by Donna | Jun 24, 2011
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?
- Perspective—seeing a point of view
- Aspect—one part or one thing you can see
- Spectator—one who sees
- Spectacle—a sight to see
- Suspect—a person you see that might be guilty
- Others???
Keep reading. Keep asking yourself what you already know!
by Donna | Jun 15, 2011
Many of my full time language arts students (those who come to class each week during the academic year to help us test our complete language arts curriculum) use the root/prefix “dict” each week—as they take “dictation” over the passage of material in our book. They label their papers Dict then the unit we are in and the date. They even call it “dict” time—which is so appropriate since the root “dict” literally means “word”—and they are writing down many words when they take dictation!
We will look at the root/prefix “dict” today!
DICT, DIT, DIC—means to tell, to say, or word
Like we always tell our students—focus on something you already know in order to understand the unknown. In my students’ case, they take “dictation” (writing down words) every week—so they can remember that dict has something to do with words. If you are of my generation, you might remember television programs in which secretaries use a Dictaphone to take dictation from their boss.
Consider what you already know to unlock the unknown! If you have kids, repeat this to them over and over again to help them in their learning and to encourage them about their vast store of knowledge.
Take a look at some words containing dic/dict/dit—and see how they can mean what they do—with to tell, to say, or word :
- Dictate—to speak words to someone (for that person to write)
- Verdict—a word/determination that was spoken at the end of a trial
- Edict—words that are authority or law/rule
- Contradict—contra means opposite; dict means word—opposite of the words that someone spoke
- Predict—pre means before; dict means word—speak words before they happen
- Diction—the pattern of someone’s speech
What other dit/dict/dic words do you know? When you see dic/dit/dict in a word—even if you do not know any other part of the word—use what you do know and the words within the sentence to unlock the meaning.
by Donna | Jun 10, 2011
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:
- Generous
- Generate
- Generation
- Genealogy
- Gender
- Genocide
- 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
by Donna | Jan 19, 2011
Answer Key:
1. The word was so allusive/elusive; it just wouldn’t come to me.
Hint: Elude and exclude look similar. “I excluded that song from the program because it eluded me.”
2. He made an illusion/allusion/elusion to our previous conversation.
Hint: Allusion related to allude. “What he alluded to is ludicrous.” Means to refer to something.
3. The ride gives you the allusion/illusion that you are on a mountain top.
Hint: Illusion comes from illustrate. A picture….gives you the picture or feeling of something else.
4. I excluded the word from the program because its spelling alluded/eluded me.
Hint: Eluded—excluded. Elude means “not able to grasp.”
5. What did he elude/allude to?
Hint: Allude/allusion—something you refer to. “What he alluded to was ludicrous.”
6. They used Kleenexes to give you the allusion/illusion of fabric.
Hint: Illusion is a facsimile or picture. Related to illustrate.
7. What he alluded/eluded to was ludicrous!
Hint: “What he alluded to was ludicrous.”
8. What was his illusion/allusion to your situation?
Hint: Allude/allusion—referring to something else.
9. Allusion/illusion is related to hallucination.
Hint: Illusion is related to hallucination—pictures that are not there.
10. He made an elusion/allusion to our previous conversation.
Hint: Allusion is to refer to something else; elusion is to be out of your grasp. He referred to the previous conversation…not that he couldn’t grasp it.
by Donna | Jan 17, 2011
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.
