Vocabulary Building: Comprehending the Words We Read

Building Vocabulary: Word Parts We learned in the previous power point that we can learn context clues to help us gain the gist of unknown words or unfamiliar words encountered in college reading tasks. The second method of learning unknown terms involves separating the unfamiliar word into its component parts. If we know the meaning of the word parts, we often can gain an approximate definition or understanding of that word. Again, this is not a dictionary definition; it is an approximation. You will need to develop the habit of looking words up to gain precise, dictionary definitions.

Words are made up of three parts. Not all words have all three parts. Some words may only have two parts or perhaps only one part. The three parts that together make our words are Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes. If students learn the meaning of many common word part, they will be able to understand the gist of words built from those parts. For example, you may read a sentence like this in a health textbook. “The disease is accompanied by a light dermatitis on the chest and upper arms.” Dermatitis may be an unfamiliar word, but if you knew that “derma” means skin, and that “itis” means inflammation, you can put the word parts together to understand that dermatitis is an inflammation or rash.

Word Parts: Roots The word part ROOT is the base or foundation of the word. This is the word part that gives the unfamiliar word its meaning. There are thousands of roots in the English language. These roots come from many sources: ancient languages like Greek, Latin, Old English; modern languages such as French, Italian, Spanish. When students learn the meaning of many commonly used roots, they are able to gain the gist of the unknown word. Since you cannot learn all the roots, it is still valuable to master as many of the root parts as you can. We will learn a strategy for learning word parts in a later slide.

Many familiar words are built on roots we know. For example words like spectacles, inspect, and speculate are all built on the root word “spec” which means “to see”. So spectacles are glasses that help vision. Inspect means to look at carefully. To speculate is more difficult; it means to see or observe something and then to think or ponder about what is seen. For example, when we see the clouds pile up, we begin to speculate about the chances of getting rain. Roots are the word part that the other parts attach to in creating new words. For example “visible” means that something can be seen. But if we add the word part “in” to the root, we create a new word with a new meaning. So “invisible” means something that cannot be seen.

Word Parts: Prefix Our second word part is the PREFIX. A prefix is a word part attached to the front or beginning of a root. Attaching a prefix modifies the root meaning. For example, take the root word “voc” which means “to call” and add the prefix “in” which can mean “on” we get the word invoke which means to call on someone or something. We invoke (call on) God to bless us. Or we start a service with an invocation- calling on God’s presence, or calling on the good will of the audience. If we change the prefix to “re”, which means “back”, we get the word “revoke” which means to call back. So if you get too many speeding tickets, the state of Kansas might “call back” or revoke your drivers’ license.

Word Parts: Suffix The third word part is the SUFFIX. A suffix is the word part that is added to the end of the root and contributes to the meaning the new word. For example, a very common suffix is the “er”ending that simply means one who does whatever the root of the word indicates. So a teacher is one who teaches; a farmer is one who farms. Suffixes also can show readers the role of the word. For example, the suffix “ness” indicates a noun, a quality. So happiness is the emotion felt by a cheerful person. The suffix “ly” added to the end of the word indicates that the word is an adverb. So if Mary sings happily, we know that she sings with a cheerful emotion.

Word Parts: Conclusion Let me be clear; learning the meaning of word parts is difficult and requires time and a commitment to the learning process. However, like many study habits and study skills, mastering a large number of roots, prefixes, and suffixes will improve your vocabulary base and make your reading comprehension expand and add to your education. Since learning word parts is hard work, let me suggest a method that is simple, but requires discipline to implement.

Purchase a pack of 3X5 cards or cut paper into 3X5 inch slips, and use them as vocabulary flash cards for daily review and practice. On the front, write the word parts of the word you want to learn. On the back side, write the definition of the word parts and the definition of the resulting word. Additionally, create a sentence or two that use the word as examples. For example, you find the words monogamy, bigamy and polygamy in your sociology textbook. How could you learn these unfamiliar terms?

On the front of the card write “mono” and “gamy” On the back side: “mono” means one. “gam” is a Greek root meaning “marriage”. So “monogamy” is a relationship in which a person has one spouse. A sentence using the word might be: Most households in American society are based on marriages of monogamy. On the front of a second card write “bi” and “gamy” On the back side: “bi” mean two. So “bigamy” is a relationship in which a person has two spouses. Mary was shocked to learn that her husband was a bigamist with a second wife and family in another state.

Obviously, making cards but failing to practice and review them is futile. It requires discipline, commitment to learning, and plain old hard work. However, the rewards that accompany expanding your word base include improving your progress toward completing your learning goals and academic success and achievement.