Grammar

The bananas do not taste very good. They need to ripen before we eat them.

I was able to read every word in those sentences, but I have no idea what the word ripen means.

Sometimes when we read we come across a word we can sound out and read but we do not know what it means; like ripen.

So, when you come across a word you do not understand, should you just keep reading?

No! It is important to understand the meanings of the words you are reading. If you do not know the meaning of the words you are reading, you will not understand the stories you are reading either.

So, what should you do when you come across a word you do not understand?

You should use context clues. Context clues? What does that mean?

Context clues means using words in the rest of the sentence or sentences to help you figure out the meaning of the word you do not understand.

Using context clues is like being a word detective!

So, let’s be word detectives to figure out words we do not understand.

How about we start with the word ripen? Listen to these sentences:

The bananas do not taste very good. They need to ripen before we eat them.

Let’s be word detectives. Think about the words before and after the word ripen to figure out that word.

Let’s see, I know that the bananas do not taste good from the words in the first sentence. Which means that they probably are not ready to be eaten. So, I bet ripen means that the bananas need more time before we can eat them.

See how I figured out the word ripen by looking at the words that came before ripen? I used context clues and I was a word detective! Let’s read another sentence.

If I do not oversee my sister while she makes breakfast, she makes a huge mess! When I oversee her she does a much better job. Hmmm…I was able to read every word in those sentences, but I do not know what “oversee” means.

What should I do?

I should be a word detective!!

Hmmm….it sounds like the sister is messy when she makes breakfast. But not as messy when someone oversees her. I think oversees means to watch over the sister to make sure she does not make such a mess.

The other words before and after the word “oversee” really helped me figure out what it meant.

I was a word detective!

You are still learning the meanings of many words.

Just be a word detective and I bet you can figure out almost all of the meanings of the words you can sound out!