Tag Archives: foreign languages/linguistics

OK, last but not least on this summer afternoon, here is a worksheet on the Greek word root apo–. It means away, from, off, and separate.

I don’t know if I’ve ever used this document in the classroom, which isn’t surprising, since I have hundreds of these worksheets. I tend to use the most productive roots, with words that students must use to navigate the secondary common branch curricula, in my weekly instructional period dedicated to word roots and vocabulary. Still, you’ll find this root at the basis of apogee, apology, apostle, and apostrophe among other relatively high frequency words in English, so it might be worth asking students to take a look at it. I think I would be inclined to modify it into a shorter, simpler pattern recognition exercise. Because this is a Microsoft Word document, you too can manipulate it to your purposes.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots voc and vok. They mean, as you might see or hear, “to call,” “voice.” This is a very productive root in English which you’ll find these roots at the base of words like vocal, advocate, invoke, and, of course, vocabulary. In other words, some high-frequency and relatively high-frequency words in English.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root bio. It means, simply, life.

There is no need to belabor the productivity of this root–it forms the basis of a lot of basic words in English: biography, biology, and biodegradable, to name just three.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root port. It means “to carry.” Accordingly, you’ll find it at the base of frequently used English words like import, export, deport, and transport (which also contains the Latin root trans–across, through, change, beyond) and even comportment, which arises from the verb comport, “to behave in a manner conformable to what is right, proper, or expected.”

As we might put it more figuratively, comportment means how one carries oneself. As I recall, when I was in elementary school in the 1960s, my report card carried a section on comportment.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.