WORD STUDY: Stem and Affixes
Using context clues is one way to discover the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Another way is word analysis that is, looking at the meanings of parts of words. Many English words have been formed by combing parts of older English, Greek, and Latin words. If you know the meanings of some of these word parts, you can often guess the meaning of an unfamiliar English word.
    For example, report is formed from re, which means back, and port which means carry. Scientist is derived from sci, which means know, and ist, which means one who. Port and sci are called affixes, that is, word parts which are attached to stems. Affixes like re, which are attached to the beginning of stems are called prefixes. Affixes attached to the end, like list, are called suffixes. Generally, prefixes change the meaning of a word and suffixes change its part of speech. Here is an example:
      Stem          pay (verb)      honest(adjective)
      Prefix        repay (verb)      dishonest(adjective)
      Suffix      repayment (noun)  dishonestly(adverb)
    Word analysis is not always enough to give you the precise definition of a word you encounter in a reading passage, but often it will help you to understand the general meaning of the word so that you can continue reading without stopping to use a dictionary.
    Below is a list of some commonly occurring stems and affixes. Study their meanings. Your teacher may ask you to give examples of words you know which are derived from these stems and affixes. Then do the exercises which follow. Some questions require the use of a dictionary.
Prefix:
com-, con-, col-, cor-, co-      together, with
            in-, im-        in, into, on
        in-, im-, il-, ir-      not
                  micro-        small
                    pre-        before
                re-, retro-        backward, back, behind
unfamiliarStems:
            -audi-, -audit-      hear
                -chron-        time
            -dic-, -dict-        say, speak
          -graph-, -gram-        write, writing
          -log-, -ology-          speech, word, study
        -metr-, -meter-          measure
              -phon-            sound
              -scop-            see, look at
              -scope-            instrument for seeing or
        -scrib-, -script-              observing
              -spect-              write, look at
Exercise 2
Following is a list of words containing some of the stems and affixes introduced in this unit. Definitions of these words appear on the right. These words are probably unfamiliar to you. It is not the purpose of this exercise to teach you the definition of all these words. Instead, the exercise is designed to serve as a review of the stems and affixes defined in this section and as a way for you to practice using the technique of words analysis to guess the meanings of familiar words.
Put the letter of the appropriate definition next to each word.
1.___microscope  a. the science of hearing
2.___audition    b. an instrument used to make small objects large enough to see and study
3.___phonoscope  c. the act or sense of hearing
4.___audiometer  d. an instrument which tests the quality of strings for musical instruments
5.___audiology    e. an instrument for measuring hearing
Stop. Check your answers before going on to the next part.
6.___gramophone  a. an instrument for doing extremely small writing
7.___chronometer  b. an instrument used to make small distances
8.___micrometer    c. the science of dating events accurately and arranging them in order of occurrence
9.___micrograph    d. phonograph; an instrument that records or produces sound
10___chronology    e. an instrument for meaning time very accurately
11.___chronoscope  a. the sign or symbol representing a sound or word
12.___phonogram    b. an instrument to measure small periods of time
13.___microphone    c. the study of speech sounds
14.___phonology    d. the study of unimportant matters
15____micrology    e. an instrument used to make weak sounds louder
16.___audiphone  a. a graph showing the percentage of hearing loss in a particular ear

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