Which strategy best helps infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word when reading non-fiction?

• A. Use context clues from surrounding sentences and ideas.
• B. Guess randomly from the first letter.
• C. Look up the word in the dictionary only after reading the entire text.
• D. Ignore the word.

Answer: (A)

Using context clues helps you infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word in non-fiction because the surrounding sentences and ideas often hint at what the word means. Writers in nonfiction frequently explain a term through definitions, examples, comparisons, or contrasts nearby, so paying attention to those signals lets you build a reasonable understanding without stopping to look things up. This approach keeps your reading smooth and helps you see how the word fits with the author’s argument or information.

Another approach—guessing from the first letter—rarely leads to the correct meaning and can pull you off track. Waiting to look up the word in a dictionary only after finishing the text can interrupt your comprehension and cause you to miss how the term functions within the passage. Ignoring the word altogether sacrifices useful information and makes it harder to grasp the overall message.