3 General Knowledge, or Previous Knowledge

Once you have an idea of the subject of the text, think of what you know about this subject and make inferences about the meanings of words based on this.  

Example 1:  Let's say the text is about oil production.  You probably know that  

most oil comes from wells 
wells are drilled 
pipelines are used to carry the oil to market 
the price of oil fluctuates 
there was a crisis in the early eighties 
some large companies are involved 
oil has to be discovered, etc. etc. 

Think about this information before you read the text in detail and make inferences.  In a sentence such as ils foraient des puits dans la mer du Nord, assuming you know the meaning of puits (well) you can be almost certain about the meaning of foraient, even if you've never seen the word.

Example 2: You read a warning label on a toy: 

Attention! À lire et à conserver 
Jouet ne convenant pas aux enfants de moins de 3 ans.  Les petites pièces pourraient être avalées ou inhalées.

You probably know that certain toys are labelled as dangerous for children under 3, and the 3 ans suggests that this is one of those cases.  You probably know why too: what would little kids do with small pieces?  So you understand the gist of the label because you know similar labels in English. 

Now go on to the second phase, which involves making inferences about the language used.  How do you say under 3 in French?  What do the words moins de mean literally in English? If être is (to) be, what does avalées probably mean?  Do you know other words ending in -ées or -és or -é (you know the -s and the extra -e are there because of an agreement in gender and number)?

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