Determining Meaning Using Word Parts Introduction

Welcome to NurseHub’s lesson on Determining Meaning Using Word Parts Introduction Lesson. This lesson serves to give you a quick overview of this concept, with three specific skill lessons that follow. Therefore there will not be a quiz attached to this lesson.

Learning Goals

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

● Identify a root word.

● Identify a prefix and know that it changes the meaning of a root word.

● Identify a suffix and know that it changes the meaning of a root word.

Key Vocabulary

Here are some words you should know that will make this lesson easier:

● Root Word: a basic word with no prefix or suffix added to it

● Affix: an additional element placed at the beginning or end of a root word to change or alter its meaning (prefixes and suffixes)

● Prefix: a word part added before the root word

● Suffix: a word part added after the root word

Key Points

● Always look to see if a word has a prefix or suffix to help determine the meaning of the word.

Why do we need to know this skill?

● This skill helps determine the meaning of a word by understanding the prefix or suffix that is added to the root word.

Focus for the lesson

Words have parts, and understanding those word parts can help us to define words that we may not have memorized.

There are 3 word parts, and they all have different functions.

1. Root Words
2. Prefixes
3. Suffixes

Understanding these parts and how they work can help us to define words we may not know. Roots: The basis of our word study

Roots: The basis of our word study

Roots are a basic word with no prefix or suffix added to it.

Example:

Slide 1: The root that means water is hydr.

Slide 2: By adding the suffix -ate to the root hydr, you get hydrate, meaning to absorb water.

Slide 3: By adding the prefix de- to our root + suffix combo, we get the word dehydrate, meaning unable to or needing to absorb water.We see that root words are the basis of our understanding of new terms, and their meaning can be altered by the addition of the affixes (prefixes and suffixes).

Prefixes: Before Root Words

A prefix is a word part added before the root word.

Example

Slide 1: The prefix pre-, means before.

Slide 2: By placing this prefix before a root word like game, we get the new word pregame, meaning before the game.

Other Common Prefixes

Front: inter- Back: between	Front: sub- Back: below	Front: un- Back: not	Front: re- Back: again
Front: over- Back: too much or more than enough	Front: under- Back: less, lower, not enough	Front: mid- Back: in the middle	Front: non- Back: without

Suffixes: After Root Words

A suffix is a word part added after the root word.

Example:

Slide 1: The suffix -er or -or means someone who.

Slide 2: By placing this suffix after a root word like train, we get the new word trainer, meaning someone who trains others.

Other Common Suffixes

Front: -acy Back: quality, condition, position	Front: -ance Back: action or result of	Front: -ence Back: action or result of	Front: -ism Back: a distinctive belief
Front: -sion Back: action or instance of	Front: -tion Back: action or instance of	Fton: -al Back: of the kind of, pertaining to, character of	Front: -ness Back: state or quality of being

Review

ROOT WORDS	PREFIXES	SUFFIXES
Basic word before prefixes or suffixes are added. This is the starting point for our word study.	An affix added to the beginning of a root word to change or alter meaning.	An affix added to the end of a root word to change or alter meaning.

PREFIXES and SUFFIXES help us to create meaning of words.