Word+Parts

Extreme Example - What is the longest word in the English language and what does it mean? Maxwell Nurnbert and Morris Rosenblum, in HOW TO BUILD A BETTER VOCABULARY (Prentice-Hall, 1989), say that at one time the longest word in WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY WAS:

pneumononoultramicropscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis

Can you take all these word parts and figure out what this word means?

Refer to Page 72 in BRIDGING THE GAP for answer.

Note how these five keys open the meanings of words! These are examples to give you an idea of how meanings of words can be unlocked by studying word parts.

Examples: smart - __smart__ (is complimentary) (__smarty__ (is like a fake) art - arty (inclined to be artistic but not really so) craft - crafty (inclined to be sly tricky) bright and cheerful - sunny like a snake - slinky with many errors - faulty remarks that are spiteful - catty pink like a rose - rosy Analyze this word: pacifier  PACIFIER = PAC - Latin Root = peace;  FI (-fy) (facere) Latin Suffix = make; -ER - Suffix - one who; that which  Examples of -or, -er, -ar endings: doctor, baker, actor, fighter, beggar, dancer, killer, liar, tractor  tractor - farm machinery  jester - tells jokes  crafty - tricky  rosy - pinkish  Examples: rebuild (build again); recall (to bring back to mind); recede (go back); reiterate (say again, repeat)  REITERATE - RE- (Latin prefix = again; back) ITER (iterum - Latin root=a second time) -ATE (Suffix=cause, make)
 * //**__ Number 1 __**// - "y" - inclined to, tend to - has immediate and powerful effect on root! //**One letter can make a difference in meaning. (SUFFIX)**//
 * Number 2﻿ - "-ar" "-er" "-or" = one who; that which - you see these often! (SUFFIXES)
 * Number 3 - "re" - back; again - a very simple key (Prefix)

Examples: unable - not having ability to do something; unabridged - not shortened; unaltered - not changed UNTOUCHABLE - UN- (Prefix = not); TOUCH (Latin Root=contact); -ABLE (Suffix=can do; able)
 * Number 4 - "un" - not (Prefix) (It says "no" and that's just what it means.)

Example: baseless (without a base); artless (without art); effortless (without effort; easily); (weightless - without weight, light as a feather) More keys for unlocking meanings of words:
 * Number 5 - "less" - without - simple key that is much in use - added to nouns makes adjectives of them

Example words: carelessly, artlessly, helplessly, powerlessly
 * //__Number 6 - "-ly"__//** - this is a suffix and means LIKE, in a manner of. -LESS can be added to a word to make an adjective with -LY added to the adjective to make an adverb.

helpful - (Note the spelling "ful" with one l in lieu of "full" with two)
 * //__Number 7 - "-ful"__//** - Suffix - means full of - Examples: frightful, grateful, earful, fearful,


 * //__Number 8 - "-an" "-ian"__//** - Suffix - native of; relating to - makes an adjective out of nouns it is added to. Examples: Cuban, African, Italian, Syrian, Ugandian

__//**Number 9 - "-able" "-ible"**//__ - Suffix - able can do. Examples: capable, agreeable, forcible, laughable, sociable, visible

__//**Number 10 - "tra-" "trans-**//__" - Prefix - across, through, over - Examples: transatlantic, transact, transmit, translate, transit, traverse, traduce WEIGHTLESS - WEIGHT (vehere) Latin Root = weight) -LESS (Suffix = without) //**FOOD FOR THOUGHT!**// According to Richard E. Hodges of the University of Puget Sound in a booklet entitled: __//Improving Spelling and Vocabulary in the Secondary School,//__ published by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills and the National Council of Teachers of English, 1982, page 30: "If you were to examine the 20,000 most used English words, you would find that about 5,000 of them contain prefixes and that 82% (about 4,100) of those words use only one of fourteen different prefixes out of all the available prefixes in the language."  He lists the following prefixes:  ab- (away, from)  be- (on all sides, overly)  de- (reversal, undoing, downward)  dis-, dif- (not, reversal)  ex - (out of, former)  pre- (before)  re- (again, restore)  un - (do the opposite of)  ad- (to, toward)  com- con- co- (with, together) en-, em- (in, into, to cover or contain) in- (into, not) pro - (in favor of, before) sub- (under, beneath) (Think of examples of words with these prefixes.)

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