GROUNDWORK FOR
COLLEGE READING
WITH PHONICS
Fourth Edition
John Langan
© 2008 Townsend Press
Part I, Chapter Four:
Phonics IV: Word Parts
THIS CHAPTER IN A NUTSHELL
• This chapter will help you learn 30 common
word parts that are used in many words.
• Prefixes appear at the beginning of words;
roots appear anywhere in a word; and
suffixes appear at the end of words.
WORD PARTS
There are three types of word parts:
1 Prefixes
2 Suffixes
3 Roots
WORD PARTS
• Learning word parts will help your
pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary.
• Also, because word parts have meanings,
knowing them can help you figure out the
meaning of a word you don’t know.
PREFIXES
A prefix is a word part that is added to the
beginning of a word.
• The prefix un means “not.”
• When un is added to known, a word with the
opposite meaning is formed: unknown.
PREFIXES
Ten common prefixes and their meanings:
Prefix
Examples
ex—out, from
in (im)—within, into; not
pre—before
post—after
sub—below, under
super—over, above; beyond
mis—badly; wrong
mono—one
un—not
re—again, back
exit
inside, improbable
prepare
postgraduate
submarine
superior
mislead, misunderstand
monotony
unwanted
rewrite, respond
SUFFIXES
A suffix is a word part that is added to the end
of a word.
• The suffix less means “without.”
• When less is added to life, we get a word with the
opposite meaning: lifeless.
SUFFIXES
Ten common suffixes and their meanings:
Suffix
able (ible)—able to be
ion (tion)—state of being; act of
er (or)—a person who does something
ist—a person skilled at something
ful—full of
less—without
ism—a practice; belief; set of principles
ment—state of being
ish—similar to
ly—in a certain way; at a certain time
Examples
enjoyable, edible
limitation, celebration
dancer, mayor
artist, therapist
joyful, suspenseful
homeless
terrorism, communism
engagement
foolish
loudly, hourly
ROOTS
A root is a word’s basic part and carries its
fundamental meaning.
• The word telegraph, for example, is made up of two
roots:
tele (which means “from a distance”) and
graph (which means “write”).
ROOTS
Ten common roots and their meanings:
Root
Examples
bene (bon)—good, well
port—carry
bio—life
ven (vent)—come
man (manu)—hand
ped (pod)—foot
auto—self
tele—far, over a distance
spect—look
aud (audi, audit)—hear
benediction, bonus
transport
biology
revenue, invent
manage, manufacture
pedestal, tripod
automatic
telescope
inspect
audience, auditorium
CHAPTER REVIEW
In this chapter, you learned the following:
• Learning common word parts will help your pronunciation, spelling,
and vocabulary.
• There are three types of word parts:
— Prefixes appear at the beginning of a word: unknown, misfortune
— Suffixes appear at the end of a word: lifeless, sadly
— Roots can appear anywhere in a word: predict, audible, revenue