BUILDING BLOCKS

Book 1

Word Building

Get Higher Scores on Exams! Improve your English! Learn English Easier! Learn English Faster! BY Thomas A. Dyer

INTRODUCTION Do you get frustrated because you dont know a word? Do you hate stopping every few words to look in a dictionary? Do you want to get higher marks on your CET-4/CET-6, IELTS, TOFEL English tests? Do you just want to improve you English.

Vocabulary is the Key!

Did you know that Scientists, Doctors, and lawyers in America had to learn the Latin and Greek languages? That is because much English comes from these languages and these are the bricks and mortar that built the language allows it to change quickly as science and technology move forward. Culture changes cause changes in the language also. New words created, old words discarded.

So, how can you as an English learner keep up? TWO WORDS!

WORD BUILDING The secret of learning new words and the meaning of words youve never seen before. WORD BUILDING is The forgotten method of learning English. In American schools, teachers taught Word Building. In the early 1960s the practice of intensive word learning stopped in favor of the current whole word method used today. Most teachers today do not even know that it existed. This is one reason why American students English scores began to decline in the early 1960s. In the year 2000, many teachers frustrated at the lack of English proficiency began to revive the Word Building methods.

Word Building Why do we want to build words? We could just memorize words. However, the English language has over 2 million words. So, would take a long time Nevertheless, what if we could look a word and the word would tell us what it means. Would that be a valuable skill? Would you like this skill? Would you get higher scores on your tests? That is the reason for this book Inside this book are just the facts, the INFORMATION you need to look at a word and know what means. An English word can have 3 parts.

Root Prefix Suffix Prefixes and Suffixes are called affixes (parts attached to words) Chinese words modify their character and use an initial followed by a final. In English however we add more characters to change the meaning of the word.

However, it does follow a system

All words have a root that is the base meaning of the word It can also have a prefix, which is added to the front of the word It could also have a suffix, which is added to the end of the word Or it could have all three and it could have more than one prefix and more than one suffix. Affixes can be used to build over 2,000,000 words. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK. IT is not a dictionary. (You should have one when using this book.) It is in 3 parts. Part 1 is Roots. Part 2 is Prefixes Part 3 is Suffixes

Together prefixes/suffixes are called Affixes

When looking at a new/unknown word you should look at its parts. Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes. Write down under the word the meanings you find. Try to discovery the meaning by doing this first. Then check yourself against the dictionary. After a short time, you will get confidence and not need the dictionary any more. This is a useful skill to have when taking tests (CET-4/CET-6) or when reading books. This is Book 1 of a series of 4 small books. Each book is designed to show a building block of English. Book 2 Perfect Pronunciation Book 3 Context is the KEY Book 4 Can you Remember it?

PART 1 The Roots Roots are the primary meaning of a word. They may stand-alone. They also may have attached a combination of prefixes and suffixes to modify the base meaning of the word. Think of a word as made up of bricks just like a house. Another example would be a train with the engine, cars, and caboose c representing the prefix, root, and, suffix. The layout of this book is for quick reference:

ROOT

ROOT

ROOT

ROOT

ROOT

ROOT

ROOT

ROOT

VICIS

Part 2 The Prefixes The prefix goes to the left of the root and it changes the base meaning of the word.

Part 3 The Suffix The Suffix goes to the right of the root and it modifies the meaning of the word.

technician

ENGLISH IS LIKE A TRAIN