Pinyin offers lots of help in knowing how to pronounce characters - but you need to be sure you know how to pronounce the pinyin - and that isn't always obvious. This resource gives you a check list w

Here's a short revision lesson on noun specifiers - ie words which make it clear which one of something you're referring to. http://mandarinchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/noun-specifiers.html