Lesson 9: Vocabulary
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Plain and simple, the more words you know, the more words you can gloss over. An extensive vocabulary contributes to faster reading because it cuts out the need to define them while reading. With over 170,000 words in the English language, there’s no time to define words while reading. Yet it’s simply too many to master at the same time. To attack the problem of a small vocabulary, learn common roots, prefixes, and suffixes instead.
Roots are the basic part of a word that carries its meaning. Prefixes and suffixes alter that meaning based on what they imply. As long as you know what basic root words, prefixes, and suffixes mean, you can quickly interpret what an unfamiliar word may mean and thus, increase your reading rate. At the very least, you can decipher cryptic words in the context in which they’re used.
Exercise 9
Let’s put this vocabulary theory to the test. First note the time that it takes to read the following sentences. (Get out that stop watch!)
anti- against
de- opposite
dis-* not, opposite of
en-, em- cause to encode
fore- before
in-, im- in
in-, im-, il-, ir-* not
inter- between
mid- middle
mis- wrongly
non- not
over- over
pre- before
re-* again
semi- half
sub- under
super- above
trans- across
un-* not
under- under
-able, -ible can be done
-al, -ial having characteristics of
-ed* past-tense verb
-en made of
-er comparative
-er, one who
-est comparative
-ful full of
-ic having characteristics of
-ing* present verb form
-ion, -tion, act, process occasion
-ation, ition
-ity, -ty state of infinity
-ive, -ative, -itive adjective form of a noun
-less without
-ly* characteristic of
-ment action or process
-ness state of, condition of
-ous, -eous, -ious possessing qualities of
-s, -es* more than one
