8.6: Trouble Spots in Language- Learn to Understand Unfamiliar Words

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In Reading A: Finding Home in Fernie, Jordan talks about the transient community in Fernie. Reading B: A New Life in Canada discusses the transition that newcomers to Canada need to make. These words both begin with trans-; meaning across, trans- tells us that the word is connected with movement or change.

Other trans- words are transportation (way of getting from one place to another), transfer (move from one place to another), and translate (change from one language to another).

If you know what the parts of a word mean, you can often guess the meaning of the word without looking it up. Below are some of the most common word parts.

You Try It!

For each word part, look at the example given. Then add another example.

Prefixes (these come at the beginning of the word)

1. anti- against antisocial ______________________

2. bene- good benefit ______________________

3. con-/col- together colleague ______________________

4. inter- between international ______________________

5. micro- small microscope ______________________

6. mis- wrong misspell ______________________

7. multi- many multiply ______________________

8. post- after post-war ______________________

9. pre- before prepare ______________________

10. re- again renovate ______________________

11. re- back respond ______________________

12. sub- below submarine ______________________

Stems (these are the main part of the word)

1 audi hearing audible ______________________

2 auto self automatic ______________________

3 bio life biology ______________________

4 cap head captain ______________________

5 dict words dictionary ______________________

6 man hand manual ______________________

7 ped foot pedometer ______________________

8 port carry portable ______________________

9 psych mind psychology ______________________

10 spec look spectacular ______________________

11 tele far telescope ______________________

12 vid/vis see vision ______________________

Suffixes (these come at the end of the word)

Nouns

1 -ism belief communism ______________________

2 -ness condition happiness ______________________

Verbs

3 -ify change magnify ______________________

4 -ize change standardize ______________________

Adjectives

5 -ful with beautiful ______________________

6 -less without homeless ______________________

Numbers

1 uni- 1 unique ______________________

2 bi- 2 bilingual ______________________

3 tri- 3 triangle ______________________

4 qua(d)- 4 quarter ______________________

5 pent- 5 pentathlon ______________________

6 dec- 10 decade ______________________

7 cent- 100 century ______________________

8 mil- 1,000 millennium ______________________