Reading Growth: Understanding Word Meanings (1968)

oh uh pardon me young man am I right you're the one with the interesting hobby yes I'm the one you're a fatalist right no I'm not a stamp collector then you're a numismatist no I don't collect coins either but you do collect things seashells rocks marbles no words words of course would you bring out your word collection please I already have it with me up here where do you get your words from Reading oh yes now I remember you're done the good reader well that's what some people call me isn't your hobby one of the reasons you're such a good reader I guess that's right in fact isn't it also true that being interested in word meanings can help anyone grow in his reading ability well I mean look at writers good writers use great care in choosing just the right words to say exactly what they mean the reader has to know the correct meanings of the words to understand the writer so I think most writers would agree that a good reader has to be interested in working meanings right right so I would say that everyone to some degree can grow in his reading ability by improving his understanding of word meanings wouldn't you I suppose you're right at least it works for me would you show us one of the words in your collection well how about this one oh that's a good one twinite how would you use it our team won both games of a twinite double header that's a rather new word you know yes I know formed from the two words Twilight and night twinite the word was invented to describe a basic ball double header one game played after the other beginning in later afternoon and continuing under lights through Twilight and then into the [Applause] night it's fun to watch for new words yes it is because our language is a living thing when there's a need for a new word we make one up when began exploring space we needed a name for the Space Explorers we called them astronauts a new kind of undersea explorers needed a name too aquanuts a new kind of breathing equipment made underwater exploration easier it was a selfcontained underwater breathing apparatus this description gave us the name for the equipment scuba but even though words like scuba and aquanuts and astronauts and twinite are fascinating to collect what about the everyday sort of words that help you with your reading oh I've got lots of them here's one sound do you mean sound as in the sound of a [Music] bell a sound body where sound means well or healthy no I mean sound as in off the bank and into the sound I fell you mean the sort of thing that could happen in Puget Sound to people from Seattle Washington that's right you see I'm not from Seattle so you didn't know a sound could be an arm or extension of the sea Inland how did you find out from the words around it the context the words tell about Puget Sound which is a narrow arm or Inlet of the Pacific Ocean that phrase does Define sound you see that was very good thank you but the clues aren't always so easy to find for example for example this word epidemic you usually think of it's being used like this I know but I saw it used like this what did you think something like [Music] this yes it first but that didn't really make sense the sentence that followed helped explain the word yes the context helps you know that here epidemic means just widespread and it could apply to anything not just an illness right and from then on you knew there was more than one meaning for the word epidemic I did learning new meanings of familiar words is one part of reading growth have you ever learned the meaning of a word by phonetic analysis and cocation you mean by sounding Out the syllables sure here's one very good did you mentally break the new word into syllables then try to sound them out yes something like this press that didn't make sense so you tried other pronunciations precipitation I shifted things low precipitation and then the flash came precipitation precipitation and you knew the word when you heard it didn't you right rain is a kind of precipitation I just didn't recognize the word when I saw it but I did after that may I test your skill in sounding out some words well all right go ahead how about this one well PQ liar no h peul that's it peculiar I know that word it means strange or odd like the woman tried on a peculiar hat and the next time you see the word you'll recognize it won't you that sounds peculiar I recognized it kangaroos are peculiar to Australia wait a minute that doesn't make sense unless unless peculiar has another meaning here it does but that's something for you to look up later now you've shown us how you use phonetic analysis do you ever use structural analysis to find the meaning of a word you mean look at the parts of a word sure look at this word pre-arrangement use it in a sentence they meant as if by pre-arrangement first time I saw that word I knew what it meant even though I hadn't seen or heard it before you saw the parts of the word didn't you right you found the main part of the word the root all words have them and you knew what it means to arrange a meeting right now you notice the parts that were added to arrange before the word the prefix prefix means place before and the part after the word the suffix suffix means placed after and each was a prefix and suffix that you knew right of course a range has a prefix too but I don't think it changes the meaning of range which means to rank or put in order does it no it doesn't that's right so let's go on you thought the parts of the word through like this the suffix meant means the result of doing what the root means so in this case Arrangement means the result of arranging and I already knew that word anyway you added the prefix pre which means before and the meaning changed it sure did the prefix makes the word mean the result of arranging before so if two boys meet as if by the result of arranging the meeting before they meet as if by pre-arrangement pre-arrangement as if they had arranged it in advance that's a good example do you know many prefixes and suffixes I guess so then let's get rid of these and let me test you all right we'll work with this word arrange suppose we let your mother arrange some flowers in a vase what would you have to do to disarrange them the prefix dis means to do the opposite of the root it's attached to to disarrange the flowers I'd mess them up but I wouldn't do that to my those flowers so suppose you just found them with this Arrangement then you'd probably want to rearrange them the prefix re means to do whatever the root means again to rearrange the flowers I'd have to arrange them again i' change their arrangement in that case you would be the flower arranger the suffix means a person who does what the root means the person who arranges is an arranger that's good ide all right that's very good Don knowing prefixes and suffixes gives you Clues to many words for instance if you know the prefix anti and the root freeze then you know what the purpose of antifreeze is in an automobile if you know the root computer and the suffix eyes then you know what it means when you read about companies that computerize their operations you're right that's how I knew the meaning of these words when I just saw them is there anything else I can show you from my collection no I've seen enough I think and I also think I understand pretty well why you have such a large collection of words if I can state it briefly first it's because you have skill in finding context clues that helps you understand new meanings of familiar words second because you're skilled in sounding out words you can recognize a word that looks unfamiliar even though you know it and third your skill in finding word parts that are familiar helps you get the meaning of an unfamiliar word and all this has led to your reading growth have I left out anything this the dictionary of course the dictionary can help you keep adding to your knowledge of prefixes and suffixes and the different meanings a word may have that's what I'm after now that meaning of peculiar you tricked me with and you out there watching this film do you want to know what that meaning is then look it up yourself you'll find as Don has that learning more about the meanings of words can be a fascinating lifetime hobby that will also make you a much better reader it means let them find it n