A Root Is a Meaning, Not a Syllable

Where words come from · Page 1 of 2

Name Date

DIRECTIONS: Part A: tele means far. For each word, write what exactly is far away.

Word	What it is	What exactly is FAR?
telescope	you look through it
telephone	you talk into it
television	pictures arrive on it
telegram	a message that used to cost money by the word
telecommute	what your parents call working from home

Part B — the impostors.

re- means again, or back. Take it off: is what is left a word?

#	Word	Take re- off. What is left?	Is re- really there? yes / no
1.	rewrite
2.	reindeer
3.	return
4.	react
5.	reptile
6.	ready

A Root Is a Meaning — continued

Where words come from · Page 2 of 2

Part C — the same test, in the middle of a word.

port means carry. Does carrying have anything to do with the word’s meaning?

#	Word	What the word means	Is CARRY really in it? yes / no
7.	transport
8.	portion
9.	portable
10.	important
11.	portrait

Part D — words you have never met.

Pieces you will need metry = measuringpathos = feelingkinesis = movement

A spacecraft sends telemetry back to Earth. Take the word apart and say what it must be.
Somebody in a story claims to have telepathy. What are they claiming?
Telekinesis. Nobody can do it, but what would somebody who could do it be doing?
reindeer looks as if it starts with re-, and it does not. Write the test in one sentence, in your own words, so that you could use it on any word for the rest of your life.