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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 10 of 20

Roots & Word Parts

Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes

What your child practices

Children work out the meaning and spelling of new words from their roots, prefixes and suffixes, and meet figures of speech.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 7L4; 7L6 · Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Roots carry meaning: tele (far), therm (heat), graph (write), bio (life).
  2. Prefixes change meaning: mis- (wrongly), re- (again), un- (not). Suffixes change the word’s job.
  3. Idioms are figures of speech that don’t mean exactly what they say.

Example: The prefix mis- means “wrongly.” What does misspell mean? Take the base word: spell. Add the meaning of mis-. Answer: spell wrongly

Roots & Word Parts in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 10 of 20 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Whose Story? and before Research Skills.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    The root dict means “say”. What does predict mean?

    • say nothing
    • say it loudly
    • say it again
    • say what will happen before it happens

  2. Question 2

    The prefix mis- means “wrongly”. What does misspell mean?

    • spell again
    • spell quickly
    • spell aloud
    • spell wrongly

  3. Question 3

    Aqua means “water”. An aquarium is a place for…

    • storing books
    • keeping water animals and plants
    • growing wheat
    • parking cars

  4. Question 4

    The prefix sub- means “under”. A submarine travels…

    • above the clouds
    • beside the sea
    • under the sea
    • over the sea

  5. Question 5

    “The wind whispered through the trees.” What figure of speech is this?

    • hyperbole
    • personification
    • alliteration
    • idiom

  6. Question 6

    The root secede combines se- (apart) and cede (go). What does it mean?

    • to join a group
    • to withdraw from a group
    • to lead a group
    • to follow a group

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