English Words
from Latin & Greek
Increase spelling, vocabulary, and
reading comprehension
Susan Ebbers 2005
1
How many words are there in the
English Language?
• The Second Edition of the Oxford English
Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words
in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this
may be added around 9,500 derivative words
included as subentries.
• Over half of these words are nouns, about a
quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the
rest is made up of interjections, conjunctions,
prepositions, suffixes, etc.
Susan Ebbers 2005
2
Yea, yea, so get to the point…
• This suggests that there are, at the very
least, a quarter of a million distinct English
words, excluding inflections, and words
from technical and regional vocabulary.
• If distinct senses were counted, the total
would probably approach….
Susan Ebbers 2005
3
Are you ready for this?
• three quarters of a million
750,000
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Real world demands….
• Only 30% of 4th graders are proficient readers
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP
2007)
• 42 million adults in the US are "functionally
illiterate," meaning that can't read the front page of
the newspaper. (NAEP 2007)
• Lack of vocabulary can be a crucial factor
underlying the school failure of disadvantage
students (Becker, 1977; Bielmiller, 1999).
Susan Ebbers 2005
5
Shrinking personal vocabularies
 The average sixth grade student knows
approximately 25,000 words.
 The average high school graduate knows
approximately 50,000 words.
 This means that average students learn roughly
2000-3,000 words a year (Graves, 2007).
 This translates to 8 words a day, 7 days a week,
52 weeks a year - including weekends or
summers.
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Some specifics on the importance of vocabulary…
• Growing up in poverty can seriously restrict
the vocabulary children learn before beginning
school and make attaining an adequate
vocabulary a very challenging task (Coyne,
Simmons, & Kame'enui, 2004; Hart & Risley, 1995).
• Less advantaged students are likely to have
substantially smaller vocabularies than their
more advantaged classmates (Templin, 1957; White,
Graves, & Slater, 1990).
Susan Ebbers 2005
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It is estimated that by age 3, some less
advantaged students have heard
30 million fewer words than their more
advantaged peers.
It is also estimated these students’
vocabularies may be half the size of those of
their more advantaged counterparts
(Hart and Risely 2003 & Graves, 2007 ).
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Bet cha’ didn’t know…
• In California they determine
how many jail cells they will
build to house future inmates by calculating how many
children are not reading on
grade level by third grade.
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Here is a short cut!
• Half of all “high-frequency words”
every day words,
• and two-thirds of all academic and
technical words are derived from Latin or
Greek.
• So learn the meanings of roots, prefixes,
and suffixes and these basic elements make
it easier to learn new words.
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Basic Terms
root form: a word with no prefix or suffix added; may
also be referred to as a base word inspector, thermal
affix: meaningful part of a word attached before or after
a root or base word to modify its meaning
prefix: an affix which is placed before the stem of a word
re-, un-, dissuffix: an affix which is placed after the stem of a word able, -ive, -ly
derivation-a word formed from an existing word, root, or
affix: electric, electricity
Susan Ebbers 2005
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20 Most Frequent Prefixes in School Texts
1.
unable
2.
review
inedible (impotent, illegal,
irresponsible)
distrust
enlighten
(empower)
nonsense
inside,
implant
overcome
misguided
submarine
prefix
interrupt
forewarn
derail
transfer
supersonic
semicircle
antitrust
midterm
underfed
Analysis: White, Sowell,
Susan Ebbers 2005
and Yanagihara 1989
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Prefixes: Meaning and Connotation
Often Negative
Somewhat Positive
dis-,
de-
non-
sub-
pro-
co-
bene-
in-
un-
mis-
super-
com-
be-
mal-
anti,
contra
a-
en-,
em-
ad-
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Derivational Suffixes
Derivational suffixes change the part of speech
•
•
•
•
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?
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Greek Combining Forms
hydro
graph
geo
pyro
polis
neuro
ortho
scope
photo
therm
crat
psych
chron
phobe
pseud
onym
crypt
helio
logy
sphere
the, theo
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Counting in Greek and Latin
mono
uni
di
bi
du, duo
tri
tetra
quadri
penta
hexa
sept
oct
nove
deca
deci
cent
milli
poly
multi
semi
hemi
Susan Ebbers 2005
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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
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Content-Specific Greek Terms
Anatomy and Medical Terms
esophagus, thyroid, diagnosis, psoriasis, dyslexia
Studies and Sciences
biology, seismology, morphology, geochronometry
Animals and Plants
arachnid, amphibian, chlorophyll, dinosaur, nectar
Theatre and the Arts
charisma, drama, chorus, muse, symphony, acoustics
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Look Inside—Look Outside
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 2005
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So what exactly are we going to do?
• Learn to use context clues effectively
• Study and practice most common root
words
• Study and practice most frequently used
prefixes and suffixes
• Learn to use THEIVES as a reading strategy
to use all the clues in the text to uncover
word meaning.
Susan Ebbers 2005
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So…what do you need?
• A fat stack of notecards
• 15 minutes each day to work on Greek &
Latin roots and SAT vocabulary words
• 15 minutes for AP terms and examples
Susan Ebbers 2005
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