LET Review on Vocabulary 

(Credit to the true owner)

 

1. Structural Analysis.  Words are made up of the smallest meaningful units called morphemes.  The visual scrutiny of unfamiliar words to identify morphemes is called structural analysis.  Knowing the roots, prefixes, and suffixes of words helps reveal the meaning of the total word form.

a) Root words are words from which other words are formed by adding a beginning part (prefix) or an ending part (suffix)

active (move) porter (carry) contradiction (to speak)

b) Prefixes are word parts added to the beginning of a word

benevolent (good) decline (from) nonsense (not)

c) Suffixes are syllables added at the end of a word to form a new word with a different meaning

Biology (study of) homeless (without) scientist (one who does)

 

 

1. Word Formation.  Words undergo changes.  The following are five processes of word formation:

a) Clipping means to cut off the beginning or the end of the word.  It may mean cutting from both ends, leaving a part to stand for the whole.

phone photo psycho trigo chem.

b) Blending is formed by fusing or putting two words together.  Usually the first part of one word is blended or fused with the last part of another.  The blended word then gets its meaning from the two words put together.

Eurasian Philhealth cosmonaut smog telecast

c) Compounding uses two or three words put together to make a full form.  Most often the meaning of the word is different from its parts.  Sometimes it is the meaning of the two words put together.

tightwad blackout first aid runner-up trigger-happy

d) Acronymy is the use of initial letter or syllables of several words in succession.

PPSTA UNESCO AWOL scuba radar

e) Folk or Popular Etymology results from changing a word in part or in whole to make it more like a familiar word.

belfry isle bachelor barbeque caesarian

 

 

 

 

2. Context Clues.  The meaning of a word may be determined by its environment – the words that surround it, either coming before or after it in the sentence of in the paragraph.

a) Definition is considered the simplest and most obvious way by which the meaning of a word is revealed.  The be verb is used to equate the term to be defined to the familiar word in the sentence.

Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders.

b) Restatement  may be in the form of synonyms, examples, elaboration by the use of modifiers, and pairing closely related words.  It is usually introduced by signal words: that is, for example, such as, like, in the way, that, in other words, what this means, etc.  It may also be signaled by the dash and the parentheses.

He was a true peripatetic, like the walking philosophers who followed Aristotle and the wandering Jews of Israel.

c) Synonym is a word that means essentially the same thing as another word.  It is usually preceded by the function word or.  Sometimes the synonym may be found in another sentence within the paragraph.

God is omniscient, or all-knowing.

d) Antonym is the opposite or contrasting word that may serve as a clue to the unfamiliar word.

Julia’s remarks are generally not nebulous, but clear.

e) Inference requires reading between lines to see connections and relationships not explicitly stated in a particular passage.

The practicing physician as a rule is completely unskilled in obstetrics.  His preliminary training contains little or nothing concerning the details of pregnancy and childbirth.

f) Homophones & Words with Multiple Meanings indicate several meanings that a word has in English.

Susan bought a bar of soap.

The soldiers tried to bar the enemies.

The brilliant student passed the bar examination.

g) Words of Various Disciplines are the basic meaning of specialized vocabulary in a particular subject area.

The capital of the Philippines is Metro Manila. (Social Science)

His capital for the new business is one million pesos. (Math)

h) Multiple Context make the meaning of unfamiliar words clearer and easily understood.

Butterflies fly from flower to flower.

How high did the boy fly his kite?

Airplanes fly regularly from Manila to Hongkong.

 

3. Idioms.  An idiom is an expression peculiar to a language.  It usually has several associated meanings which are not readily understandable from its grammatical construction and cannot be derived from the meaning of its separate elements.

· cross to bear  – endure a kind of burden

· close-fisted – a miser

· cold-reception – unfriendly

· broad daylight – open, full daylight

· blackmail – money extorted by threat of intimidation

· Argus-eyed – jealously watchful

· what not  -etcetera

· blue-blood – noble blood

· chicken-hearted – a timid, cowardly fellow

· absent-minded – to be inattentive of what is going on

· fair weather friend – a friend who deserts you in time of difficulties

· henpecked husband – a submissive husband

· laughing stock – object of ridicule

· greenhorn – an inexperienced person

· by heart  – from memory

· burn the midnight oil – study or work far into the night

· bundle from heaven – new-born baby

· belle of the ball – most popular girl

· blanket authority – complete right or privilege

· behind the times – unprogressive

· came to terms – deal with misunderstanding

4. Figures of Speech.  These forms of expressions are used to convey meaning or heighten effect, often by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has meaning or connotation familiar to the reader or listener.

a) Simile – a comparison between two unlike objects by using like or as

His mind is like a sponge.

b) Metaphor – an indirect comparison of unlike objects

She is a phantom of delight

c) Personification – the giving of human characteristics & capabilities to nonhuman things such as inanimate objects, abstract ideas, or animals

The clouds cried a torrent of tears.

d) Apostrophe – an address to the absent as if present or to the inanimate as if human

“O wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?”

e) Hyperbole – the use of excessive exaggeration for effect

Waves mountain high broke over the reef.

f) Oxymoron – the combining of contraries to portray a particular image or to produce a striking effect

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

g) Paradox – uses a phrase or statement that on surface seems contradictory, but makes some kind of emotional sense

Let us go to war for peace.

h) Metonymy – substitutes a word that closely relates to a person or thing

Have you no respect for gray hairs?

i) Synecdoche – uses a part to represent the whole

No busy hand provoke a tear/No roving foot shall crush thee here

j) Litotes – makes a deliberate understatement used to affirm by negating its opposite

Regine Velasquez is not a bad singer.

k) Irony – the opposite of what is expected is what happens

To cry like a baby, that’s a fine way for a man to act.

l) Allusion – refers to a literary, biblical, historical, mythological, scientific event, character, or place

Beware of the kiss of Judas!

m) Antithesis – a contrast of words or ideas

She looks like an innocent flower but watch out for the serpent under it

 

5. Rhetorical Devices.  These are sound devices used to convey meaning through rhyme and rhythm.

a) Onomatopoeia – uses a word having a sound that imitates what it denotes

hiss, bang, buzz, hush , swoosh

b) Alliteration – involves the repetition of initial consonant sounds

wicked and wan, threatening throngs

c) Assonance – uses repetition of vowels without repetition of consonants, also called a vowel rhyme

alone, alone, all, all, alone

d) Consonance – repeats the final consonant sounds, also called a slant rhyme

dreary and weary; odds and ends

e) Rhyme – employs identical sounds from the vowel of the accented syllables to the end

hold, told, mold, gold; die, sky, my, fly, pie

f) Anaphora – repeats a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive clauses or verses

Cannons to the right of them/Cannons to the left of them