Susan Ebbers English Words from Latin and Greek, Increase spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension Adapted from Susan Ebbers

Susan Ebbers Developing content-specific, academic vocabulary depends on a basic understanding of Greek and Latin Sixty percent of the words in English texts are of Latin and Greek origin Bear et al., 1996; Henry, 1997

phobos

phobos Definition: unusual fear Examples: claustrophobia: fear of closed places acrophobia: fear of heights arachnophobia: fear of spiders myctophobia: fear of darkness suriphobia- fear of mice testophobia- fear of taking tests

Susan Ebbers Look Inside—Look Outside —Pull the Word Apart pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis 1.Look inside the word for known word parts: prefixes, roots or combining forms, suffixes. 2.Use the analogy strategy—“I don’t know this word, but I know pneumonia and I know volcano, so by analogy, this word might have something to do with lungs and heat.” 3.Look outside the word at context clues, visuals The coal miners, coughing and wheezing, suffered from pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Susan Ebbers Romance Romance Languages (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, etc.) share the same Latin roots as English does, so don’t be afraid to use your other language skills. Morta: Roman goddess of death Example: The Latin root for the word death is mort. The French spell it morte and the Spanish, muerte. In English, we have a whole network of related words: mortal, immortal, mortality, mortician, mortuary, postmortem, etc. CFU: Can you think of some other English, Spanish and French words that share the same root?

Susan Ebbers Latin: Some Common Roots transportable disruption prescription retractor interception projectile destruction conductor dismissal subversive edict to carry to break to write to pull to take to throw to build to lead to send to turn to speak

Susan Ebbers Basic Terms root form: inspector, thermal base word: unlikely prefix: re-, un-, dis- suffix: -able, -ive, -ly Derivation--a word formed from an existing word, root, or suffix/prefix: electric, electricity

Susan Ebbers Prefixes: Meaning and Connotation Somewhat Positive pro-co-bene- super-com-be- en-, em- ad- Often Negative dis-, de- non-sub- in-un-mis- mal- anti, contra a-

Susan Ebbers Suffixes Are Like Units The letters work as a unit or team to add meaning. words ending with –tion are often nouns words ending with –ive are often adjectives words ending with –ish are often adjectives words ending with –ity are often nouns What about -ment, -ous, -ness?

philia Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia -- city of brotherly love

Philia (“feel-ya”) Definition: love, friendship Examples: Philadelphia, philosopher, Philip, philharmonic, philanthropist

Syn (or sym)

syn Definition: with, together Examples: synonyms: words that go together symphony: sounds that go together synchronize: do things at the same time synagogue: to bring people together for Jewish worship

thesis

Thesis (3 Ps) Definition: put, place, position Examples: thesis: position taken in a persuasive argument parentheses: symbols grouping words placed inside a sentence synthesizer: instrument that puts sounds together

Draw a word tree. Select a root. Grow words. Write the root word on the bottom near the roots of the tree. Write words that contain your root on the branches of the tree. Include definitions. television: box to see distant things telethon: long fundraising event telephone: sound from far away telekinesis: making things move from a distance telescope: device for seeing distant objects

Susan Ebbers Check for Understanding Use one of the following roots to create your own tree: Anim--life Flex--bend Aud--hear Astr--star Cide--kill Struct--build Dem--people

Susan Ebbers Counting in Greek and Latin monounidi bidu, duotri tetraquadripenta hexaseptoct novedecadeci centmillipoly multisemihemi

Susan Ebbers photo graph poly graph mimeo graph phono graph tele graph para graph tele gram mammo gram histo gram ana gram crypto gram mono gram electrocardio gram photo grapher carto grapher geo grapher crypto grapher autobio grapher xylo grapher paleo grapher bio grapher graph ite graph eme graph ologist graph ic graph ically grammar school grammar books rules of grammar gramma tical gramma tically un gramma tical un gramma tically gramma tology graph grammar gram, graph to write, written Greek gram

Susan Ebbers Checks for Understanding Create your own word. Don’t use a real word. Make it up and make it fun based on your knowledge of roots, suffixes and prefixes