Comprehension is a complicated process as I stated last week. The human brain is really remarkable and to think we use very little of it. Our brain does a number of things almost simultaneously when we comprehend.

It connects our prior knowledge and experience to the written word, thus the more we read and the more we experience, the better we comprehend. Those who comprehend more quickly and more broadly question as they read, sometimes rereading, often talking to the author, even arguing with the author saying things like, “You can’t mean that,” or, “Where did you get your information?”

As we comprehend we interpret and reinterpret in the light of new information. We use the context (area around a word or phrase) to determine what is meant and yes sometimes that means we head for a dictionary.