GRADE LEVEL EXPECTATIONS: R1E

Vocabulary Concepts

YOU SHOULD ALWAYS USE A DICTIONARY IF YOU ARE UNSURE HOW TO SPELL A WORD OR IF YOU

ARE UNSURE WHAT THE WORD MEANS.

The Dictionary

Guide Words

Two words usually appear at the top of each dictionary page to help you find the word you are looking up more quickly.

The first word is the first entry on the page and the second word is the last entry on the page.

For example: You are looking up the word “fertility.” You may find this word under the guide words “female” and “festival.”

Alphabetically the word “fertility” comes after “female” and before “festival.”

Base Words

A base word is a word without suffixes.Most dictionaries do not have separate

entries for all the suffixes.For example: You want to look up the word

“perplexing.” You cannot find this exactly as it appears as a separate entry in the dictionary. Instead, you must look up the base word, “perplex.”

Pronunciation Guide

•Pronunciation guides help show you how a word is pronounced out loud by showing you how the letter(s) sound in other familiar words.

•You would look up the word you are looking for and look for the pronunciation symbols. Then, look at the familiar word to see how those letters sound in the unfamiliar word.

Multiple Definitions

Many words have more than one meaning and part of speech. A dictionary will usually number each meaning and part of speech.

For example: The word “remote” has five different definitions and two different parts of speech. (See page 174 in Word Wisdom)

Word Origins

The English language contains many words from other languages.

Many dictionaries show the origin of words (the languages they came from originally.

The origin often appears in brackets at the end of the entry. Abbreviations such as “L” for “Latin,” “Gr” for “Greek,” “ME”

for “Middle English,” and “F” for “French.” For example:

distend v. to swell out because of pressure inside [from ME distend, from L distendere; dis- (out, apart) + tendere, to stretch].

This entry shows that the word distend originally came from Latin. Then, it was used in Middle English. Now it is a part of our language.

THE DIRECT, DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF A WORD

Denotation

Denotation

For example: “home” has the denotation of “a shelter or place of residence.”

A SECOND OR ASSOCIATED MEANING OF A WORD BEYOND THE ACTUAL DICTIONARY DEFINITION

Connotation

Connotation

For Example: “home” may have connotations such as “a place of warmth, comfort, and affection.”

Connotations deal with emotions or associations with a word.

SAME AND OPPOSITES

Synonyms and Antonyms

Synonym

A synonym is a word that means the same as another word For example:

Main Entry: nice Part of Speech: adjective Definition: likable, agreeable Synonyms: admirable, amiable, approved, attractive,

becoming, charming, commendable, considerate, copacetic, cordial, courteous, decorous, delightful, ducky, fair, favorable, fine and dandy, friendly, genial, gentle, good, gracious, helpful, ingratiating, inviting, kind, kindly, lovely, nifty*, obliging, okay*, peachy*, pleasant, pleasurable, polite, prepossessing, seemly, simpatico, superior, swell, unpresumptuous, welcome, well-mannered, winning, winsome

*From www.thesaurus.com

Antonym

An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word.

For example:Main Entry: nice Part of Speech: adjective Definition: likable, agreeable Antonyms: bad, disagreeable, horrible, nasty,

repulsive, unlikable, unpleasant

*From www.thesaurus.com

THE THESAURUS GIVES SYNONYMS FOR WORDS. THE WORDS ARE GROUPED BY MEANING. TO FIND A WORD IN A THESAURUS YOU SHOULD USE THE

INDEX.

Thesaurus

Example Thesaurus Entry

Main Entry: native Part of Speech: adjective Definition: innate, inherent Synonyms: built-in, congenital, connate, connatural,

constitutional, endemic, essential, fundamental, genuine, hereditary, implanted, inborn, inbred, indigenous, ingrained, inherited, instinctive, intrinsic, inveterate, inwrought, natal, natural, original, real, unacquired, wild

*From www.thesaurus.com

PREFIXES, ROOTS, SUFFIXES

Word Parts

Prefixes

A prefix is a letter or letters that are added to the beginning of a word to change the meaning of the word

For example: “pre-” means “before.” if you add it to the word “view” it makes a new word “preview,” which now means to view ahead of time.

Roots

The root is the part of a word that contains the main meaning.

Most roots in the English language come form other, older languages.

For example: “nat” is a root. It comes from the Latin laguage. It means born or natural. One word you see this root in is “native.”

Suffixes

A suffix is a letter or letters added to the end of a word and it changes the word’s meaning.

A suffix will usually change the word’s part of speech.

For example: base word: happy (adj.)suffix: -nessnew word: happiness (n)

AN ANALOGY IS A COMPARISON OF TWO THINGS BY SHOWING RELATIONSHIPS

Analogies

Analogies

dog: cat:: hot:coldExplaination: a dog is the opposite of cat and

hot is the opposite of cold. The two sets of words have the same relationships.

picture: frame::toys:toyboxThink of it like this:

______ is related to ______ in the same way ______ is related to ______.

Or…

Analogies

Picture

Frame

Goes

insid

e

Goes

outs

ide

Goes inside

Goes outside Toys

?

If you think better in mathematical terms, set up an equation like the one below.

Picture

Frame=

Toys

?