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Grow Your Vocabulary by Learning Root Words

Grow Your Vocabulary by Learning Root Words

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English has been called one of the most difficult languages for non-native speakers to learn.

One reason is that English has so many rules, and almost as many exceptions to those rules.

Sometimes, this leaves learners confused. For example, the order of words in a sentence

can be tricky. Another reason English is hard to learn is that the pronunciation of its

words cannot always be predicted by their spelling. For example, there are at least

six ways to pronounce the group of letters spelled O-U-G-H. And maybe the worst thing

of all is that there are many idioms or expressions in English. You could say we use idioms like

they're going out of style. So it is comforting to know that learning

root words can help a non-native speaker use English. A root word is the most basic form

of a word. Root words can help you to break down large, new words into smaller units to

discover their meanings. Learning just one root word can help you understand several

words in English. So by learning just 20 or 30 root words, you can expand your English

vocabulary to include hundreds of new words. A root can be any part of a word that carries

meaning—the beginning, middle, or end. Prefixes, bases, and suffixes are types of roots.

The prefix appears at the beginning of a word, the base in the middle, and the suffix at the end.

Most English root words come from the Greek and Latin languages.

One useful method for building vocabulary through root words is to first look at the

base word and then look for familiar prefixes and suffixes that go with that base.

Let's try an example, the base word struct. It comes from the Latin word meaning build.

Any English word you hear containing struct will relate to building, developing, or creating something.

By itself, struct is not a word, but it is the basis for more than 30 words in English.

For example, the word construct is a verb that means to build. The prefix con means

together, or with. So construct means to put things together to build or create something.

Adding suffixes to struct creates additional words. For example, adding I-O-N in English

makes verbs into nouns. When we add I-O-N to construct, we get construction, which means

the process or act of building something. Adding the suffix I-N-G to construct makes

constructing. That is the gerund form and has a similar meaning as the noun construction.

Adding the suffix I-V-E to make constructive gives us the adjective form and means helpful

in developing or improving something. Now let's build onto constructive.

Adding the suffix L-Y to constructive gives us the word constructively and produces an adverb.

It means doing something in a way that is helpful.

There are many other words that the base word struct produces. For instance, destruction

is the opposite of construction. Destruction is the act of taking apart or damaging something

that was built. Instruction means the act of building knowledge and has a similar meaning

to the gerund teaching. And just like with construct, you can add many suffixes to destruct

or instruct to get several more words. The suffixes may include I-O-N, I-N-G, I-V-E,

I-N-G plus L-Y, or I-V-E plus L-Y. So you see, by knowing just one root word, struct,

you can get a better idea of the meaning of at least 15 words in English.

A few other common root words include bio, meaning life, auto, meaning self, pro, meaning

before or in favor of, and tele, meaning distance. Surely you recognize some of these roots.

So choose one or two and write in the comments section all of the words you can think of

that come from them. Join us again soon when we will discuss suffixes and prefixes. Learning

common roots, prefixes, and suffixes will help you become an expert in deconstructing

the meanings of English words and constructing a strong vocabulary. I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Alice Bryant.