Ms. Fleming S Vocabulary Cheat Sheet

Ms. Fleming’s Vocabulary Cheat Sheet No matter how great of a vocabulary you have, sometimes you stumble across a word you don’t know. We have talked about using context clues, or using the words that surround the unknown word, to figure out the unknown words meaning. Today, you will learn how to use the unknown word itself to figure out the meaning.

A Prefix is a group of letters that appears at the front of a word. A prefix affects the root (base) word to which it is attached. To determine whether or not a group of letters is a prefix, remove them from the word. The letters are a prefix if a known word remains. Example: Remove the letter “un” from the following words: unhappy, untie, and uninterested. Most Common Prefixes

Prefix Meaning Key Word

anti- against antifreeze de- opposite defrost dis- not, opposite of disagree en- , em- cause to embrace, encode fore- before forecast in- , em- in infield in-, im-, ir- not injustice, impossible inter- between interact mid- middle midway mis- wrongly misfire non- not nonsense over- over overlook pre- before prefix re- again return demi- half semicircle sub- under submarine super- above superstar trans- across transport un- not unfriendly under- under undersea A Suffix is a letter, or group of letters, that is added to the end of a root (base) word. You need to understand the meaning of suffixes and how they affect the words they are attached to. Finding suffixes is more difficult than finding prefixes because sometimes the spelling of a word changes when you add a suffix. Most Common Suffixes

Suffix Meaning Key Word

-able, -ible can be done comfortable -al, -ial having characteristics of personal -ed past-tense verbs hopped -en made of wooden -er comparative higher -er one who worker, actor -est comparative biggest -ful full of careful -ic having characteristics of linguistic -ing verb form running -ion, -tion, -ation, -ition act, process occasion, attraction -ity, -ty state of infinity -ive, -ative, -itive adjective form of a noun plaintive -less without fearless -ly characteristic of quickly -ment action or process enjoyment -ness state of, condition of kindness -ous, -eous, -ious possessing the qualities joyous of -s, - es more than one books, boxes -y characterized by happy A Root is a word part to which a prefix and/or a suffix must be added. A root cannot stand alone. A word root cannot stand alone but must be combined wit h other word parts. A great many roots used in our language come from Greek or Latin. A single root can generate many English words.

Useful Greek Roots Root Meaning Example aster, astr star asterisk (*) auto self, alone autobiography bibl ,biblio book bibliography bi, bio life biology chron time chronology cracy, crat rule, government democracy gram, graph write, draw, describe grammar, paragraph meter, metr measure thermometer neo new neoclassical ortho straight, correct orthodontist, orthodox phob fear claustrophobia phon sound telephone psych mind, soul, spirit psychology scope see telescope tele far, distant telescope therm heat thermometer

Useful Latin Roots Root Meaning Example capt, cept take, have capture, accept cede, ceed, cess go, yield, give way secede, proceed, recess dic, dict speak, say, tell dictate, dictionary duc, duct lead introduce, conductor fact, fect do, make factory, defect ject throw, hurl eject, inject mob, mot, mov move mobility, motion, movie pon, pos, posit place, put opponent, deposit port carry porter, portable puls throb, urge pulsate, compulsory scrib, script write prescribe, scripture tain, ten, tent hold contain, tenant, attention ven, vent come convention, event vers, vert turn versatile, invert vid, vis see video, vista voc, vok voice, call vocal, invoke