As you read a text, circle words you are unfamiliar with. Then try to make a guess at the word's meaning through the context of the sentence or the paragraph.
You can always look up the word, perhaps in a dictionary or online on Google. Type the word define, then a colon and then the word, such as "define:impermanent" (no parentheses needed) and press Return.
You can break a word apart to look at its prefixes, word roots, and suffixes. For example, mono means
one (as in monorail), ton = tone or sound, and ous means full of (as in courageous, or being "full of" courage). So "monotonous" means literally, "full of one sound" or speaking in a flat, dull voice.
glum (as in glumfish) -- sad
gaily -- happily
ruinously -- p. 15; full of ruins
melancholy -- p. 15; sadness
saga -- p. 17 a long story
desist -- p. 18 to stop
gander -- p. male mature goose, as a verb, to take an inquisitive look
swaggering -- p. walking proudly
impetuous -- p. 90 impulsive
purloined -- p. 90 stole
(my) amour -- p. 138 love
impermanent -- p. 152 not long-lasting or durable
monotonous -- p. 152 literally "full of one tone"; a flat way of speaking
anguished --
mortified --
Using Context Clues to Learn Vocabulary:
What are two clues in the context that can reveal the meaning of amour?
Bolo: “Just as my great passion, my Amour, leads me to Batcheat, always toward Batcheat, so this boy's destiny is to rescue what he loves: that is, the Ocean of Stories. (p. 138, Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories)
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The word “Amour” is equated with the word passion, almost as there is an equal sign between them. It’s set up in an appositive phrase, which is set off by a pair of commas, next to "my great passion." The repetition of "my" both times a;sp signals that these two phrases are paralleled.
Also, the two causes -- “my great passion, my amour” and “this boy’s destiny to rescue what he loves” lead to the parallel effects -- “leading [Bolo] to Batcheat” and leading Haroun to “the Ocean of Stories.” This can be seen more visually:
passion = amour passion = a strong feeling or emotion amour = great love
amour = what he loves leading [Bolo] to Batcheat leading [Haroun] to the Ocean of Stories
If you dig into the context of the text, the connections will often allow you to make informed guesses about words.