STUDENT 2: Hey! How would you describe me?
STUDENT 1: Hmm, I’d say you're always affable. Never disagreeable or grouchy.
STUDENT 2: Affable? What’s that supposed to mean?
STUDENT 1: It just means that you’re always smiling and pleasant. Like I said, never disagreeable or grouchy.
STUDENT 2: Oh! I should have recognized the context clues. You followed up the word I didn’t know with the words that have the opposite meaning.
STUDENT 1: That’s right. I use context clues all the time when I’m reading. Here's an example from this novel. During the play, half the actors forgot their lines and the cardboard castle fell on the princess's head. It was a total catastrophe. What do you think catastrophe means?
STUDENT 2: Well, since the passage is about terrible things that happened in the play, I’m thinking that catastrophe means a total failure?
STUDENT 1: That’s right!
STUDENT 2: Got any other ones?
STUDENT 1: Actually, I was doing my math homework earlier and I came across this word problem. Only about seventy percent of the pens actually worked while the rest were defective. What context clues can help you figure out what the word defective means?
STUDENT 2: Hmm. Well, I think the context clue is actually worked. The rest of the pens aren’t doing that so defective must mean not working properly.
STUDENT 1: You got it! You're a context clue pro now!
STUDENT 2: I’ve always wanted to be one of those.
STUDENT 1: See? So affable.
Main idea?