Fig. 17.1.3 Both text and context must be taken into account.So, why is context so difficult to deal with? Consider the word “ship.” When you read a
sentence and you see the word ship, what do you think of? Do you think of a large boat
on the ocean? Do you think of an airliner? Do you think of a package that needs to be
sent somewhere? Do you think of soldiers that are about to be transported somewhere?
Do you think of someone being fired? Do you think of something else? The truth is that
the word ship can mean lots of things, most of which are very different from each other.
The way you know what is meant by “ship” is to understand the context in which the
word is used. Stated differently, the context of a word is usually EXTERNAL to the
word. And the external nature of context is true of EVERY word and EVERY
conversation.
And that is the hard part of understanding context. Context exists EXTERNALLY to the
words that it applies to (for the most part). Occasionally, context is found within the
sentences themselves. But far and away, the much more normal case is for context to be
found external to the words being analyzed.
Chapter 17.1: Managing Text