Comprehension of Text Flashcards
(81 cards)
Root word
(Base word) = Main component of a given word
example: in DECOMPRESSION, the root = compress
Prefix
Begins a word, this changes the word’s meaning or makes a new word.
Suffix
Ends a word, this indicates whether a word is a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb. It can modify or extend meaning.
Affix
Linguistic set of letters added to a word to affect its meaning.
Prefix, suffix, root of “REPORTER”.
Prefix = re Root = PORT Suffix = er
Syntax
The arrangements of words/phrases to create well-formed sentences in language.
Noun
Person, place or thing
Adjective
Describes or modifies a noun
example: happy, red, obnoxious, quick
Verb
An action, something you do.
Adverb
Modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Often end in -ly.
(example: She was quite red. Very tall. He sings too loudly.)
Prefixes have…
Fixed meanings.
Suffixes can indicate…
Whether a word is a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb.
Context
COMPREHENSION STRATEGY
When it’s hard to know what a word means readers use sentence structure and syntax (arrangement of words) to find context clues.
Context Clues
Clues in the text that elude to what’s being talked about.
Restatement
COMPREHENSION STRATEGY
Often times meaning of a difficult word is clarified in a statement by author using another word or way to say what was confusing to reader.
Comparison/Contrast
COMPREHENSION STRATEGY
Uses words to say what the confusing word is like or not like.
(example words for comparison: like, similar, to, as, also, same as, other
example words for contrast: but, although, on the other hand, as opposed to, unlike)
Cause & Effect
COMPREHENSION STRATEGY
Helps reader understand sentence structure as well as meaning of difficult words.
(example: They controlled fire. (CAUSE) They were able to keep warm. (EFFECT))
It was COLD in the Proterozoic Age, why do you think they called it the ICE age? (What kind of comprehension strategy?)
Restatement.
Adage
Pithy phrase or saying people adopt OVER TIME because it holds some validity/truth.
(example: You can’t judge a book by its cover.)
Connotative words
Implied meaning words have and are dependent on being correctly understood. Nuances of meanings.
(example: happy vs. blissful - blissful could mean serene happiness or that someone is unaware of something)
Connotation
Idea of feeling that a word invokes aside in addition to its literal meaning. Overtone. Undertone. Implication.
(example: Hearing the word “discipline” = unhappy feelings of punishment)
Denotative words
Words that are specific in meaning and cannot be assumed it is something else.
(example: TABLE = furniture and nothing else.)
Idiom
Colorful word/expression used to convey an idea in an alternative way.
(example: It’s raining cats and dogs.)
Figurative Language
Author’s use of a word/phrase in a way that’s NOT supposed to be interpreted literally.
(example: My dog named Rainbow.)
