CRCB CHAPTER2

Developing your college vocabulary

Under standing new vocabulary

Type of context clues

1 Definition: brief explanations of what a word means.

Ex: a homestead is the home and adjoining land occupied by a family

2 Example: items of information that illustrate what a word means.

Ex: in other words, a witness can lose all credibility after being caught in a lie.

3 Punctuation: used to set a word off from the rest of a sentence

Ex: a mala, Buddhist prayer beads, are used for meditating
Many people in the united states refer to them as power beads.

4 personal experience, opinion and knowledge: authors often provide their readers with personal or additional information to enhance the point they are making and help define difficult works and concepts.

Ex: I never met a more apathetic group of revolutionaries; they were completely indifferent and unresponsive to the suffering of those for whom they fought


Word part analysis

1.Root: It is as fundamental to a word’s meaning as a root is to a plant
Understanding the root of a word is key to understanding the word

2.Prefixes: Attaching a prefix to the front of a word changes its meaning
Different prefixes will change the meaning in different ways, as
demonstrated when the prefixes a, bi, homo and hetero are
attached to the word sexual.

1]sexsual: intimate: having or involving sex

2]asxual: not intimate; not having or involving sex.

3]bisexual: intimate with both (two) sexes.

4]homosexual: intimate with the same sex.

5]heterosexual: intimate with the opposite different) sex


3.Suffixes

Suffixes are word parts that are added to the end of a word. They consist of one or more letters and usually don’t change the meaning of a word as much as prefixes do, although they can change a word to the present, past, or future tense.
Ex] play, played, be playing
Suffixes can also change the way a word can be used
Ex] manage+able= manageable


4.Specialized vocabulary

Every subject you study requires you to learn a lot of specialized vocabulary.
Most of the words you will need to know for a specific discipline will be presented during your introductory courses


Remembering New Vocabulary

1.Word map: A word map is a picture that illustrates the various steps you
should take in order to learn a new word.
The goal of creating and reviewing word maps is to be able to
recognize new words when you see them in print, and to use the
them when you speak and write.

2.The card review system: the card review system is a useful strategy for
Learning both general and specialized vocavulary





Denotation and Conotation

Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word.

Connotation: the dictionary definition plus any ideas suggested by, or
Associated with, that word.

It is important to recognize the distinction between a word’s denotation and
connotation. The key differences between denotation and connotation relate to content and emotional tone.
The denotation of a word is narrower in scope and often carries less emotional weight.
Connotation, on the other hand, provide a subtle additive to the meaning of words, giving them greater depth and emotional substance.