Day 122: Wordy Wednesday—SUPER!

More root word learning for this week’s Wordy Wednesday. But before that, I have to ask if you are using what you already know? Are you examining unknown words and asking yourself  if there is anything about that word that you already know—a root, prefix, or suffix?
Today’s root: SUPER, SUR, SUM   
Meaning: ABOVE
What do you already know about this ABOVE root:
  1. surpass—to go above and beyond
  2. summit—above; the high mountain or peak
  3. supersede—to be above in authority,  etc.
  4. superstition—a  belief that is ABOVE the normal
  5. super star—a star above others

  

   

day 120: wordy wednesday—root “spec”

Do you remember how I talked earlier about how we (and our students if we are teachers) know much more than we think we do! There is no place that this is more apparent than vocabulary learning!
Root words, and sometimes even syllables, have meaning. And we often already know meanings of bits and pieces that we can put together to gain more knowledge. (If you know a foreign language, you will have even more success unlocking unknown words or parts of words since much of our language is taken from other languages.)
How can you use this concept to help you or your students? When you come to an unfamiliar word, don’t assume that you do not know it. Look more closely at the word. (And help your kids to do the same—question them all the time: “What do you know about the ‘aqua’ part of aquamarine?” [Or even, “What do you know about the ‘marine’ part?”)
Today’s  root is SPEC, SPIC, or SPIT
It means LOOK or SEE
What do you already know about these “spec,” “spic,” and “spit” words?
  1. Perspective—seeing a point of view
  2. Aspect—one part or one thing you can see
  3. Spectator—one who sees
  4. Spectacle—a sight to see
  5. Suspect—a person you see that might be guilty
  6. Others???
Keep reading. Keep asking yourself what you already know!

day 115: wordy wednesday

Now that we know how to spell the word Wednesday, we are going to add a new feature to Language Lady 365. If you desire to increase your vocabulary for professional or personal reasons; are preparing for standardized testing or college; or want to help your kids learn vocabulary better, you won’t want to miss Wordy Wednesdays! (Yesk I know it’s Thursday–I didn’t get this up last night!)
Wordy Wednesday will be a vocabulary-building day each week. Sometimes I will introduce a “word that everybody should know” type of word from test preparation or collections with these types of lists. Other times we will focus on prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Basically, all types of vocabulary learning—your weekly “shot” of wordsmith learning!
At the beginning of the year, I described the importance of roots and affixes in helping our children learn vocabulary: “Discussing words (roots, affixes, etc.) should be a part of our daily discussion with our kids. Even if our kids go to school, we have to look at ourselves as our children’s first teachers. There are so many things that we can teach them casually—homeschoolers or not.”
Not long ago in literature class, our son (Joshua, one of our TFT teachers) asked the students what words they knew that contained the prefix “pro,” meaning “for.” He got the usual answers—pro-life; prolific; pro-football, etc. And then his clever “little brother,” Josiah, said, “’Propane’—means that we are ‘for pain’!” Have fun with vocabulary building—and your kids will not forget it, for sure (nor will you)!
So today, we will start with a common root—a root that can help you unlock the meaning of many other words: gen.
GEN is a root meaning birth, race, or kind.
From this root, we get many common words that most of us are familiar with, including, but not limited to, the following list:
  1. Generous
  2. Generate
  3. Generation
  4. Genealogy
  5. Gender
  6. Genocide
  7. Generic
But roots are not limited to the beginnings of words—they are found buried within longer words as well. Consider the following words with gen somewhere in them. How does the meaning of gen—birth, race, or kind—fit into the meanings of these words:
1.    Agency
2.    Intelligence
3.    Resurgent
4.    Agenda
5.    Allergen
6.    Pathogen
7.    Oxygen
8.    Carcinogen
9.    Divergent
10. Emergency
11. Degenerate
12. Negligence
13. Legends
14. Estrogen
15. Homogenate
16. Ingenuity

day 16: it was just an “illusion” (or was it an “allusion”?)

Adding to the alluded/eluded and allusive/elusive quandary is the illusion/allusion Wacky Word pair! Again, looking at roots and affixes can be a great help.
Let’s start with allusion—since we had alluded yesterday. (Yes, you read that right—the roots are the same!)
1. Allusion (allude)
a.      Related to ludicrous: Hint—“What he alluded to was ludicrous!”
b.     Related to allusion—“He made an allusion to our previous conversation.”
c.      If you remember the allude/ludicrous (What he alluded to was ludicrous!), you will also remember allusion—allusion is something you allude to.
                                                                        i.     Allude is the verb—“What did he allude to?”
                                                                      ii.     Allusion* is the noun—The thing—“What was his allusion to your situation?”
2. Illusion
      a. Related to illustrate—See that root?
              i. Illustration is a picture
             ii. Illusion is an abstract picture
b.     Used to mean a facsimile or something that appears different than it is
i. “The ride gives you the illusion that you are on a mountain.”
ii. “They used Kleenexes to give you the illusion of fabric.”
iii. “Her success is just an illusion.”
c.  Illusion is also related to hallucination—seeing things that are not really there!
*Note: A more advanced vocabulary technique that you will learn this year on LL 365 is “illustrated” in suffixes—tion and sion generally signify a word is a noun.

days 13 & 14: roots and affixes list

I am putting all of the roots and affixes I want to share (from our CQLA curriculum) together for two days (rather than dividing them up in two entries). Feel free to print them off, give a sheet to each of your kids, tape it on the fridge, work on a root or affix a week…however it can help you or your kids/students.
    (a) GEN–birth, race, kind                                                              
 generous, generate, generation, geneology, gender    
           
b) DIC, DICT, DIT–tell, say, word
        dictate, verdict, edict, contradict, predict, diction, indict
  
    (c) SPEC, SPIC, SPIT–look, see
 perspective, aspect, spectator, spectacle, suspect     
           
d) SUPER, SUR, SUM–above
        surpass, summit, supersede, superstition
  
   
   (e) TENT, TENS, TEND, TENU–stretch, thin                                           
 tension, extend, tendency, tendon, tent, distend         
(f) TRANS–across
transfer, transient, transitory, transgress, transport
  
    (g) DOC, DUC, DAC–teach, lead                                         
          conduct, document, doctrine, induce, indoctrinate                    
 (h) CO, CON, COM-with, together
company, collaborate, comply, congruent,
(i)              VERS, VERT–turn                                                                      
 convert, revert, subvert, divert, diverse, extrovert, versatile          
  
(j) LOC, LOG, LOQU–word, speech
        
        eloquent, logic, apology, monologue, dialogue, prologue
    (k) SEN–feel, sense                                                                                  
  sensitive, sensation, consent, dissent, assent, sentiment  
                 
(l) DE–away, down, off
denounce, defraud, decry, deplete, devoid, defile
  
    
    (m) NOM, NOUN, NOWN, NAM, NYM–name, order, rule
anonymous, nominate, renounce, renown, misnomer                                                      
(n) CLA, CLO, CLU–shut, close
          closet, enclose, disclose, include, conclude, seclude
  
      
    (o) VO, VOC, VOK, VOW–call                                                      
vocal, advocate, vocation, convoke, revoke, avow     
                        
 (p) MAL–bad
          malicious, malady, dismal, malign, malevolent
  
      
    (q) FRA, FRAC, FRAG—break
fracture, fraction, fragment, fragile, frail, fractious                                                                                        
   (r) OB–against
          objective, obsolete, obscure, obstruct, obstinate
  
        
    (s) SUB—under
          submissive, subordinate, sublime, subtle, subversion                                                                                                        
(t) AB–from, away
 abandon, abhor, abstain, absolve, abstruse, abstract
  
       
    (u) GRESS, GRAD—step
progress, regress, gradual, digress, degrade, transgress                                                                       
 (v) SEC, SEQU–follow
          second, sequel, sequence, consequence, prosecute
  
  
     (w) PRO–much, for, a lot 
prolific, profuse, prodigal, prtracted, prodigy, propensity                                                                   
  (x) QUE, QUIS–ask, seek
           inquire, question, request, quest, query, acquire, querulous
  
     
     (y) SACR, SANCT, SECR—sacred
sacrifice, sanctuary, sanctify, sanction, consecrate                                                                   
 (z) SCRIB, SCRIP–write     
                     scribble, describe, script, prescribe, ascribe, inscribe
  
                                                             
   (aa) PATHY, PAS, PAT–feeling               
          apathy, sympathy, empathy, antipathy, passionate                                  
 (bb) DIS, DIF–not
                                  disdain, dissuade, dismay, disparate, disparage
  
  
  (cc) CIRCU–around
circumference, circulation, circumstances, circumvent                                                            
 (dd) NON, UN, IN, AN, A–no or not
  
nonviolent, uncooperative, inappreciative, anonymous
  
  
  (ee) AD–to  
          adhere, adjective, addict, adverb
                                                                          
(ff) INFRA–below
 infrastructure, infraction, infrared, infra-bass
  
  
  (gg) AMBI—both
  ambidextrous, amibguous, ambition, ambivalent                                                                                
 (hh) EPI–on
 epidemic, epic, epitomy, episode

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