Word Roots and Affixes

English 11 Lesson Activities

Word Roots and Affixes The Lesson Activities will help you meet these educational goals: 21st Century Skills—You will employ online tools for research and analysis, use critical- thinking and problem-solving skills, and assess and validate information.

Directions Please save this document before you begin working on the assignment. Type your answers directly in the document. ______

Self-Checked Activities

Read the instructions for the following activities and type in your responses. Click the link to the Student Answer Sheet at the end of the lesson. Use the answers or sample responses to evaluate your own work.

1. Morphemes a. See how many morphemes you can add to each of these roots to create new words. Try several combinations to see how many ways you can go about the task.  like  boy  gentle  desire

Type your response here:

b. What do the words in each trio have in common that can help you understand their meanings more fully when reading them in context? First write what you think they will have in common, then look up the definition of each word to see if you are correct.

acuity acumen acute

anthropology anthropomorphism anthropogeography

philanthropy philanderer philosophy

topology topography toponymy

geography typography echocardiograph

2 c. What do you notice about the relationships of the words you researched? Were your predictions correct? How does understanding morphemes help you understand new word meanings in areas with unfamiliar terms, such as science and social studies?

How did you do? Check a box below.

Nailed It!—I included all of the same ideas as the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.

Halfway There—I included most of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.

Not Great—I did not include any of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.

2. Etymology a. Use this etymology reference and this dictionary to find the etymology and meanings of these words. List each morpheme and its meaning. When using the etymology reference, you may still need to refer to a dictionary to learn the meanings of some of the roots.

Type your response here: Word Definition Etymology acupuncture anthropology philately pathology topography

b. Use this etymology reference and this dictionary to identify the meanings of these words found in the study of mathematics.

Type your response here: Word Definition dodecahedron circumradius polygon

3 trigonometry

c. Think about how understanding the etymology of these words can help you understand other mathematical terms. Select one of the terms above and find several words that have similar morphemes. What do the meanings of these terms have in common? How is this helpful?

How did you do? Check a box below.

Nailed It!—I included all of the same ideas as the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.

Halfway There—I included most of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.

Not Great—I did not include any of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.