Unlocking Unknown Words
Aligned to L.11-12.4 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
What this lesson teaches
Readers uncover unfamiliar words through context clues, by analyzing roots and affixes, and by consulting references to confirm. Combining these strategies makes vocabulary self-teaching.
Worked examples
Example 1
Meeting 'malfunction,' you split it into 'mal-' (bad) and 'function,' predict 'works badly,' then check a dictionary to confirm.
Example 2
Meeting intractable in a sentence about a dispute, split it: in- (not) plus tract- (to pull or draw, as in tractor) plus -able. Something not able to be pulled — a dispute that will not be moved. The dictionary confirms: difficult to manage or resolve. The morphology gives a prediction precise enough to be worth testing.
Example 3
Common mistake: assuming an English word means what its parts mean in the source language. Nice descends from a Latin word meaning ignorant; awful once meant full of awe. Etymology explains where a word came from, not what it means now, and a reader who argues that decimate must mean reduce by one tenth is describing a word nobody currently uses. Use roots to predict, and current usage to decide.
Practice questions
- Use context to predict an unfamiliar word's meaning.
- Break a word into root and affixes to infer meaning.
- Explain how a reference confirms or corrects your guess.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Descifrar Palabras Desconocidas
Los lectores descubren palabras desconocidas mediante las pistas del contexto, analizando raíces y afijos, y consultando obras de referencia para confirmar. Combinar estas estrategias hace que el vocabulario se enseñe a sí mismo.
Ejemplo 1: Al encontrar 'inaudible', la divides en 'in-' (no), 'audi-' (oír) y '-ble' (que se puede), predices 'que no se puede oír' y lo confirmas en el diccionario.
Ejemplo 2: Al encontrar intratable en una frase sobre una disputa, divídela: in- (no) más trat- (tratar, manejar) más -able. Algo que no se puede tratar — una disputa que no se deja manejar. El diccionario confirma: difícil de manejar o resolver. La morfología da una predicción lo bastante precisa como para valer la pena comprobarla.
Ejemplo 3: Error común: suponer que una palabra significa hoy lo que significaban sus partes en la lengua de origen. Simpático viene de un término griego que significaba padecer con; azafata designaba a una criada de la reina. La etimología explica de dónde viene una palabra, no qué significa ahora, y quien insista en que diezmar debe significar reducir a una décima parte describe un uso que ya nadie emplea. Usa las raíces para predecir y el uso actual para decidir.
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