Children’s Grace of Mary Tutorial and Learning Center, Inc

New Carmen, Tacurong City

Module 4

This module will enable you to learn about:

 uses of Hyphen and Em dash;
 Etymology; and
 Contractions.

Lesson 1: hyphen and em dash

What you need to know

Hyphen(-)
This much shorter than dash and does not require space before and after it. This:
 connects two or more related words to form a singular concept in adjective form
Examples: cost-effective, Fil-Am
 connects two or more related words to form a singular concept particularly in family relations
Examples: great-grandmother, brother-in-law
 used in compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine
Examples: fifty-one, twenty-three
 used for fractions written as words
Examples: three-fourths, one-half
 used when a number is a part of an adjective phrase
Example: The company gave Paola a twenty-day all-paid vacation.

Em dash ( – )
This longer than Hyphen. This can replace commas, parentheses and colons depending upon the
context of the sentence. This:
 used as interruption, particularly in reported speech
 may substitute for “it is” or “they are”
 can substitute for parenthesis to enclose a non-restrictive concept

let’s check your mastery

Rewrite the following sentence by applying the use of hyphen and em-dash.
1. Thirty five years ago, she moved to New York with her step mother.
____________________________________________________________________________________
2. They students were asked to write ten 5 paragraph story for the whole semester.
____________________________________________________________________________________
3. The new president of the organization is Shaira Diaz the transferee from UP.
____________________________________________________________________________________
4. Please call my lawyer Richard Smith on Tuesday.
____________________________________________________________________________________
5. My sister in law loves chocolate—my brother loves vanilla.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 2: etymology
What you need to know

What is Etymology?
Etymology is not a rhetorical or literary device. “Etymology is the investigation of word histories.” Every
word in every language has a unique origin and history; words can be born in many ways, and often their
histories are quite adventurous and informative. Etymology investigates and documents the lives (mainly
the origins) of words.

Process in Forming Etymology

a. Modifications
Once people begin to use a word, they may change it, perhaps to make it easier to say, or to make it
sound more different from other words, or other reasons. They may also form new words by modifying old
words. ‘Selfie’ is a good example.

b. Semantic Changes
The meanings of words can change over time.

Metaphors: Technology gives us many new words through metaphor such as keyboard, mouse, and
desktop.

Euphemisms: what is socially acceptable changes and then, words must, too.

Housecleaner instead of maid.

Server instead of waiter or waitress
Functional shift: how words get new parts of speech.

c. Generation
As words are used, subtle differences become permanent changes and even new words, themselves:

Baby talk: Jammies, bye-bye, tummy

Blends or ‘portmanteau’ words: Spanglish, labradoodle
Coinages (purposely invented words): Workaholic, blog

d. Borrowing
Words are frequently adopted from foreign languages, usually with some changes in their sound:

Many borrowed words are names of things or foods that have been brought into our culture from another:
bar mitzvah, feng shui, yoga, taco, sushi.
There are also many words which you would not realize come from foreign cultures, such as slogan
(Gaelic), coyote (Nahuatl), and avatar (Sanskrit)

Activity 1
Research the etymology of the following words.
1. Psychology
2. slogan
3. avatar
4. cockroach
5. cappuccino

Lesson 3:contractions

What you need to know

We use contractions (I’m, we’re) in everyday speech and informal writing. Contractions, which are
sometimes called ‘short forms’, commonly combine a pronoun or noun and a verb, or a verb and not, in a
shorter form. Contractions are usually not appropriate in formal writing.
We make contractions with auxiliary verbs, and also with be and have when they are not auxiliary verbs.
When we make a contraction, we commonly put an apostrophe in place of a missing letter.
The following are the most common contractions.

Contractions with I, you, he, she, it, we, and they

’m = am (I’m)
’re = are (you’re, we’re, they’re)
’s = is and has (he’s, she’s, it’s)
’ve = have (’ve, you’ve, we’ve, they’ve)
’ll = will (I’ll, you’ll, he’ll, she’ll, it’ll, we’ll, they’ll)
’d = had and would (I’d, you’d, he’d, she’d, it’d, we’d, they’d)

Contractions with auxiliary verb and not

The contraction for not is n’t:

are not (we aren’t, you mustn’t = must not

aren’t =
aren’t)

shan’t = shall not

can’t = cannot

shouldn’
= should not
couldn’t = could not t

didn’t = did not (I didn’t, they didn’t) wasn’t = was not

hasn’t = has not weren’t = were not

haven’t = have not won’t = will not

isn’t = is not (she isn’t, it isn’t) wouldn’t = would not

We use contractions with be + negative in two ways:

She is not is contracted to she isn’t or she’s not. I am not is only contracted to I’m not. Not: I’m n’t or I am
n’t. They are not is contracted to they aren’t or they’re not. The isn’t / aren’t contractions are more
common after nouns. The ’s / ’re not contractions are more common after pronouns: The
cakes aren’t ready yet. She’s not a friend of mine.

Let’s check your mastery

Rewrite these sentences using contractions.

1. Is it not nice?

____________________________________________________________________________________

2. I do not think so.

____________________________________________________________________________________

3. Henry should not have come here.

____________________________________________________________________________________
4. I have not eaten my lunch yet.

____________________________________________________________________________________

5. I was not her fault.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Reminders:

There is no Journal writing activity for this module because everyone is given a chance to finish theor
modules until next week. No complete journal means no exam in English.