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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.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 9.1.8.2 · word origins and domain-specific vocabulary

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 Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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 scarce. “Fresh water was scarce in the dry valley.”

    • hard to find
    • everywhere
    • unsafe
    • cold

  2. Question 2

    What does the prefix anti- mean in antifreeze?

    • against
    • under
    • before
    • with

  3. Question 3

    What does the base scrib or script mean in describe and manuscript?

    • look
    • hear
    • write
    • carry

  4. Question 4

    What does the base port mean in transport and export?

    • see
    • say
    • write
    • carry

  5. Question 5

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

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

  6. Question 6

    Choose the best meaning of candid. “Her candid answer surprised us, because she told us exactly what she thought.”

    • honest and open
    • polite but false
    • rude and loud
    • secretive

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