Instant Word Power- Session 1- Part I
1. Pedal, pedestrian, and pedestal have some relationship to what part of the body?
___________
2. You step on a pedal with your_________ . A pedestrian travels on _________. A
pedestal is the _________ of a column.
3. The syllable –ped in pedestrian, pedestal, and pedal comes from the Latin root -. Pedmeans __________.
4. To drive a car, you press the gas __________ with your foot. To stop a car, you press the
brake _________.
5. A person who walks in the streets is a ______________. A statue rests on a __________.
6. The root ped- means ___________.
7. Human beings are bipeds. A biped has two _________.
8. A squirrel gets around on four feet, an octopus needs eight, a snake manages without any.
But you have two feet—you are a ___________.
9. A biped has _______ feet.
10. The prefix bi- means __________.
11. Bears, buffalo, antelopes, hippopotamuses, giraffes, elephants, and most other mammals
are quadrupeds. A quadruped has four ________________.
12. A cow, squirrel, cat, wolf, rhinoceros, or mongoose is also a _____________
13. Man, a ____________, walks erect. But a _____________ walks with its body more or
less horizontal, on all fours.
14. Biped- two feet; quadruped—four feet. So bi means ___________, quadr means
___________
15. “Twoness” is indicated by the prefix ____________, “fourness” by the prefix ________.
16. A bicycle has ______________ wheels. A bifocal lens has ___________ focuses
(usually one for reading, the other for distance). A bicuspid is a tooth with __________
points. Bimonthly is every _________ months. A bivalve is a clam, oyster, etc. that has
__________ shells hinged together.
17. A quadraphonic system transmits sound (Greek, phone) through {how many?}
____________ loudspeakers? A quadruplet is one of {how many?} offspring of a single
birth. To quadruple something is to multiply it by ____________. A quadrilateral is a
____________-sided figure.
18. A bicycle has __________ wheels; a biscspid has __________ points.
19. So Greek kyklos (which becomes cycle in English) means _____________; Latin cuspis
means _____________: Bi means __________; quadr means___________
20. A quadraphonic system, in etymological terms, has ___________ separate sounds; a
quadrilateral is a geometric figure, such as a square or rectangle, that has ____________
sides.
21. So Greek phone means _____________; the Latin root later- means ___________
22. Therefore, examining the following words etymologically, a telephone transmits
____________ from a distance; a bilateral decision is a _______-sided, or involves two
________s; but anything unilateral involves only ___________ side (Latin unus, one,
plus later-)
Instant Word Power Session 1- Part II
23. The prefix bi- as in biped or bicycle means _____________
24. A biannual publication comes out ___________ a year, say in January and again in July.
25. Authors usually receive semiannual royalty payments from their publishers, i.e.,
payments every six months, or every {use a fraction} _____________ year.
26. Semi- is a prefix meaning {use a fraction}
27. Se semiannual and ____________ have the same meaning; twice a year, or every half
year
28. Biannual, twice a year; seimiannual, every half year. The ann- in both words comes from
the Latin annus, which means _____________.
29. An annual salary is the total paid for the ____________. A plant is called an annual if it
lives only one __________ or season. An annual is also a book or publication or
periodical issued once a __________ and is sometimes called a yearbook.
30. An annuity is a sum of money paid every _________. A.D. is the abbreviation for the
Latin anno domini, in the ___________ of the Lord. 499 A.D., for example, is the 500th
year of the Christian era.
31. Annus means ____________; bi _________; semi-____________; quadr-_________;
32. Latin annus, year, appears in some English words as the syllable enn-. Biennial means
“occurring every _________ years”; quadrennial means “occurring every ________
years.”
33. Biannual means twice a _________; biennial means every __________ years. Biannual
and biennial {do, do not—check one} have the same meaning.
34. The election of a president of the United States is a _____________ event; the election of
representatives however, is a __________ event.
35. If teachers receive an increase in salary every year, we call this an ___________ increase
36. If the increase comes every two years, it is a _____________ increase
37. If a school board, out of its collective mind and casting all financial caution to the winds,
decides to grant an increase every six months, this would be {half-yearly}____________
or {twice-a-year}______________ increase.
38. Some school boards would probably prefer to raise teachers’ salaries every four years—
that is, grant a ______________ increase.
39. Let’s think about flowers for a moment. A marigold blooms for one season and then
dies—it is an annual. But a chrysanthemum blossoms year after year through many
years—it is a perennial, a word built on Latin, per-, through, and annus,
______________.
40. So if something persists through many years or occurs again and again, it is said to be
___________.
41. Starvation has been, and still is, ______________ in much of Africa.
42. Even in the most advanced societies, poverty continues to be a ____________ problem.
43. “You are ______________ angry,” a woman says to her constantly scowling husband.
44. Bi- means _______; quadr-________; semi-__________; per-____________
45. Semiannual, every ______________ months; biannual, twice a __________; biennial,
every _________ years; quadrennial, every ___________ years; triennial, every three
____________.
46. So the prefix tri- means__________, and a tricycle has __________ wheels, a triangle
has ___________ angles, a trifocal lens has ________ separate focuses, and a triplet is
one of __________ infants from a single birth.