Course Code: GEE 110

Description: English Plus

Instructor: Ms. Flornel B. Fabricante

Module 2 Vocabulary Building and Enhancement

Objective: At the end of this topic, the student will:

1. Develop new strategies to enhance reading comprehension

2. Enhance understanding of new vocabulary by making connections to

related ideas and other words

3. Aim to use new vocabulary in speaking and writing

4. Aim to continually use the practiced strategies to enhance reading

comprehension and acquire new vocabulary
Structural Analysis: Prefixes, Suffixes & Roots
Students need strategies to independently acquire new words. Teaching students to
use word parts to figure out the meanings of words in text can be beneficial to their
vocabulary development. "Knowing some common prefixes and suffixes (affixes), base
words, and root words can help students learn the meanings of many new words"
(Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001). Morphemic analysis uses roots and affixes to
derive meaning from an unknown word. Researchers suggest that teachers explicitly
teach common roots and affixes, including inflectional and derivational suffixes
(Baumann & Kame’enui, 2004).
The meaningful parts of a word are called morphemes, which are the smallest units of
meaning in a word. A morpheme may be a word or only part of a word, but it may be
more than one syllable. A morpheme that can stand alone as a word is a free
morpheme, but bound morphemes must be attached to other morphemes in order to
form a complete word.

Structural analysis is the process of breaking words down into their basic parts to
determine word meaning. Structural analysis is a powerful vocabulary tool since
knowledge of a few word parts can give you clues to the meanings of a large number of
words. Although the meaning suggested by the word parts may not be exact, this
process can often help you understand the word well enough that you can continue
reading without significant interruption.

When using structural analysis, the reader breaks words down into their basic parts:

• Prefixes – word parts located at the beginning of a word to change meaning

• Roots – the basic meaningful part of a word
• Suffixes – word parts attached to the end of a word; suffixes often alter the part of
speech of the word

For example, the word bicyclist can be broken down as follows:

• bi – prefix meaning two

• cycle – root meaning wheel
• ist – a noun suffix meaning ‘a person who’
Therefore, structural analysis suggests that a bicyclist is a person on two wheels – a
meaning which is close to the word’s formal definition.

Structural Analysis: Common Word Parts Following is a list of some common prefixes,
roots, and suffixes along with their meanings and examples of words which use them.

Use these word parts to help you approximate the meanings of unknown words.
Compound Words
When two words are used together to yield a new meaning, a compound is formed.
Compound words can be written in three ways: as open compounds (spelled as two
words, e.g., ice cream), closed compounds (joined to form a single word, e.g.,
doorknob), or hyphenated compounds (two words joined by a hyphen, e.g., long-term).

Open Compound Words

An open compound word is created in cases when the modifying adjective is used with
its noun to create a new noun. This isn’t quite the same as a noun with a modifying
adjective. We just use a space between the adjective and the noun, so sometimes it can
be hard to identify as a compound; however, if the two words are commonly used
together, it’s considered to be a compound word.

living room

full moon real

estate dinner

table coffee

mug

When adverbs ending in -ly combine with another word, the resulting compound is
always spelled as two separate words.

largely irrelevant

newly formed

Closed Compound Words

Closed compound words look like one word. At one point, these words weren’t used
together, but they’re now accepted as a “real word” in the English language. Closed
compound words are usually made up of only two words. Here are some closed
compound examples.

notebook
Superman

waistcoat

bookstore fireman

The English language is always evolving, and when words become used more
frequently, they are often eventually written as one word. When the Internet first began,
for example, we talked about going on-line. Now that this is a daily experience for most
of us, the spelling online has become commonly accepted.

Hyphenated Compound Words

There are a great many grammar rules regarding hyphens in compound words. One
important rule of thumb to remember is that in most cases, a compound adjective is
hyphenated if placed before the noun it modifies, but not if placed after the noun.

a long-term solution an

up-to-date user guide

Context Clues
Context Clues are hints that the author gives to help define a difficult or unusual word.
The clue may appear within the same sentence as the word to which it refers, or it may
follow in a preceding sentence. Because most of your vocabulary is gained through
reading, it is important that you be able to recognize and take advantage of context
clues.
Sometimes, when we read a given portion of text, we're not entirely sure what's going
on. This is where context clues come in. Context clues provide further information about
a word or phrase that helps readers understand its meaning. These clues offer insight -
either directly or indirectly - into the portion of text that's difficult to understand. Let's
explore various examples of context clues to see how they work.
Types of context clues. There are at least four kinds of context clues that are quite
common.
Synonyms as Context Clues
The most basic, and perhaps helpful, type of context clues are synonyms. If you can't
decipher a meaning, adding a few synonyms, or words with similar meanings, is a
surefire way to point to a word's meaning. Let's take a look at a few examples:
• It was an idyllic day - sunny, warm, and perfect for a walk in the park.
 • She hums continuously, or all the time, and it annoys me.
• The crime he committed was egregious; he'll never recover from this horrendous
scandal.
• His animosity, or hatred, of his sister divided the family.
• Bill felt remorse, or shame, for his harsh words.
• This situation is a conundrum, a puzzle that's difficult to solve.

Antonyms as Context Clues

Sometimes, the best way to understand something is to understand what not to do or
what something isn't. In the same way, an antonym, or an opposite, can convey
meaning. If you point out the differences, you can come to understand each component
better.
• Marty is gregarious, unlike his brother who is quiet and shy.
• Attempting to avoid the accident was futile; it was impossible for either of them to
stop in time.
• This painting of the landscape is picturesque, while the one of the old house is
just plain ugly.
• The feral cat would not let us pet him, unlike our friendly cat.
• Our sweltering summer days were quickly replaced by the cold flashes of fall.
• She was virtuous, unlike her evil and conniving brother.

Explanations as Context Clues

Has a friend or family member ever asked you to just come right out with it? Sometimes,
readers don't want to search for your meaning. Instead, if you provide a bigger picture
and offer added detail or context, the reader will come to understand the tricky word.
Here are some examples:
• The team was elated because they just found out they placed in the semifinals.
• During the demonstration, a skirmish broke out so the police were called to
restore order.
• We know the dog has a kind disposition because we've never seen her bite or
scratch anyone.
• I called him a nuisance because he annoyed me with his incessant line of
questioning.
• Something in the refrigerator is so putrid, a wave of odor wafted out when we
opened the door.
• It's no surprise he winced in pain after hitting his thumb with the hammer.
Example as Context Clues
Specific examples are used to define the term.
Celestial bodies, such as the sun, moon, and stars, are governed by
predictable laws.