What is context? This word is often found in literature, as well as in conversations with people. Quite often you can hear the phrase “taken out of context” from someone. However, what is the meaning of this concept?
In this article, we will explain the word "context" in simple terms, as well as provide examples of its use.
What is context
Context is a complete fragment of written or oral speech (text), the general meaning of which allows you to clarify the meaning of the individual words and sentences included in it.
It often happens that it is possible to understand the true meaning of a phrase or even a sentence only when considering a meaningful passage of speech or text. Otherwise, the phrase can be understood in a completely different way.
For example: “During the last week, Nikolai ate a lot of apricots every day. As a result, he began to look at apricots with disgust. "
The phrase - "Nikolai looks at apricots with disgust" may suggest that Nikolai does not like apricots. However, if you read this phrase in context, you can understand that he began to look at apricots with disgust because he ate too many of them.
It is worth noting that context may not always be text or words. It can be presented in the form of any circumstances. For example, you approach a fish seller in the market and ask him the question: "How much?"
The seller will certainly understand that you are interested in the price of fish. However, if you approached him somewhere on the street and asked the same question, he probably would not understand you. That is, your question would appear out of context.
Today, people quite often tear out some words from quotations, as a result of which phrases begin to have a completely different meaning. For example, “Yesterday on one of the city streets the traffic was blocked”. However, if we shorten this phrase, saying, “yesterday the traffic in the city was blocked,” we will seriously distort the meaning of the expression.
Considering all of the above, try to always grasp the context of the speech or text, not focusing your attention only on individual phrases.
