Vocabulary In Context

Contextual Clues This is the installment for the article posting I made sometime ago (Friday, June 18, 2010) on vocabulary in context where we can make an educated guess on the meaning of a new word. We do that by a strategy where we look for contextual clues that take us to the meaning of the word. Definition As Contextual Clues In this example the writer of an article or journal uses a strategy of giving the definition of the new word or phrase so that the reader will straightaway get the meaning of the new word. Example: "Everyone in the working world is a potential candidate for job burnout. It involves a long period of frustration with work, a loss of motivation that lingers, physical, mental and emotional exhaustion and poor health on the part of the employee." Can you pinpoint what is the new word or phrase in the excerpt quoted above? Yes, the phrase is job burnout. The writer uses the word 'involves' to introduce the meaning of that phrase. Therefore, when the employee has job burnout, he is frustrated, loses motivation; has physical, mental and emotional exhaustion with poor health. The writer knows that some people do not know the meaning of that phrase. So, he gives the definition of that phrase.