How to find root words
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Studying ways to form new words, as well as checking spelling in words using matching words, students learn to find related words, i.e. having the same root. In addition, they need to learn to distinguish cognate words from the forms of the same word.
Instruction manual
one
Remember that root words have the same common morpheme - the root. But you must also understand that there are words that have the same roots, but which are not at the same time root. For example, the words “water” and “driver” have the same root of “water”. However, they cannot be considered related, because they have a significant difference in lexical meaning. The word "watery" may be related words, the lexical meaning of which is associated with water: "water", "water", "submariner", "water", etc. But to the word “driver”, words with the root “waters” with the meaning “drive” will be related: “driver”, “driving”, etc.
2
Learn to distinguish root words from forms of the same word. For example, the words “driver” and “driver” are forms of the same word. You can understand this if you compare the basics of related words and the basics of word forms. In the words “driver” and “driver” the basics are the same: “driver”. But the difference is found only in grammatical signs. So, the noun "driver" is used in the nominative case, and the word "driver" is used in the dative.
3
Keep in mind that when comparing the basics of cognate words, you will find different basics. For example, in the word “water” the basis is “water”, and in the noun “water” is “water”. These words are one-root, since they have the same root, which contains a common lexical meaning, but their foundations are not the same.
4
Know that related words do not have to be the same part of speech. For example, the words “home” and “house” are cognates, although “home” is an adjective and “house” is a noun.
5
Learn to form cognate words in many ways. This will help you easily find related words in the text and check spellings using matching words. You can form new root words, for example, using the prefix method (water - underwater) or suffix (water - water). You can add a prefix and a suffix at the same time, forming one-root words (window - window sill) or by cutting off the suffix, i.e. non-suffix method (green - green).
6
Correctly select the root to prevent mistakes in identifying root words. It is possible to accurately detect it (and any other morpheme) by changing the shape of the word and selecting related words to it. You must identify the total minimum part as a result of these manipulations. That morpheme, which contains the basic lexical meaning, will be the root of the word.