English Words from Latin & Greek

Increase spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension

Susan Ebbers 2005 1

How many words are there in the English Language?

• The Second Edition of the

Oxford English Dictionary

contains full entries in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added

for 171,476 words around 9,500 derivative

words included as subentries. Over half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of interjections, conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes, etc. Susan Ebbers 2005 2

Yea, yea, so get to the point…

• This suggests that there are, at the very least, a quarter of a million distinct English words, excluding inflections, and words from technical and regional vocabulary not covered by the

OED

, or words not yet added to the published dictionary, of which perhaps 20 per cent are no longer in current use. If distinct senses were counted, the total would probably approach….

Susan Ebbers 2005 3

Are you ready for this? • Three quarters of a million • 750,000

Susan Ebbers 2005 4

Basic Terms

root form: a word with no prefix or suffix added; may also be referred to as a base word in spect or, therm al affix: meaningful part of a word attached before or after a root or base word to modify its meaning prefix: an affix which is placed before the stem of a word re-, un-, dis suffix: an affix which is placed after the stem of a word able, -ive, -ly -

Susan Ebbers 2005 5

Susan Ebbers 2005 6

• I Do root

+ suffix

• We Do

astrology

astro = stars -logy = study of So it means: "the study of stars” How did I determine the meaning of astrology?

Frame: “We determined the meaning of

astrology

by ______________.” P/S; NV

biology

bio = life -logy = study of So it means: “the study of life” How did we know biology meant ‘the study of life’?

Frame: “We knew that

biology

meant ‘the study of life’ because _______________________.” P/S; NV

prefix +

root • I Do

empathy

em- = having pathy = feeling So it means: “having feeling”

• We Do

enamor

en- = having amor = love What does enamor mean?

“having love” How do you know that? P/S; NV

The soldier had

empathy

for the prisoner .

• I Do root

+

root • We Do

pseudonym

pseudo = false nym = name ”false name”

aqueduct

aque = water duct = to lead/pull What is an aqueduct used for?

How do you know that?

P/S, non-volunteer Samuel Clemens wrote under the pseudonym “Mark Twain.”

prefix +

root

+ suffix

• I Do

retrospective

retro = backwards spect = look -ive = having quality of “quality of looking backward” History is a retrospective way of looking at life.

• We Do

carnivore

carni = meat vor = eat -e = one who “one who eats meat” What does carnivore mean?

How did you know?

P/S, volunteer

20 Most Frequent Prefixes in School Texts

1.

unable distrust

2.

review enlighten (empower) inedible (impotent, illegal, irresponsible) nonsense inside, implant overcome misguided submarine prefix interrupt forewarn derail transfer supersonic semicircle antitrust midterm underfed

Analysis: White, Sowell, Susan Ebbers 2005 and Yanagihara 1989 11

Meanings

• Un-not • Re-Again • Dis-Not/Opposite • Mis-wrongly • De-Opposite/Reverse • In/Im/Il/Irr-Not • Ante/Pre-Before • Semi-Partially • Non-Not • Sub-Under/Below • Mid-Middle • Inter-InAmong • En-Made of/ Related • Trans-Across/ Through • Fore-Before • Anti-Against 12

Derivational Suffixes Derivational suffixes

change the

part of speech

• • • •

words ending with –tion are often nouns words ending with –ive are often adjectives words ending with –ish are often adjectives words ending with –ity are often nouns What about -ment, -ous, -ness?

Susan Ebbers 2005 13

Common Suffixes

• Able/ Ible-can be done • Ial/Ic-Characteristic of • En-Made Of • Er-Comparative/ one who • Ful-full of • Ion/Ition/Ation/Ition act/ process • Ity-State of • Less-Without • Ment-Action or Process • Ness-State/Condition of • Ous/Eous/Ious-Having the qualities of Susan Ebbers 2005 14

What’s the Meaning

• Unmanageable • Redo • Transsiberian • Antebellium • Misbehave • Unafrid • Precook • Admirable • Blacken • Cheerful • Collectible • Infection • Nervously • Thicknes Susan Ebbers 2005 15

Greek Combining Forms Hydro-water Pyro-fire Ortho straight Therm-heat Polis-city Scope See/ look Geo-earth Neuro-nerve Photo-light Psych-the mind Pseud-fake Chron-time Phobe fear Onym-name Crypt hidden logy-to talk Sphere-

Susan Ebbers 2005

ball Helio-sun the, theo

16

Counting in Greek and Latin Mono-1 Bi-2 Tetra-4 Hexa-6 Nove-9 Cent-100 Multi many Uni-1 du, duo-2 Quadri-4 Sept-7 Deca-10 Milli-1000 Semi-half Di-2 Tri-3 Penta-5 Oct-8 Deci-10 Poly-many Hemi-half

Susan Ebbers 2005 17

Find the Meaning

• Monotheism • Bicycle • Pentagon • Chronology • Pyromania • Hydrophobic • Anapolis • Pseudonym • Hexagram • Semicircle Susan Ebbers 2005 18

Developing content-specific, academic vocabulary depends on a basic understanding of Greek and Latin Sixty percent of the words in English texts are of Latin and Greek origin

Bear et al., 1996; Henry, 1997 Susan Ebbers 2005 19

Content-Specific Greek Terms Anatomy and Medical Terms esophagus, thyroid, diagnosis, psoriasis, dyslexia Studies and Sciences biology, seismology, morphology, geochronometry Animals and Plants arachnid, amphibian, chlorophyll, dinosaur, nectar Theatre and the Arts charisma, drama, chorus, muse, symphony, acoustics

Susan Ebbers 2005 20

Look Inside —Look Outside

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

1. Look inside the word

for known word parts: prefixes, roots or combining forms, suffixes.

2. Use the analogy strategy

—“

I don’t know this word, but I know pneumonia and I know volcano, so by analogy, this word might have something to do with lungs and heat.”

3. Look outside the word

at context clues, visuals

The coal miners, coughing and wheezing, suffered from pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis .

Susan Ebbers 2005 21

Activity

• In groups of 2 you will play memory with prefixes and suffixes. • As we do this, groups will be called to the front table to go through magazines to find pictures representing an affixed word. Put the picture and your word on the poster board along with your initials.

• Example: Pyromaniac-fire 22