Duarte-Reyes 1

Julia Duarte-Reyes
Eng 487-03
April 17, 2018

“Broken Heartland” by Wil S. Hylton’s

It wasn’t until the 1940s, when a variety of new technologies coalesced on the plains, that large-

scale irrigation sprang up for the first time — but from there, the transformation was quick.

Within a decade thousands of wells were drilled, creating a spike in productivity as

unprecedented as it was unsustainable. Land that had been marginal became dependable; land

that was dependable became bountiful. Even as the U.S. population surged, with soldiers

returning and babies booming, the output of the plains rose fast enough to meet and exceed

demand. No one worried about the aquifer. To farmers it seemed a bottomless reserve,

generating the same outlandish volume no matter how many straws went in. Soon there were

hundreds of thousands of wells producing the same reliable flow, year after year, without any

evident stress.

FUNCTION WORDS CONTENT WORDS

It, the, wasn’t, when, a, of, on, that, up, for, first,
but, from, there, was, within, wells, were, in, as,
that, been, became, even, with, and, to, no, one,
about, many, were, may
Variety, technologies, coalesced, plains, large-
scale, irrigation, sprang, time, transformation,
quick, decade, had, thousands, drilled, creating,
spike, productivity, unprecedented,
unsustainable, land, marginal, dependable,
bountiful, U.S., population, surged, soldiers,
returning, babies, booming, output, plains, rose,
fast, enough, meet, exceed, demand, worried,
aquifer, farmers, seemed, bottomless, reserve,
generation, same, outlandish, volume, matter,
how, straws, went, soon, hundreds, producing,
same, reliable, flow, year, after, without,
evident, stress
 Duarte-Reyes 2

COMPOUND WORDS COMPLEX WORDS

Large-scale, within, productivity, became,
output, bottomless, without
Variety, technologies, plans, irrigation,
transformation, decade, thousands, wells,
drilled, creating, unprecedented, dependable,
unstainable, marginal, bountiful, population,
surged, soldiers, returning, babies, booming,
plains, demand, worried, aquifer, farmers,
seemed, reserve, generating, outlandish,
straws, hundreds, producing, reliable

INFLECTIONAL
Coalesced, plains, thousands, wells, drilled,
creating, unprecedented, surged, soldiers,
returning, babies, worried, aquifer, farmers,
seemed, generating, straws, hundreds,
producing, exceed, matter
,
DERIVITIONAL
Variety, technologies, irrigation,
transformation, decade, productivity,
unsustainable, dependable, population, babies,
aquifer, bottomless reliable, evident, matter,
bountiful

STEM DERIVATION
Coalesce (v) Coalesced (v)
transform (v) Transformation (n)
Create (v) Creating (v)
Product (n) Productivity (n)
Technology (n) Technologies (n)
Irrigate (v) Irrigation (n)
Create (v) Creating (v)
Product (n) Productivity (n)
Margin (n) Marginal (adj)
Depend (v) Dependable (adj)
Baby (n) Babies (n)
Worry (v) Worried (v)
Generate (v) Generating (v)
Produce (v) Producing (v)
Rely (v) Reliable (adj)
 Duarte-Reyes 3

WORD ORIGIN ROOT AFFIX

Variety Latin Vari (to bend, to turn) Ty= (noun making,
suffix, state, or
quality)
Coalesced Latin Coalesc (growing Ed (to make past
together) tense)
Transformation English Form (shape, figure) Trans (drag or draw)
Decade English Deca (whole units) Ade (action done)
Productivity Latin Duc (to lead) Pro (forward, forth)
Unsustainable Latin Tain (hold, grasp) Ble
Dependable Latin Pend (hang, hanging) De= (away from)
Population Latin Popu (people) Tion (forms, nouns,
state of)
Surged Latin Surg ( to raise) Ed (to make past
tense)
Exceed English Ceed (to be in Ex-(out of, within)
motion)
Demand English Man (hand or hands) De – (away from)
Aquifer Latin Aqui (water) Fer ( to bear, to carry)
Reserve English Serve (to watch, Re (repetition)
protect)
Generating Latin Gen ( birth) Ing ( a verb action)
Producing English Duc (to lead) Pro- (forward)
Ing- (a verb action)
Reliable Latin Able (expressing Re (repetition)
capacity)
Evident English Vid (to notice) Ent (to make present)
*(relate) Latin Lat , late (to bear, to Re- repetition
carry)
Volume English Volume (bend, curve) x
Irrigation Latin In ( witin, into) Tion- ( forms,
nounds, state of)
 Duarte-Reyes 4

PREFIX ROOT WORD

in (amongst within) inform
uni (one single, word element for uniform
number)
mal (bad) -form malform
trans (beyond, access) (shape, structure, figure outer transformion
de ( down from, reverse, remove, out appearance) deform
of,)
con (with, together) conform
re (again) oviform