SH001: ENGLISH FOR

MODULE 1: DEVELOPING YOUR VOCABULARY ACADEMICS AND

PROFESSIONAL
PURPOSES
 OUTCOMES OF LEARNING
1. Differentiate language used in
academic texts from various disciplines
2. Recognize the meaning of a word using
context clues
3. Identify the meaning of a word through
an analysis of its structure
YOU PROBABLY NOTICED
HOW YOUR TEXTBOOKS
CHANGE. YOUR PRESCHOOL
TEXTBOOKS HAD LARGE-
SIZED FONTS AND FILLED
WITH COLORFUL PICTURES,
REMEMBER? NOW, YOUR
HIGH SCHOOL
TEXTBOOKS/MODULES ARE
VOCABULARY HAS
CHANGED AS WELL – FROM
ONE – TO TWO – SYLLABLE
WORDS IN YOUR EARLY
GRADES TO THREE – TO FIVE
– SYLLABLE WORDS AS YOU
MOVE TO SENIOR HIGH
SCHOOL. YOU ARE ABLE TO
COPE WITH THESE CHANGES
IN YOUR READING
 IF YOU ENCOUNTER A WORD YOU
DO NOT UNDERSTAND, WHAT
WOULD YOU DO? HOW WOULD YOU
ENHANCE YOUR COMPREHENSION?
CONTEXT CLUES
 THESE 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. USING CONTEXT CLUES TO GUESS THE MEANING OF AN
UNFAMILIAR WORD IS A STRATEGY TO IMPROVE ONE’S READING SKILL.
KNOW IN EFFECTIVELY USING
CONTEXT CLUES BY GUESSING THE
MEANING OF THE UNDERLINED
WORDS IN THE SENTENCES BELOW.
CHECK YOUR ANSWER BY REFERRING
Carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, and rice may contribute
TO THE DICTIONARY.
to weight gain.
THIS SENTENCE GIVES EXAMPLES
(HINT) OF CARBOHYDRATES: PASTA,
BREAD, AND RICE. FROM THE GIVEN
EXAMPLES, WE CAN DERIVE THAT
KNOW IN EFFECTIVELY USING
CONTEXT CLUES BY GUESSING THE
MEANING OF THE UNDERLINED
WORDS IN THE SENTENCES BELOW.
CHECK YOUR ANSWER BY REFERRING
A theory
TO THE is futile when it is not practiced.
DICTIONARY.
THE SENTENCE PROVIDES A WORD
HAVING THE SAME OR NEARLY THE
SAME MEANING AS THE
UNDERLINED WORD. FROM THE
GIVEN CLUE – NOT PRACTICED, WE
DIFFERENT TYPES OF
CONTEXT CLUES
TAKE NOTE!
A READER SHOULD RELY ON
CONTEXT CLUES WHEN AN OBVIOUS
CLUE TO MEANING IS PROVIDED, OR
WHEN A GENERAL SENSE OF THE
MEANING IS NEEDED FOR THE
READER’S PURPOSES. CONTEXT
CLUES SHOULD NOT BE RELIED
UPON WHEN A SPECIFIC OR PRECISE
THE PREFIX, THE ROOT
WORD, AND THE SUFFIX
SO THAT YOU WILL
UNDERSTAND MANY
ENGLISH WORDS. A WORD IN
ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAY
HAVE THREE PARTS: THE
PREFIX, THE ROOT WORD,
AND THE SUFFIX. THE PARTS
OF A WORD IN ENGLISH HAVE
MEANINGS BASED ON THEIR
 PREFIXES
PRE MEANS “BEFORE” AND FIX MEANS “TO
ATTACH.” PREFIX MEANS “TO ATTACH BEFORE A
WORD.” PREFIXES HAVE MEANINGS, AND
UNDERSTANDING THEIR MEANINGS CAN HELP YOU
IN FIGURING OUT THE MEANING OF THE WORD
WITH PREFIX. SEE THE FOLLOWING TABLE BELOW
FOR EXAMPLES.
ARE PREFIXES HYPHENATED?
HERE ARE SOME NOTEWORTHY POINTS
RELATED TO PREFIXES.
• Use a hyphen with a proper noun E.g. un-British, pro-
Nazi
• Do not allow the same vowel to double up (unless it's
an 'o') E.g. semi-industrious, re-enter, ultra-argumentative
- However, particularly when the vowel is an 'o,' if you
can bear how the word looks without a hyphen and your
spellchecker lets it through, then omit the hyphen. E.g.
coordinate, cooperate
•You can let different vowels double up E.g.
proactive, reactivate, semiautonomous
• Use a hyphen with 'ex' and 'self’ E.g. ex-
girlfriend, self-aware
• Eliminate ambiguity every time E.g. re-
press / repress (If there were no hyphen in re-
press, it could be confused with repress,
meaning to subdue with force.)
SUFFIXES
A SUFFIX IS A LETTER OR A GROUP OF
LETTERS ADDED TO THE END OF A
WORD. SUFFIXES USUALLY CHANGE A
WORD FROM ONE FORM OR PART OF
SPEECH (E.G. NOUN, VERB, AND
ADJECTIVE) TO ANOTHER FORM. A VERB
CAN BECOME A NOUN WHEN YOU ADD A
SUFFIX. FOR EXAMPLE, THE WORD
MEMORY IS A NOUN. HOW DO YOU TURN
THIS WORD INTO AN ADJECTIVE OR A
SUFFIXES
Look at the following table for possible suffixes that turn words into other forms
ROOT WORDS
ROOT WORD IS THE BASE PART OF A WORD. TO
CHANGE THE MEANING OF A WORD, A PREFIX
CAN BE ADDED TO THE FRONT OF THE WORD
ROOT, OR A SUFFIX CAN BE ADDED TO THE BACK.
QUITE OFTEN, A PREFIX AND A SUFFIX ARE
ADDED TO A WORD ROOT TO CHANGE THE
MEANING. PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES ARE KNOWN
AS AFFIXES.
MANY THINK THAT ROOT WORDS ARE EASY TO
SPOT. THIS IS TRUE ONLY IF THE ROOT WORDS
 EXAMPLES OF ROOT WORDS IN MODERN
ENGLISH ARE AIM IN AIMLESS, LOVE IN
UNLOVED, AND JOY IN JOYFUL. HOWEVER
THERE ARE MANY ROOT WORDS IN
ENGLISH THAT ORIGINATED FROM LATIN,
GREEK, AND OTHER LANGUAGES. ROOT
WORDS FROM THESE LANGUAGES MAY BE
HARD TO SPOT, BUT IF YOU KNOW MANY
OF THESE ROOT WORDS, IT WILL BE A LOT
EASIER FOR YOU TO DISSECT THE WORDS
 DENOTATION AND
CONNOTATION
CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION ARE TWO
PRINCIPAL METHODS OF DESCRIBING THE
MEANINGS OF WORDS. DENOTATION REFERS TO
THE REAL MEANING OF A WORD – THE LITERAL
DEFINITION/DICTIONARY DEFINITION. ON THE
OTHER HAND, CONNOTATION REFERS TO THE
IMPLIED MEANING OF A WORD.
5 TIPS FOR DEFINING
UNKNOWN WORDS
1. LOOK AT THE PARTS OF THE WORD.
ARE THERE ANY ROOTS IN THE WORD?
DOES THE WORD SOUND LIKE
ANOTHER WORD YOU KNOW?
2. BREAK DOWN THE SENTENCE.
WHAT CAN YOU LEARN ABOUT THE
WORD BASED ON THE INFORMATION
IN THE SENTENCE?
 5 TIPS FOR DEFINING
UNKNOWN WORDS
4. THINK ABOUT CONNOTATIVE
MEANING (IDEAS, FEELINGS, OR
ASSOCIATIONS BEYOND THE
DICTIONARY DEFINITION). DOES THE
WORD HAVE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE
CONNOTATIONS?
5. ONCE YOU HAVE A GUESS,
SUBSTITUTE YOUR WORD OR
JARGON
JARGON IS THE SPECIFIC TYPE OF
LANGUAGE USED BY A
PARTICULAR GROUP OR
PROFESSION. WHILE THIS
LANGUAGE IS OFTEN USEFUL OR
NECESSARY FOR THOSE WITHIN
THE GROUP, IT IS USUALLY
MEANINGLESS TO OUTSIDERS.
 HERE ARE A FEW COMMON EXAMPLES OF JARGON:

• AWOL: Short for “absent without leave,”

AWOL is military jargon used to describe a
person whose whereabouts are unknown.
• Hard copy: A common term in business,
academia, and other fields, a “hard copy” is
a physical printout of a document (as
 HERE ARE A FEW COMMON EXAMPLES OF JARGON:

• 10-4: Radio jargon meaning, “Okay” or “I

understand”
• Code Eight: Term that means officer needs
help immediately
• Noun: A common term in Education
(English subject) which refers to a name of
 THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING,AN