## Before you start reading: a tip

The stories that we will read in class are not always easy. This is mostly because they include difficult or old-fashioned words.

But don't panic! You don't have to understand every word to follow the story.

!Tip for when you find a word you don’t know:
Ask yourself, do you HAVE to know what the word means to understand the rest of the sentence, or the next sentence? If the answer is yes: look up the meaning of the word.
Here are some examples from 'The Landlady' by Roald Dahl.

For example:

"How much do you charge?"
"Five and sixpence a night, including breakfast." It was fantastically cheap.

You may not know what ‘sixpence’ means. It's an old-fashioned word.
Do you need to know what it means to understand the rest? No, because the next sentence explains the meaning: “It was fantastically cheap.”

Another example:

The name itself conjured up images of watery cabbage, rapacious landladies, and a powerful smell of kippers in the living-room.

Do you know what ‘rapacious’ means? And ‘kippers’?
Can you guess the meaning of the words from the rest of the sentence? No.
Do you need to know what these words mean to understand the meaning of the whole sentence? Yes.
Therefore, look up the meaning of these words.