Students who are engaged in learning more words are often the ones with the top grades in a class. This is no coincidence at all. Learning more and more words expands our knowledge and comprehension of the world around us. The power of expression and comprehension of any subject improves dramatically in those students who have an active interest in learning more words. However, there are also a few students who find that learning more words is difficult, time-consuming, or boring. They think it is not worthy of the time and effort we may have to devote for improving their vocabulary. The following method of using the word root, prefix and suffix for learning many related words altogether will help these students in quickly improving their vocabulary and enjoying themselves in the process.
What is a Gene?
Let us begin with a common example; a gene is the main word from which many other words are derived in modern English language. Genes in biology implies the sequence of bases of DNA, which code for the making of a particular type of protein. It is derived from the word Genesis in the Bible, which deals with the origin of the world, human beings, nature etc. The word Genesis is derived from Latin roots meaning the beginning or origin of something.
Using the same word genesis as a word root the word pangenesis was coined and used later on, literally meaning the origin of all living beings (pan=all). Oncogenes are a transforming gene, which make normal healthy cells to cancerous tumors. Genealogy is the study of family history and ancestry of a person. Genetics is the modern branch of biology, which studies laws, and mechanisms of heredity and variation in living organisms. Geneticist is a biologist who specializes in study of genetics. Genome is the full DNA sequence of an organism. Genotype is the genetic constitution of an organism.
Now, we have learned a lot of new words with the help of a single main word; genes. If we use the Mind Map method it will be easy to inter-relate every word with the main word genes and therefore will be easy for us to remember. The following map will serve as an example:
Transforming genes=oncogenes=onco+genes Genes=sequence of bases of DNA; code for protein synthesis
Origin of all living beings=pangenesis=pan+genes+=logos---genealogy=study of family history & ancestry
Genetic constitution = genotype=type+gene+tics =genetics=study of heredity and variation
Full DNA sequence of a living being= genome= ome+gene+ticist=geneticist=Specialist in genetics
You will notice that by adding a prefix like 'onco' and ''pan'' with the word root gene the meaning of the new word ''oncogenes'' and ''pangenesis'', changes totally but the underlying idea or subject denoted by main word ''gene'', remains the key to understanding these new words. Similarly, when suffixes such as ''logy'', ''type'', ''tics'' and ''ome'' the meaning of the resulting new word changes but the word root ''genes'' remains the keyword. These word roots are of interest to us since they will help us in remembering the new words associated with them.
Prefixes and Suffixes
Interestingly, you can also remember new words arising from the prefix or suffix, which is added to the word root. Like the prefix ''pan'' means ''all'', so panorama means the total visual percept of a region. Panacea means a cure for all diseases; pandemic means an epidemic over a wide geographical area and so on.
You can learn innumerable new words everyday, if you follow the pattern of identifying the word root, the main idea or thought, which is expressed by a word. If you pay similar attention to prefixes and suffixes then you will master more words related to the main word root and also discover the various synonyms and antonyms for a particular word.
You may refer to the article Mind Maps for Better Memorization for using Mind Maps for faster learning. In this Mind Map, the main word gene is used in every line but it is not necessary to do so. You can put the main word in a circle in the center and draw arrows to the prefix or suffix, put the resulting new word in a square and the meaning of the word in a rectangle. Use colors, symbols, and abbreviations as much as possible in a mind map.
