For example, the root cred means “believe,” so the English word “credible” means “believable.” Learning the roots of words will help you work out the meaning of words you do not know and
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ANSWER KEY
Synonyms
Putting It Together
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SUMMING IT UP
Listening Comprehension section
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All About Roots
OVERVIEW
• Word roots
• Strategies for learning roots
• How roots work
• Learning words with Greek roots
• Learning words with Latin roots
• Summing it up
WORD ROOTS
The root of a word contains the basic meaning Prefixes and suffixes can be
added to a root For example, the root cred means “believe,” so the English word
“credible” means “believable.” Learning the roots of words will help you work out
the meaning of words you do not know and will consequenly help you with all
parts of the TOEFL test Since there are a great number of roots from which
words stem in English, the most common ones are presented in this chapter
STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING ROOTS
attached to them
when you begin to analyze the word, you will see the connection
This will make it easier for you to understand and remember their meanings
learned before and try to use them in speech or writing
roots in English come from Latin or Greek)
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HOW ROOTS WORK
Prefixes and Suffixes Are Added to Roots to Create Many Words
For example, the root vor means “to eat.” If you are a voracious (voh-ray-shus) eater, you
eat a lot of food In the following examples, the root “vor(e)” is combined with prefixes and suffixes to describe types of eaters in the plant and animal kingdoms
Cover the last column of the following chart and see how many of these words you can figure out by just knowing the meaning of the root “vor.”
Knowing how the words were created can help you figure out many words you encounter
on standardized tests In addition, you can use these decoding skills to figure out the meaning of all the new words that are created every day
Here’s the basic drill:
de + hydrate = dehydrate zoo + ology = zoology
hydro + power = hydropower bronch + itis = bronchitis
The following chart shows additional examples of how words are put together Knowing this process can help you take them apart to define them Remember: words are like people: it’s easy to figure them out once you know their parts
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Even if you can’t define a word exactly, recognizing the root will give you a general idea
of the word’s meaning For example, if you read the word geocentric, knowing the root
geo would help you figure out that geocentric has to do with the center (“centric”) of the
Earth or Earth as the center
A Word Can Contain More Than One Root
For example, the word matrilineal contains the roots matri (mother) and lineal (line).
Putting it together, you can deduce that matrilineal means “determining ancestry
through the female line.”
Some Roots Are Words Themselves
For example, the root term also means “name or length of time.” In a similar way, the
root vent also means “an opening that allows air to enter.” Even though these roots are
words, they can still function as roots, as the following chart shows:
Some Roots Must Be Combined with Other Word Elements to Form
Words
Take a look at the examples on the following chart:
When It Comes to Building Words from Roots, Placement Matters
Some roots can also function as prefixes, depending on their placement in a word For
example, graphy means “writing.”
TIP
Whenever you come upon an unfamiliar word, first check to see if it has a recog-nizable root.