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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 4 of 12

Word Detective

Roots, prefixes and meaning in context

What your child practices

Using prefixes, suffixes and Latin and Greek bases to work out new words, choosing a meaning from the sentence around a word, and subject words like product, mass and scale.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 9-10.L.4 · roots, prefixes and meaning in context

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Break a word into parts: un- + break + -able = not able to be broken.
  2. Greek and Latin bases help: tele (far), bio (life), graph (write).
  3. Use the sentence to choose a meaning. Subject words like product, mass and scale have special meanings.

Example: “She was meticulous, checking every figure twice.” What does meticulous mean? The clue: she checks every figure twice. That shows great care with details. Answer: very careful about details

Word Detective in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 4 of 12 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Grammar & Style and before Literary Devices.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Choose the best meaning of reluctant. “He was reluctant to jump, and kept stepping back from the edge.”

    • tired
    • eager
    • unwilling
    • skillful

  2. Question 2

    What does the prefix anti- mean in antifreeze?

    • before
    • under
    • with
    • against

  3. Question 3

    Choose the best meaning of resilient. “The resilient team bounced back after losing three games in a row.”

    • poorly organized
    • very competitive
    • easily upset
    • able to recover from difficulty

  4. Question 4

    What does the prefix tele- mean in telescope?

    • under
    • again
    • small
    • far

  5. Question 5

    What does unbreakable mean? (un- + break + -able)

    • someone who breaks
    • full of breaks
    • able to be broken again
    • not able to be broken

  6. Question 6

    What does the prefix inter- mean in international?

    • without
    • against
    • inside only
    • between

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