Efficient reading requires the use of various problem-solving skills. Upon encountering an unfamiliar vocabulary item in a passage readers can use several strategies to determine the message of the author. For example, it is impossible for you to know the exact meaning of every word you read, but by using word analysis (knowledge of the meaning of word parts) and developing your guessing ability (using context clues), you will often be able to understand enough to arrive at the total meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or essay.
Prefixes and Suffixes
A suffix is added to the end of a word, to make it into an adjective, noun or verb.
Exercise 1. Make adjectives from these verbs and nouns by using the suffixes -able, -al, -ful, -ic,
-ish, -ive, -less, -ous, -proof, -some, -ly and -y. Make any necessary spelling changes.
Fog, help, destroy, befriend, hate, child, tragedy, fire, humour, magic, home, wash, nostalgia, quarrel, grace, hope, imagination, rely, drama, reality.
Exercise 2. Make nouns from these verbs and adjectives by using the suffixes -al, -ance, -ence, -ety, -hood, -ion, -ity, -ment, -ness, -our, -ure and -y. Make any necessary spelling changes.
Depart, entertain, betray, pious, behave, attract, arrive, emancipate, dark, patient, satisfy, rude, please, maintain, advertise, theoretical, deliver, widow, available, tolerant.
Exercise 3. Make verbs from these adjectives and nouns by using the suffixes -en, -ify and -ize.
Horror, wide, straight, real, category, long, high, intense, ideal, short, critical, red, peace, false, computer.
A prefix is added to the beginning of a word. The most common use for a prefix is to make an adjective, adverb or verb negative, or to give it the opposite meaning.
Exercise 4. Form the opposite of these adjectives by adding the correct prefix. Choose from un-, im-, il-, in-, ir-, dis-, non-.
Attainable, existent, legitimate, resistible, accessible, prepared, aware, expensive, conscious, tolerant, likely, probable, satisfied, patient, complicated, able, capable, enthusiastic, legible, rational, perfect, resident
Exercise 5. Form the opposite of these words by adding the correct prefix. Choose from anti-, un-, dis-, mis-, de-.
Do, approve, clockwise, understand, used, briefing, cast, wrap, embark, centralize, climax, prove,
classify, incentive, confirmed, mount, damaged, common, employment, personalize, fire (v.), cyclone.
Exercise 6. Match the prefixes counter-, over- and co- with these words.
Worker, balance, pilot, claim, author, priced, attack, estimate, react, director, operate, anxious, espionage, board, simplify, educational, due, dose.
Exercise 7. Match the prefixes re-, out-, ex- andunder- with these words.
Pouring, wife, last, vote, direct, cooked, organize, boyfriend, elect, mine, size, distribute, exposure, stay, claim, unite, assure, clothes, achiever, integrate.
Exercise 8. Match the prefixes a-, hyper-, mal-, mono- and neo- with these words.
Active, moral, nutrition, Nazi, formation, political, sensitive, syllable, classical, critical, function, symmetrical, adjusted, market, tone.
Context Clues
Exercise 1. Read each sentence quickly and supply a word for each blank. There is no single correct answer. You are to use context clues to help you provide a word that is appropriate in terms of grammar and meaning.
1. I removed the _____ from the shelf and began to read.
2. Harvey is a thief; he would ______ the gold from his grandmother's teeth and not feel guilty.
3. Our uncle was a _____, an incurable wanderer who never could stay in one place.
4. Unlike his brother, who is truly a handsome person, Hogartty is quite _____.
5. The Asian _____, like other apes, is specially adapted for life in trees.
6. But surely everyone knows that if you step on an egg, it win _____.
7. Tom got a new _____ for his birthday. It is a sports model, red, with white interior and bucket seats.
Exercise 2. Guess the meaning of unfamiliar words using context clues. Read each sentence carefully, and think of a definition, synonym, or description of the italicized word.
1. We watched as the cat came quietly through the grass toward the bird. When it was just a few feet from the victim, it gathered its legs under itself, and pounced.
2. Some people have no difficulty making the necessary changes in their way of life when they move to a foreign country; others are not able to adapt as easily to a new environment.
3. In spite of the fact that the beautiful egret is in danger of dying out completely, many clothing manufacturers still offer handsome prices for their long, elegant tail feathers, which are used as decorations on ladies' hats.
4. When he learned that the club was planning to admit women, the colonel began to inveigh against all forms of liberalism; his shouting attack began with universal voting and ended with a protest against divorce.
5. The snake slithered through the grass.
6. The man thought that the children were defenseless, so he walked boldly up to the oldest and demanded money. Imagine his surprise when they began to pelt him with rocks.
7. Experts in kinesics, in their study of body motion as related to speech, hope to discover new methods of communication.
8. Unlike her gregarious sister, Jane is a shy, unsociable person who does not like to go to parties or to make new friends.
9. After a day of hunting, Harold is ravenous. Yesterday, for example, he ate two
bowls of soup, salad, a large chicken, and a piece of chocolate cake before
he was finally satisfied.
10. After the accident, the ship went down so fast that we weren't able to
salvage any of our personal belongings.
Exercise 3. Follow instructions in exercise 2.
1. As he reached for the rock above him, his rope broke and he hung precariously by one hand as the rescuers ran toward him.
2. The tired soldiers trudged through knee-deep mud for hours before they found a dry place to sleep.
3. In the past, the world seemed to run in an orderly way. Now, however, everything seems to be in a state of turmoil.
4. Monkeys are well known for their grooming habits; they spend hours carefully cleaning bits of dirt and straw from their coats.
5. Matrimony doesn't seem to agree with Liz -- she's been unhappy ever since she got married.
6. Using a long, slender instrument called a probe, doctors are able to locate and remove pieces of metal from a patient's wounds.
7. The following Monday, when the president convened the second meeting of the committee, we all sat down quietly and waited for him to begin.
8. We think of plants in general as absorbing water and food; of animals as ingesting or ``eating it.''
9. Robben is considered an autocratic administrator because he makes decisions without seeking the opinions of others.
10. There is an element of word magic here: entomology and limnology sound more important than merely insect biology and fresh water biology.