1. Context Clues are used by readers to decipher the meaning of words. Direct students to read the words, phrases or diagrams surrounding an unknown word to search for clues to help clarify the word meaning.

Explain to students that context clues can come in several forms within a text:



• Definition:

  A herbivore is any animal that feeds only on plants.
  
  

• Restatement:

  One witness was convicted of perjury; that is, he lied under oath.
  
  

• Appositive (explanatory words are set off by commas):

  Cockatiels, small gray Australian parrots, make excellent pets.
  
  

• Examples:

  The patient was suffering from paranoid ideas. For example, she feared that her nurses would try to harm her.
  
  

2. Parts of Speech are used to construct complete sentences and add clarity to written and spoken forms of communication.
   
   
1. There are 8 parts of speech:
   
   
   • Noun:  A person, place, or thing; used as the SUBJECT in a sentence.
   • Verb: Expresses an action or state of being.
   • Pronoun:  Replaces nouns; I, me, you, he, she, it, we, they…
   • Adverb:  Describes a verb or another adverb; very slow
   • Adjective:  Describes a noun
   • Preposition:  Shows the relationship between words; at, above, to, from…
   • Conjunction:  Connects words, clauses, and phrases; and, but, or, either…
   • Interjection:  An exclamation or expression; Wow!, Hey!
     
     
2. Ask students to identify how a word is functioning in a sentence by labeling its part of speech. This also helps with learning the meaning of words.
   
   
3. When introducing a new vocabulary word, include its part of speech and how various endings (suffixes) change the part of speech.
   
   
• Tenacious: adjective
• Tenaciously: adverb
• Tenaciousness: noun