Unit 5

Make me laugh!

Tricky Words

There are some tricky words in this poem.

You can often figure out what the words mean from the context (the meaning of the rest of the sentence).

For example, in the poem we see the word alleviate. It is used in this sentence: "Then bring me pails of water to alleviate my thirst". Reading the sentence can help us figure out what the word means – since he's thirsty, and the pails of water alleviate his thirst, a good guess would be that alleviate means to ease, or lighten, or lessen his thirst.

You can use the same method to figure out other words in the poem. When you do this, you are using the skill of inferring the meaning.

Practice Inferring

Try to infer the meaning of the words in bold type from the story below. Read words before and after those in bold type to help you infer what they mean. Then write what you think they mean.

they empty every pot and rush me triple portions of everything they've got
should that prove insufficient, I simply start to roar… they whip up extra helpings…
I wolf down all they proffer till not a scrap remains
The other patrons notice but none of them complains
when the kitchen cannot muster even one more drop of broth
It's patently apparent that they hate to see me go
my appearance and demeanor seem to give me extra clout

Check your inferences with those in the Glossary to see if you have them correct.