When we analyze the placement of a word within a sentence, the ideas being presented around the words and utilizing our greek and latin roots, we are using our

metaphor

context clues

prior knowledge

critical thinking skills

This answer is obviously not "prior knowledge" because we are not robots. The question is asking what are the ideas being presented around the words called. I also had this question in my english lesson,and the correct answer is context clues. Also the word context clues is pretty self explanatory.  

btw I know this is a late answer

i think that will have something to do with the mississippi river but google will know the full answer for sure