即利用語境來推測生詞含義的方法。這是我們用來推測詞義的主要方法之一。

　　例一：The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society—a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.

　　“My grandmothers did not do anything, but keep house and serve everybody, they were programmed to do that,” said Emily Cornette, head of a chapter of the 7-year-old Red Hat Society.

　　根據上下文我們可以很容易得出chapter的詞義為這個組織the Red Hat Society的一個分支。

　　例二：As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency ( 一貫性 )is very important teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality ( 道德 ). Also, parents should realize that “example is better than precept”. If they are not sincere and don’t practice what they preach ( teach ), their children may grow confused, and emotionally insecure ( 不穩定 )when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and realize they have been to some extent fooled.

　　根據上下文我們可知precept的詞義為“說教”。

　　例三：Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!

　　Don’t be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day. Don’t check your e-mail every day. Don’t reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.

　　根據語境我們知道available的詞義為“可與之交談的”或“有空的”。

　　例四：We found that bar at last. I didn’t have to ask again, for there it was in big letters over the window—Star Bar. There were some iron tables outside with plastic chairs around them. A few people sat listlessly around, looking at a portable television set that someone had brought out of the bar. They were all in thin summer dresses or short sleeved-shirts; even at that late hour it was stifling. Two thin dogs lay under one of the tables with their tongues out, and some of the women were fanning themselves unenthusiastically (無精打采的) with magazines.

　　根據語境我們猜出stifling的詞義為“極熱的”。

　　九、標點符號的暗示

　　例一：The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society—a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.

　　破折號后面的部分對the Red Hat Society作了解釋，是“一個認為老年人應該有自己樂趣的團體”。

　　例二：The largest player—Shanghai Bashi Tourism Car Rental Center offers a wide variety of choices—deluxe sedans, minivans, station wagons, coaches. Santana sedans are the big favorite.

　　第二個破折號后面的deluxe sedans, minivans, station wagons, coaches應該指的是汽車的品牌或種類。

　　十、同義詞的替代關系

　　例句：Although he often had the opportunity, Mr. Tritt was never able to steal money from a customer. This would have endangered his position at the bank, and he didn’t want to jeopardize his future.

　　為避免重復使用endanger一詞， 用同義詞jeopardize來替代它, 我們推知jeopardize詞義為“使陷入危險，危及，危害”。

　　十一、利用主系表結構來猜詞

　　主系表結構的句子有兩種功能：一是說明主語的形狀和特征;二是主語和表語是同位關系。

　　例一：To malign is to slander an innocent person.

　　表語意為“誹謗無辜的人”， 那樣主語就是“中傷，誹謗”的意思。

　　例二：Insomnia is the inability of falling asleep or sleeping restlessly.

　　表語意為“睡不著”，主語Insomnia無疑就是“失眠”了。

　　十二、生活常識

　　根據日常生活中的常識和相關的背景知識，大膽想象，合理發揮，推測出生詞的含義。

　　例一：Warm-blooded desert animals, such as rats and mice, rest during the day, often staying in cool underground burrows.

　　根據常識我們知道鼠類一般藏在洞里，因此生詞burrows的意思為“地洞，洞穴”。

　　例二：The snake slithered through the grass.

　　根據有關蛇的生活習性的知識，我們可以推測出slithered的詞義為“爬行”。

　　十三、構詞法

　　英語詞匯的構詞法主要有三種：派生，合成，轉化構詞。

　　我們主要利用派生構詞來推斷生詞的含義。

　　詞根是單詞最基本的部分，表達單詞的基本含義。在詞根的前面或后面加上詞綴，可以用來引申或轉變原詞的意義。一般來說，前綴改變詞根的意思;后綴改變詞性。

　　常見的前綴有：super- 超……

　　mini- 小型的……

　　re- 再，又……

　　post- 后

　　pre- 前

　　fore- 前

　　under- 下

　　后綴有：

　　-ment 名詞的后綴

　　-less 不，無

　　-proof 防……的

　　例句：Remember that people on line may not be who they seem. Because you can’t see or even hear the person, it would be easy for someone to misrepresent himself/herself. Thus someone says “She is a 12-year-old girl ”could really be an old man.