Thinking Carefully about words

Did you ever read something in which you came across a word that you had never seen before? What did you do?

Without a dictionary handy, you may have determined the meaning by looking at the words around it, or gained the meaning by using the context.

John did not think the plan was feasible. He did not think that he and Juanita could escape from the warehouse where they were imprisoned, even if they could manage to break the window. But he knew they could not crawl through the small window opening. Was it possible to force the lock on the door?

If you did not know the meaning of feasible, you could figure it out. You could guess that feasible means capable of being done or accomplished. You can tell that John did not think the plan to escape was capable of being done or accomplished. (#1)

According to the zookeepers, it was sad but true that the big buffalo, Last Bull, was "going bad." His temper, which has never been good, was growing worse. But Payne, the head zookeeper who was a son of the plains himself, did not agree. With great compassion, he declared that the old buffalo was just homesick, pining for the windswept open plains.

By thinking carefully about the other words in the paragraph, you could decide that compassion is a feeling of sympathy for another's unhappiness. Payne did not agree with the zookeepers who thought Last Bul was "going bad." He was from the plains like the buffalo was. He thought Last Bull was homesick. From these clues you can see that he understands Last Bull's sadness. He feels sympathy for him. (#2)