Reading

A. Dealing with Difficult Words

Task 1

Discuss:

What do you do when you come across a word that you do not know when you are reading?
Discuss the possible steps you could take to help you understand more of what you are
reading.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

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 Dealing with Difficult Words

When you are looking for meaning, you often get it despite an unfamiliar word. Sometimes,
however, a strange word makes you slow down or even stop because you have lost the author's
meaning. Such a word deserves attention. How much attention it deserves depends mostly on your
reading purpose.
The first step is to note the word mentally, or make a pencil mark in the margin, and read
on. Going on prevents further interruption of the author's thought. It also gives you a chance to
find out whether the rest of the passage makes the meaning clear enough for your purposes. When
reading for pleasure, you can usually learn enough about a word from its context. It is more
important to go on enjoying the book than to find out how the dictionary defines every new word.
The second step is to return to troublesome words after completing a passage, and try to work
out what each one means; the need for this step increases with the amount of comprehension
required. Saying the word aloud may help you to recognise it as one you have heard and then to
recall how it was used. If this fails, you can often make an intelligent guess based on what you
have learned from reading the whole passage; another look at the context may confirm or improve
upon the guess.
A knowledge of common prefixes, roots and suffixes helps too. By analysing the parts of a
word, you can often work out the whole meaning. With practice you can learn to recognise new words
as 'relatives' of familiar ones: e.g. family—familiar and dictionary—dictate—predict— contradict.
When you make a real effort in these various ways to work out the meaning for yourself, you
not only understand the word better, but you remember it better too along with the way it has
been used. Even if you decide to look up the word, the thinking you have done will help you to get
maximum benefit from consulting the dictionary.
The third step, using the dictionary, is important for two kinds of words. The first group
consists of words which must be understood to understand the rest of the passage adequately. Basic
terms in a textbook belong to this group. The second group consists of words you know you have met
before but still do not fully understand. If you come across a word three times, then clearly it is a word
you should master.

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 Your first aim when you have located the word is to find the meaning which fits the context
in which you have met it. You should compare this with your own definition and note the
difference. Having looked up the word, however, you should learn all you can about it. This small
extra effort may save you the trouble of looking it up again, and may yield information which will
help you attack other words.
For example, note other meanings of the word. Check on the pronunciation, for you may
hesitate to use the word if you are unsure of how to say it. If the word has synonyms you know, try to
discover the slight differences in meaning. Note how the word can be changed to form some
other part of speech, e.g. appropriate—appropriately.
Finally, record important words and terms, with sample phrases or sentences using each
one correctly. You can keep a glossary at the back of each subject notebook, or a set of
cards / slips. Use odd moments to test yourself on what you have recorded. Improving your
vocabulary and word attack skills in these ways should bring significant improvement also in
reading speed and comprehension.
From: Floyd, J. (2007). Study Skills for Higher Education: English for Academic Success. Selangor August Publishing

B. Dealing with Difficult Words

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Understanding Prefixes and Suffixes

In the English language, you can change the meaning of some words by adding prefixes (extra
letters at the beginning of words). There are 14 prefixes which are very important. Why are
these 14 prefixes important? According to Richard E. Hodges of the University of Puget Sound
in a booklet titled: "Improving Spelling and Vocabulary in Secondary School" published by the
NCTE in 1982; page 30:

"If you were to examine the 20,000 most used English words, you would find that about 5,000
of them contain prefixes and that 82% (about 4,100) of those words use one of only fourteen
different prefixes out of all the available prefixes in the language." Therefore, understanding
how the prefixes change the meanings of words will help you to be able to work out the
meanings of words with these prefixes.

In this section, you will be gradually introduced to these prefixes, after which you will
practice through a series of quizzes which will help you to apply your knowledge contextually.

Task 2:
Fill in the blanks with the correct meaning of the prefixes.

“over” means ______too “super” means _____more than “multi” means

much_________ usual__________ _____many__________

excited (adj.) – overexcited market (n) – supermarket layered (adj) – multilayered

spend (v.) – overspend natural (adj, n) – supernatural tasking (n) – multitasking
confident (adj.) – overconfident hero (n) – superhero purpose (n) – multi-purpose

“out” means ____over than what
u expect_____________
run (v) – outrun
sell (v) – outsell
grow (v) – outgrow
“non” means ____not________
verbal (adj) – non-verbal
smoking (adj) – non-smoking
returnable (adj)- non-returnable
“in” means
_______not_____________
competent (adj)– incompetent
convenient (adj)– inconvenient
expensive (adj)- inexpensive

“ im” means ____not________ “il” means ____not_________ “ir” means

possible (adj) – impossible
patient (adj) – impatient
perfect (adj)- imperfect
legal (adj) – illegal
legible (adj) – illegible
logical (adj) - illogical
_____not____________
replaceable (adj)– irreplaceable
responsible (adj) – irresponsible
relevant (adj) - irrelivant

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This exercise is based on the nine prefixes of the previous exercise.
For each of the six questions choose the correct words to complete the sentence:

1. She can talk on the phone, type an email and listen to music all at the same time.
She's good at (multitasking / supertasking /out-tasking )

2. He's difficult to work for. He makes loads of silly mistakes and loses his temper
easily. He is (impatient / unpatient ) and (incompetent /imcompetent)

3. The hotel is a long way from the city centre but it's so cheap we think we'll book it. It's
(nonconvenient / inconvenient ) and (inexpensive / outexpensive).

4. I took this toothpaste back to the (multi-market / supermarket) where I bought it but they told me
it
was (non-returnable / irreturnable ) and wouldn't give me my money back.

5. You can't smoke in this building which can be used for business meetings or as a (super-purpose
multi- purpose), (non-smoking / unsmoking) community hall.

6. He says he has (overnatural /supernatural) powers and can talk to ghosts but I think it's (inpossible /
impossible)to communicate with the dead.

Task 3: More Exercises

Fill in the blanks with the correct meaning of the prefixes.

re means _________repeat/again_____
count – recount (v): check the results of a competition or election again
do – redo (v): do something again
sit – resit (v): take an exam again because you failed it the first time you took it

out means ______more than___________

run – outrun (v): run faster that someone or something else
fox – outfox (v): get an advantage over someone by being more clever or more cunning that
him/her
dated – outdated (adj): out-of-date or no longer suitable for modern purposes

mini means ______small_______

series – miniseries (n): series of programmes broadcast over a short period of time
bus – minibus (n): small bus
skirt – miniskirt (n): short skirt

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micro means ____tiny____________
electronics – microelectronics (n): the study, science or manufacture of very small electronic
parts for computers etc.
surgery – microsurgery (n): medical operations that are done using very small pieces of
equipment and powerful microscopes
brewery – micro brewery (n): small independent business that produces small amounts of
special beers

under means __less/not enough______________

paid – underpaid (adj): not getting enough money for the work you are doing
cooked – undercooked (adj): not cooked for long enough
staffed – understaffed (adj): with not enough workers to do a particular job quickly or
efficiently

mal means __wrng,not well treated

treat – maltreat (v): deal with someone in a cruel or bad way
function – malfunction (v): not work properly or not work at all
nourished – malnourished (adj): becoming ill because you have not eaten enough food or the
right food

mis means _wrong

count – miscount (v): wrongly calculate a number
fire – misfire (v): not work properly (about a gun or engine)
fit – misfit (n): a person who doesn't belong in a group because he or she acts differently to
others in the group

Exercise:
This exercise is based on the seven prefixes of the previous exercise.
For each of the six questions choose the correct words to complete the sentence:

1. There are too many of us to fit in the car. I think we're going to have to hire a__________ for
the holiday.
a. minibus
b. microbus
c. underbus
d. misbus

2. A spokesperson says the spacecraft ___________ during its launch yesterday.

a. misfunctioned
b. misfired
c. malfunctioned
d. was malnourished

3. Even though she's ___________ she stays there because she loves the work so much.
a. understaffed
b. underpaid
c. paid under
d. misfired

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4. Waiter! This food is awful. The potatoes are completely ____________ and the steak is cold.
a. misfired
b. maltreated
c. undercooked
d. malnourished

5. I'm glad my doctor is an expert in __________. That means I won't have much of a scar after
my operation.
a. minisurgery
b. microsurgery
c. micro brewing
d. very small microsurgery

6. The election officials said there have been a _____________ and that they will be holding the
_______ later today.
a. undercount / recount
b. miscount / recount
c. miscount / malcount
d. recount / miscount

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C. All in the Family

Words are learnt more easily when they are grouped according to “word families” (semantic
groups). The brain groups seems to group these words according to their relationships within
topical areas. In this activity, we will learn groups of words which are related topically
through a series of quizzes.

Task 1:
Fill in the blanks with words which are related to the theme “Environment”

environmental
relating to the natural world
and the effect humans have
on it
The Environment
the environment environmentally environmentalist
friendly / green person who wants to protect
the natural world, including designed not to damage or the environment from being
the air, water and land in or harm the environment damaged by human
on which people, animals activities
and plants live

1. We need to do more to protect ____the environment________________ from

pollution.
2. Using cars and burning coal are examples of things that may cause -
______environmental____________ problems for all of us in the future.
3. He says using ________environmentally friendly/green________________ washing
powder means that fewer chemicals go into our waterways every year.
4. She's very green, she never drives a car. She bikes everywhere.
5. She's an________________environmentalist_________. She believes that planting
trees will help slow down global warming.

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the greenhouse
effect
an increase in the amount of
carbon dioxide and other
gases in the atmosphere
which the majority of
scientists think causes global
warming
Environment Problems
global warming /
climate change
human-caused increase in the
global temperature. Scientists
prefer to use the term
'climate change' because
some parts of the world may
become colder rather than
warmer
carbon footprint pollution
damage caused to water, air,
an individual's or etc. by harmful substances or
organisation's total output of waste
carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases caused by
their everyday actions

1. She's been on three international flights this year, so she's worried about her carbon
footprint
2. Pollution from cars, factories and planes all contribute to what's known as the
greenhouse effect
3. We need to lower our greenhouse gas emissions so that we can reduce the threat of
global warming/climate change
4. Many of the workers complained that the pollution from the factories was making
them ill.

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recycle
collect and treat rubbish to
produce useful materials
which can be used again
Environment Solutions
conserve energy / organic a bottle bank
electricity / power not using artificial chemicals a large container which
in the growing of plants or people put empty bottles and
keep and protect
raising animals for food and other glass objects into so
something from waste other products that the glass can be used
again

wind farm
a place where wind turbines (tall structures with blades that
are blown round by the wind) are used to produce electricity
from the power of the wind

1. We use the _______bottle bank______________in town to recycle our green, brown

and clear bottles.
2. It's possible to _______recycle_______________plastic drink cups to make pencils.
3. Even though _________organic_____________food is a bit more expensive I think it
tastes so much better because they don't use any chemicals in making it.
4. To______conserve energy/electricity ________________, he turned his central
heating down and wore more clothes instead.
5. Everyone says they think _______wind farm__________ are a good idea but no-one
actually wants them near their house because they make such a racket.

Adapted from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/flatmates/episode182/index.shtml

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