For today, I decided to try the contextual guessing strategy to build my vocabulary. The strategy involves encountering new words in context and trying to figure out their meaning by looking at the surrounding text. Here’s how I applied it:
I was reading an article and came across the word "ephemeral." Instead of immediately looking up its meaning, I tried to infer its meaning from the context. The sentence was, "The beauty of the sunset was ephemeral, fading quickly as the night took over." Based on the context, I guessed that "ephemeral" meant something fleeting or short-lived, and when I checked the dictionary, I was correct!
I also came across the word "lugubrious" in another text, which seemed to describe a person’s mood. From the context ("His lugubrious expression suggested he had received bad news"), I guessed it meant something like sad or gloomy, and I confirmed it was indeed an expression of sadness or sorrow.
The strategy worked well for me because it encouraged active engagement with the text and helped me remember the meanings of the new words better. The two new words I learned today were ephemeral (short-lived) and lugubrious (sad, gloomy). It felt rewarding to learn new words this way, and I plan to use this strategy more often in my reading practice.