while reading you encounter a word you don’t know. Some parts of it seem familiar. What do you do next…?

i always start with context, first immediate and then general (the sentence it’s used in and then the context of the entire work). if that doesn’t work for me, i’m not too proud to look in the dictionary.

trying to decipher a meaning of a whole, judging by the sum of its parts, does not always pan out. take, for example, psychophant. it basically means suck up, but its’ parts, like psycho, clearly suggest something more sinister. when approaching a word in that manner, you have to be familiar with word origins in several languages because english is a derived language.

don’t give up reading, though, it’s such a worthwhile pasttime. but don’t be affraid to admit not knowing and look in the dictionary. nobody knows everything, even though there are those who like to think that they do

Hi,

It depends on whether I need to know the meaning because I have to perhaps use it in my work or use it to determine something important. In which case I would have to look it up immediately.

However there’s a bit of an impatient side to my nature and if I come across a term or word I’m unfamiliar with but it doesn’t seem to stop the flow of what I am reading I might ignore it with the intention of going back to it afterwards if it’s important enough then to look up. So that will be a D. But often I will do a B … try to figure it out from how it’s used. I would only resort to E if what I was reading was full of unfamiliar words, was boring and I felt I was wasting my time trying to take it all in. (Or in other words it depends on the writer. Some can describe what they are trying to say in terms that are easy for others to understand. Some will explain unfamiliar words within the text if they feel this is necessary. I always find this helpful though of course it’s not always suitable in technological areas etc.) And now I shall stop trying to enunciate my thoughts or in other words I shall stop rambling on….

Polly

I do B and C at the same time. I look at the word and break it down and also how it was used. I can usually figure it out from there. Sometimes though, I get a real stumper and I have to look it up. That’s not too often though.

I think finding new words is exciting actually. People should really appreciate their language more!

This is one of the many gifts I got from my mother, which I follow religiously, unless the setting makes it impractical:

When she read, which was often, she always had a dictionary next to her. And, whenever the problem you described came up, she’d look it up. Not to brag, but today I have an excellent vocabulary, and I think that’s because of what I learned from my mom.

There’s another good reason to do this: Human nature is such that, when you see something written out, you retain it much better.

I can still see in my mind’s eye my mother doing that. I wish I could see her doing it one more time. Thanks for the question.

Well you could figure them out as it means they are more likely to stick in your mind, but I like to check the dictionary just to be on the safe side, else I could give a word a completely different meaning.

If it is an important part of understanding a story or educational text, I look it up.

If it is part of recreational reading and I have a vague meaning of the word I read on.

D. I might not even try to figure it out later..just pass it over 🙁

Probably B and C. If i can’t figure it out, I look it up last, or ask someone.

I use B and C. If all else fails and it’s a really hard word, I will look it up.

usually (c) because it is the most fun. otherwise, i will figure it out because of its context.