1. Mighty “morphing” power words
2.1 Meet the
Mighty “morphing” power words
Adapted by Marcia Timmel
From Vocabulary Through Morphemes by Susan Ebbers and A1 Word Roots by Cherie Blanchard

2. What is “Morphing”?
To “morph” means to change. Just like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are ordinary teenagers who have the power to morph into super heroes, English words are made up of word parts that have the power to change meaning! These powerful word parts are called morphemes. They include prefixes, roots, bases, suffixes and compound words. As you learn to use them you will be developing your own powerful mastery of the English language.

3. The Outside – In Strategy
If you come to a word you do not understand: 1. Look __________ the unknown word for clues. Look at all the surrounding _______________ . 2. Look _________the unknown word for clues. Look for __________________________________ 3. ______ what the word means - (combine the clues and/or draw an analogy).
outside
context clues
inside
prefixes, suffixes, roots & bases.
Infer

4. Practice The Outside – In Strategy
We kept a microfarm on a plot of land between homes. Our great
big pumpkins always won first place. Our peas tasted sweeter than
anything else sold at the market. Everyone in the neighborhood
helped. Even the children loved microfarming.
outside: You already know what farm means. Where is their farm? Between their homes, in a neighborhood.
inside: You may already know that “micro” means small. If not you might be able to draw an analogy with a microscope.
infer: With these clues, you can infer that microfarming involves either working on a very small farm or growing very small plants (or both). Which inference is right?

5. Meet the Morphemes
compound words: compounds combine more than one word. They may be closed, hyphenated, or open, and may be literal or figurative.
prefixes: a prefix is added to the beginning of a word and adds to or changes the meaning of the root or base word.
roots & bases: these are the elements that give a word its basic meaning. Latin elements are called roots, while Greek elements are called bases.
suffixes: a suffix is added to the end of the word, and not only adds meaning, it often changes what part of speech the word is.