How The Part Of Speech Gives Clues To Word Meanings

Context Clues


Using The Part of Speech of the difficult word as a help in reading.

The part of speech tells us the job that the word performs in the sentence. Note: The following brief description is meant to remind you of what you already studied. If you don't have an idea of what a part of speech is, you must look it up somewhere and get up to speed. If you intend to use a dictionary intelligently, you must understand the parts of speech.


A Verb indicates an action, state or condition. Examples: run, talk, cook, grow, ran, jump, shout, sweat,
thinks, feels, sleeps, eat, laugh, are, is, was, has.

An Adverb tells us something about a verb or an adjective, and often ends with the letters "ly". However, many adverbs do not end in "ly." However, all adverbs identify when, where, how, how far, how much, etc.. Examples: very, spoke quickly, ran hastily, worked frantically, hang low, stand straight, added wrong, study hard.

An Adjective tells something about a noun. Examples: happy, large, happy, political, pretty girl, talented doctor, young athlete, blue book.

A Noun points out something. Examples: dog, child, John, New York, books, pizza, love, pony, generosity, chair, happiness.


The parts of speech which interest us are: Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb. The new words you come across will be one of these parts of speech. The others (Article, Preposition, and Interjection) don't interest us because you surely know the meaning of words like but, to, after, the, an, etc.

You have to decide what is the part of speech of the difficult word you come across as used in the selection you are reading. This is the ONLY way you can intelligently understand the function of the word in the sentence and look up the word in the dictionary. If you don't know whether the word is a noun or a verb, you often will look up the wrong meaning of the word in the dictionary and your translation will often sound silly.

For example, read the following.

"If you have to make a difficult decision one it helps to do something like the following: You can range widely and attentively over all your choices before you make up your mind."

See the word "range"?. If you don't know the meaning of this word as used in this selection. . If you don't stop first to decide what is the part of speech of this word as used in the selection, and if you go first to the dictionary, you might find that the word means "kitchen stove", or "a pasture or a large grassy plain of flat land". These are possible meanings for the noun "range". However, if you understood that the word as used in the sentence, is a verb you would be able to find the proper meaning of the word as used in the sentence.

How do we know it is a verb?
1. Because the word "range" follows the auxiliary word "can". The helping words are only used with verbs. 2. Because it is clear from the recommendation that "range" is something you can do . 3. Because the words "widely" and "attentively" are adverbs that tell us something about how the you should range over your choices before you make a decision.

Once you know that the word "range" is used as a verb in the sentence you are reading, you can pick the proper definition of the word from all those given in your dictionary. You will skip everything that has the abbreviation n. which indicates a noun.

How do know the part of speech of the difficult word? The words around the unknown word give you clues. Once you know if the word is a noun or if it is an adjective, it often is enough for you to continue reading intelligently without having to stop to look up the meaning of the word. After encountering the word a few more times, you will know its meaning more firmly than if you had just looked it up. If you want to look it up, you will find it easily in the dictionary if you know its part of speech.



Here's a useful exercise: In the following sentences, identify the part of speech of the words in capital letters.

Example: The dirty old man gave the young woman a SALACIOUS look. Answer. ADJ


1. She liked to wear red and always wore jewelry made of CARNELIAN.
2. The man prayed for the SAGACITY to make the right decision in the face of many alternatives.
3. The man looked at the rusty old GADGET and wondered how its mechanism worked.
4. The dying man DESIGNATED his son to receive his property.
5. The BRINDLED dog barked loudly.
6. The father CARESSED his crying child with great tenderness.
7. "Don't PATRONIZE us; we are not children!" said the angry indigenous leaders to the politicians.
8. John was a good EMANUENSIS, always taking dictation correctly and typing up all of his employer's correspondence.
9. The boy was disappointed by the PALTRY amount he received as an inheritance when his grandfather died.
10. The young boy ran CLUMSILY down the hill with his arms and legs flapping all over.