Page 76 - Starting Strong: English Essentials

1. Reading

Reading Notes from Friends

In this section, you are going to learn how to understand infromation from the text about student agenda.
Use the following reading technique to enhance your reading ability.

Guessing The Meaning from the Context

We can guess the meaning of unfamiliar words in the text by using the context. Here are some
contexts that you can use:

Synonyms → Writers often provide synonyms or definitions in the sentence or nearby.
“The lecture is so tedious, or boring, that several students began to yawn.”
Clue: "boring" is a synonym that helps us guess the meaning of tedious.
Antonyms → Writers sometimes also utilize antonyms to provide clues for the readers.
”Unlike his gloomy classmate, James is always cheerful and full of energy.”
Clue: “unlike” and “cheerful” suggest that gloomy is the opposite of cheerful.

Examples → Writers may give some examples of the word to elaborate and explain further.
“Students must bring stationery such as pens, pencils, and notebooks.”
Clue: the examples “pens, pencils, and notebooks” help us guess that stationery
means writing utensils.

a. Read the following note and answer the following questions by giving a tick (√) in the box.

Dear Rika,

I’m really sorry, but I’m going to cancel our plan to hang out next Wednesday, 20 September. I’m going
to attend a mandatory seminar on digital learning at UMY that day. It’s not like a voluntary event,
such as charity, social club, or park cleanup, that I can just skip. The seminar will start at 8.00 and
will end around 14.00. It’s so hectic, so I won’t be available until the evening. I am really looking
forward to seeing you, and we’ll reschedule our meeting. Let’s meet another time soon. Thanks for
understanding!

Dina

1. What does “voluntary event” mean?
An event that she can choose to An event that costs a lot of money to
attend or not attend

2. What is the meaning of the word “available”?
Able to be contacted or free to Feeling happy and excited
meet

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