Grade 8 · English Language Arts · Unit 10 of 11
Word Study
Roots, affixes and connotation
What your child practises
Using prefixes, suffixes and Greek and Latin roots to work out unfamiliar words, reading context clues, and noticing how word choice changes feeling.
Ontario Curriculum expectation: B2.1, B2.2 · morphemes, vocabulary and word meanings
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
The Latin root “aqua” means “water.” What does “aquarium” most likely mean?
- A kind of flower
- A tall building
- A place to keep water animals
- A type of desert
Show answer
A place to keep water animals
Hint: Aqua means water, so an aquarium is connected to water.
Question 2
The Greek root “graph” means “write.” What does “autograph” most likely mean?
- A picture of a car
- A person's own signature
- A machine for writing
- A long story
Show answer
A person's own signature
Hint: Auto means self and graph means write: writing by yourself.
Question 3
“The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.” This is…
- an idiom
- a prefix
- a synonym
- a root
Show answer
an idiom
Hint: An idiom is a phrase whose meaning differs from its literal words.
Question 4
Prefix or suffix? Sort each word part.
Sort into: ⏮️ Prefix · ⏭️ Suffix
- ✅-able (can be)
- 🔁re- (again)
- ↔️dis- (opposite of)
- ⏪pre- (before)
- 📦-ment (result of)
- 🧺-ful (full of)
- 💛-ness (state of)
- 🚫un- (not)
Show answer
⏮️ Prefix: re- (again), dis- (opposite of), pre- (before), un- (not) · ⏭️ Suffix: -able (can be), -ment (result of), -ful (full of), -ness (state of)
Hint: A prefix goes at the start of a word (re-, un-, pre-). A suffix goes at the end (-less, -ful, -ness).
Question 5
The suffix “-ful” in “thankful” means…
- without
- again
- before
- full of
Show answer
full of
Hint: -ful means full of: full of thanks.
Question 6
The root “spect” means “look.” Which word means “to look closely at something”?
- prospect
- suspect
- inspect
- respect
Show answer
inspect
Hint: In- (into) + spect (look) = look into carefully. The other words have other meanings.