I keep reading a bit to attempt to pick up the meaning from context clues.
This is how I taught myself a lot of English as a child. I kept reading, and reading, and reading - and all those unknown words became meaningful from the context.
If I can understand the message as a whole or can figure out the meaning through context clues, I just keep going.
How do you know that you actually figured out the meaning though?
How many words did you guess wrong about and now you think you know but you don’t actually. You’ll never know if you read the context properly without looking it up after.
Try to guess the meaning of the word lugubrious from the following sentence:
Although he was wealthy, he often found himself lugubrious.
There isn’t a single clue in that sentence as to the meaning of the word.
Don’t just guess; actually learn properly instead.
Your example falls under “I don’t understand the message.” There are no context clues and the sentence relies on that one word for it to make any sense to me so it’s something I would actually look up.
That doesn’t address why you are so confident your guesses about context clues are always correct.
Why wouldn’t you look it up anyway to make sure you understood correctly?
Sometimes it doesn’t matter. If I had a whole page describing this man, I’ll most likely get the gist. I’m just not the type to look up every word I come across.
Then I’ll repeat what I told you before: you should learn properly instead of guessing.
I’ll consider it. Thank you.
You’re welcome! You can chalk this up to your first new learning experience.
If it’s important to the context of what I’m reading then I’ll look it up. Otherwise I write it down for later.
As others have said context is important. If you can infer its meaning, and it’s not critical to understanding, then just roll with it. If it’s critical, or you can infer, look it up.
I would highly recommend also looking up its pronunciation. Once you start using it wrong internally, it can leak out and utterly confuse people. Though that might just be a “me” problem. 🤷♂️
Nah, I think we all do that. I remember my gf back in the day laughing her ass off because I was trying to say misshapen.
“You know, miss-happen, like, malformed.”
🤷🏻♂️
I try to figure out what it means from a combination of context and etymological guesswork, then check it a dictionary. If it’s a person or region or concept I’m unfamiliar with that isn’t covered directly or in notes, I hit the encyclopedia or atlas (well, Wikipedia and mapping software, these days.)
That’s how my father taught me to deal with stuff I didn’t understand when I was a kid and I’ve been doing that ever since. It interrupts the flow far less than having to set it aside for other demands on my time, so it’s not that big a deal.
We always had good dictionaries and encyclopedias on hand. Now, of course, it’s all online or downloadable.
One of the reasons I love eReaders is direct access to dictionary, translations, and Wikipedia.
I don’t know what you mean with ‘something’, but when i started learning english decades ago (as in; no internet) i had a dictionary on my night stand. I only got it when a word was intriguing; when it seemed crucial for the plot; or when it turned up many times and it started to bug me.
Edited night stand
Situational based on context and how much understanding the word effects the tone of what you are reading.
If it’s fiction, I’ll keep going unless it seems vital to the plot. Same applies for articles and light reading.
If it’s a school/work text, look it up, and then write it down.
What exactly does ‘should’ mean here? Should in order to achieve what?
If you want to know what the word means at the expense of interrupting the flow, then yes.
If you want to stay with the flow, then no.
That said, it is so simple in almost all situations these days to look a definition up that I almost always do on the odd occasions that I find a word I don’t know. And the more you do, the less you will need to in future.
Yes
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Stop and look it up.
I’m not gonna speak to whether you should or should not, but I always do. It’s rare for me to come across a word I don’t already know anymore, but when I do I want to know it. I always look up words I don’t know or am not sure about, immediately.
As others have said here context is important. Are you reading just for fun? If yes, is it important to understanding what you’re reading? If yes, look it up, otherwise either try to assume the meaning of the word through the context of the text or ignore it for now and look it up later.
If it’s written according to standards of any sort, then research it first as it should have been explained already and if it isn’t, they just expect you to know. If it’s some form of casual writing that isn’t structured that well, then you might need to look for contextual clues in the original text first, and then search them up together for more insights.
