Structural Analysis
The Greeks and Romans came
up with a system for creating words by putting together smaller word parts. They
used three types of word parts: prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Pre means
"before," and so it makes sense that a prefix comes before the main part of a
word. Suf means "after," and so a suffix
comes at the end of a word. A root word is the main part of a word, and usually
comes in the middle. Many English words are composed of at least one root, and
many have one or more prefixes and suffixes.
Word parts contribute to
the total meaning of a word. Each part has its own meaning. The meaning of an
unknown word often is a combination of its parts. Splitting words into parts to
discover the meaning of unknown words is called structural analysis.
Parts of words provide the
essential meanings. Studying the parts of words can tell you many things. The
base of a word gives you an overall meaning for the unknown word. Affixes affect
the base's meaning. Some affixes provide general meanings. Others identify the
subject area of the unknown word. Affixes also help determine the part of speech
of the unknown word.
Recognizing Word Roots and Prefixes
While using the dictionary
is an excellent way to increase your vocabulary one word at a time, if you would
like to learn whole clusters of words in one stroke, you should get to know the
most common roots and prefixes in English.
It has been estimated that
60 percent of the English words in common use are made up partly or entirely of
prefixes or roots derived from Latin and Greek. The value of learning prefixes
and roots is that they illustrate the way much of our language is constructed.
Once learned, they can help you recognize and
understand many words without resorting to a dictionary. With one
well-understood root word as the center, an entire "constellation" of words can
be built up.
Although knowing the
meanings of prefixes and roots can unlock the meanings of unfamiliar words, this
knowledge should supplement, not replace, your dictionary use. Over the
centuries, many prefixes have changed in both meaning and spelling. While some
prefixes have a single and fairly invariant
meaning, most prefixes have more than one meaning each.
For example, the prefix
de- means "of' or "from"; yet the dictionary lists four different meanings for
it. So learn as many of the common prefixes and roots as you can, but learn them
for better and more precise understanding of words you already know and words
that you have yet to look up in the dictionary. When you go to the dictionary,
make sure that you spend some time on the prefixes and roots that make up each
word. You will soon become convinced that a word is not an assemblage of letters
put together like an anagram, but the true and natural outcome of. evolution. (Pauk,
p. 310)
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