Word Roots Tutorial

1. Word Roots Tutorial What everyone should know about word roots

2. Introduction • What are word roots? • How can they help you learn English vocabulary?

3. English has most of its origin in Greek and Latin. Therefore, many English words contain Greek and Latin roots. Learning these roots enables you to easily learn and remember many vocabulary words.

4. Example: Chron is a greek word root that means “time” • Syn is a greek word root that means “same” • So, “synchronous” means happening at the same time. • [syn, same + chron, time + -ous]

5. Now, expand this: • The prefix a- means “not” • Adding this prefix to the word “synchronous” yields “asynchronous” which mean not happening at the same time. • [a-,not + syn,same + chron,time + -ous]

6. Let’s keep going… Anachronism mean something that is out of it’s place in time. • [ana-,back + chron, time + -ism] • We can keep chaining these words together into an endless list of words, all of which can be easily learned and remembered using the roots to unlock their meaning.

7. SAT test • Students who have taken this etymology course have reported an average increase in SAT scores of over 100points. • The alternative: memorize lists of vocabulary words and hope some of them are on the SAT that you take. Princeton Review can tell you what words were on previous SATs, but they can’t tell you what is going to be on YOUR SAT.

8. What This Means… Every student needs to know word roots. Throughout your life, you will see the Greek and Latin word roots that you learn in this course over and over again. They will be ubiquitous. They will be in biology, computer science, medicine, sports, and in common everyday speech and writing.

9. CONCLUSION!! • REMEMBER, an impressive vocabulary will strengthen your self-confidence and give you a distinct advantage in an increasingly competitive world. The vocabulary you learn in this course and beyond will improve the quality of your life as it opens new doors and prepares you for future opportunities.