the South.

In our examples we have three types of word – an adjective, an adverb and a linking word

We can guess at the meaning of steely but it’s less important to guess the meaning as the key information in this sentence is really how people feel about the person. We can say here that it is probably a positive quality.
In the second example the type of box is the key information. Oddly just tells about the types of things we put in the box.
In out final example it is clear the linking word notwithstanding is used to show a contrast of information. That is enough to understand the information in the text.