Context Clues
Context clues are hints or definitions that a writer uses in the text to help the reader understand the meaning of new or unfamiliar words. These clues can appear within a sentence, a paragraph, or in other areas of a passage. Want to learn more about Context Clues? Here’s a refresher on the different types of context clues.
“Girls!” Rose heard her father calling. She raced to her big sister’s room. “Gina, Dad’s calling us.” The girls ran downstairs. “What is it, Dad?” said Rose. Dad put his arm around Mom. “We’re going on a safari to the Virunga Mountains of Africa. There are three national parks there…
Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye; Four-and-twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie! When the pie was opened The birds began to sing; Was not that a dainty dish To set before the king? The king was in his counting-house, Counting out…
This passage is from the opening of The Fall of the House of Usher. The narrator has just arrived at the home of his childhood friend Roderick Usher. It is a description of Usher’s house. A tarn is a mountain lake. ———————————– Shaking off from my spirit what must have…
In the winter of 1925, the small city of Nome, Alaska faced a dangerous disease outbreak. The medicine they needed was located hundreds of miles away. Teams of sled dogs and their mushers saved the city by transporting the medicine 674 miles through snow and ice. Their heroic effort is…
On rainy days, Juanita liked to climb the attic stairs and play with her stuffed animals under the slanted roof. Here she could hear the drumming sound of the rain. The attic was dim on stormy days, but Juanita thought it was cozy to have only one light bulb to see…
Peter Pan is the story of the adventures of Wendy, John, and Michael Darling after they meet the flying boy, Peter Pan. Peter teaches them to fly, and they leave the Darling home through an open window. They go with Peter to his home in magical Neverland. Once there, Wendy…
Anne Shirley is a Canadian orphan in the early 1900s. She lives on a farm with Marilla Cuthbert and Marilla’s brother Matthew. In this passage, Anne is excited because there is a Sunday School picnic coming up, and when Anne is excited, she talks a great deal. Diana is Anne’s…
One spring morning, John looked out his bedroom window. He could see his whole back yard from the second story. John blinked. The grass was always very green, but this morning he could see something else. Something purple. In his backyard was a big purple circle of flowers. John ran…
Peter Pan tells the story of a boy from Neverland who has some amazing adventures. In this passage, Peter has left his shadow in the bedroom of the Darling children. He has come to get it back. With him is his best friend, Tinker Bell, a fairy. Peter has not…
One of Ours is the story of Claude Wheeler, a Nebraska farmer who joins the U.S. Army during World War I. He is commissioned as a lieutenant, and he and his company head to Europe on a British troop ship Anchises. While on board, the troops are stricken with influenza,…