greek and latin form the basis of many english words. if you know a few common greek and latin...
TRANSCRIPT
Greek and Latin form the basis of many English words. If you know a few common Greek and Latin roots, then it should be easier to pronounce and to guess the meanings of other, more difficult, terms.
Base words or roots can be combined with affixes (affixes = prefixes AND/OR suffixes) to create a family of related words.
**most important part of a word…gives you the most meaning**
A base word is a complete/whole word that can be used to create other words.
P A Y PAY
MENT RE
GOVERN GOVERN
ING MENT COMFORT
COMFORT
UN ABLE ING
The word basement has the word base in it, right? So let’s use that to help us remember what a base is. If there was a tornado that blew away a house, would the basement still stand?
Of course! Therefore a basement, and a base word, can stand on its own.
**most important part of a word…gives you the most meaning**
In thousands of words, there is a word part, called a word root, that is LIKE a base word in that prefixes and suffixes can attach to it. Unlike base words, however, this word part usually cannot stand by itself as a word. Still, it is the most important part of the word in which it occurs.
FRACT FRACT
URE ION
FRACTURE FRACTION We know what these two words are and
what they mean. What happens when you fracture your
arm? [you break it]. Now, what happens when you divide
something into fractions? [you break whole numbers down into
fractions]. Both the words have the root fract in it, but
fract is not a word on its own.
Plants have roots, right? So when you think of the meaning of a root, think about a plant. A plant has leaves, flowers, etc. growing from it-it never stands alone-just like a root-a root cannot stand alone, it needs something growing from it.
STRUCT STRUCT STRUCT
CON
URE CON ING
CONSTRUCT STRUCTURE CONSTRUCTING
Think about the root’s meaning: what happens when construction workers construct a building?
[they “build” it].
Construct means “to build something” and structure is another term we often use to refer to a building or something that has been built.
Now, how about the word Think about the meaning of “build” and how it
might apply to the word…
INSTRUCT ?
[instruct refers to how learning or knowledge is built].