Morphology Plus Context: Decoding in a Real Passage

Combine word parts and surrounding sentences to read specialized terms in authentic text.

Morphology tells you what a word could mean; context tells you what it does mean here. Use both together, especially in dense science or social studies reading. Worked example: 'The athlete's resting heart rate was 45 beats per minute, a bradycardia that her doctor considered normal for someone so fit. In contrast, the patient in the next room had tachycardia, his heart racing at 130 beats per minute. ' Morphology: cardia means heart, brady means slow, tachy means fast. Context confirms: 45 beats is slow, 130 is fast, and 'in contrast' signals opposites.

You also learn something morphology alone could not tell you, that bradycardia is not always a problem; the doctor considered it normal for an athlete. Another example: 'Desalination plants remove salt from seawater. ' De- (remove) + sal (salt) + -ation (process) is confirmed by the sentence itself. Treat the two methods as checks on each other.

• 1Morphology suggests possible meanings.
• 2Context confirms and adds detail.
• 3Signal words like 'in contrast' support the decoding.