unit 1(1-20) for weeks 1-2

At the end of this unit, you are expected to be able to:

Vocabulary Development

1Unit1 Guess the meaning of words from the

context

2 Guess the meaning of words from their word parts

3 Confirm the meaning of words by using the dictionary

LEARNING

outcomes

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2 Reading and Critical Thinking

Self-Evaluation

Checklist

Before starting on this unit, evaluate your present skill level.

SkillI can do this well

I am not good at this

I am not able to do this

1. Guessing the meaning of words from contextual clues

2. Guessing the meaning of words by analysing their word parts

3. Using the dictionary to confirm the meaning and usage of words

The aim of this book is to equip you with critical reading and thinking skills. However, before you can develop the skills of reading and thinking critically, you need to have the skills for handling vocabulary. The first unit of the book

gives you the strategies for developing your vocabulary.

Guessing the Meaning of Words from Contextual CluesIn order to avoid interrupting the flow of your reading, resist the urge to reach

for the dictionary each time you come across an unfamiliar word. You should try to guess the meaning of the word from the context. In other words, the ideas surrounding the unfamiliar word may suggest the meaning of the word to you. Here are some types of clues.

Definition or Synonym ClueS

The author may give the definition of the unfamiliar word or explain

the meaning of the word. The author may explain using simpler words (definition) or use a more common word or phrase that means the same thing

as the unfamiliar word (synonym). A signal for this type of clue is the phrase

in other words, but often there is no signal as the sentence itself is a definition sentence.

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Unit 1 Vocabulary Development 3

ContraSt or antonym ClueS

The author may give a word or phrase that means the opposite of the unfamiliar word. Some words signalling that the author may be giving an antonym are however, but, yet, on the other hand and in contrast. If you are familiar with the antonym used, you can guess the meaning of the unfamiliar word.

experienCe ClueS

Sometimes you may be able to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word based on your experience. This is when the sentence is about or connected to a situation that you are familiar with or have experienced, which makes you realize that the unfamiliar word is a term for a concept already known to you.

example ClueS

You may be able to guess the meaning of a concept word from the examples cited in the text. This occurs when you are familiar with the meaning of the terms used for the examples, although the concept word may be new to you. Signals for this kind of clue are phrases like for example and for instance.

The above clues may be in the sentence where the unfamiliar word is or in other sentences in the same text. This is why you should read on instead of referring to your dictionary the moment you come across an unfamiliar word.

Guessing the Meaning of Words by Analysing their Word Parts

Many words are of Greek or Latin origin and are formed by combining Greek or Latin word parts. As two-thirds of academic English words come from

Greek or Latin, knowing the meaning of individual Greek or Latin prefixes,

roots or suffixes can help you guess the meaning of such words. Prefixes come

before the main part of the word, roots are the main part of the word, and suffixes come after the main part of the word.

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You will find lists of some frequently used word parts at the end of this unit.

You can also download more lists from the Internet. You can use the keywords Greek Latin word parts when you use a search engine such as Google to look for them. Invest time in memorizing their meanings and you will be able to read more efficiently as you do not have to keep on referring to the

dictionary.

For example, if you are reading an article that uses the terms benign tumour and malignant tumour, do you know what they mean? You may know that the term tumour means abnormal growth of tissue, but do you know the difference between a benign tumour and a malignant tumour? If you know the meaning of the Greek or Latin word parts of bene and male, then you would be able to guess that a benign tumour is harmless whereas a malignant tumour is dangerous (bene = good; male = bad).

Using the Dictionary to Confirm the Meaning and Usage of Words

After you have tried guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words from the

context, you may wish to confirm that your guess is correct by referring to

the dictionary, especially if you are not confident of your guess. By guessing

the meaning from the context, you reduce the number of words that you need to look up in the dictionary. You should refer to the dictionary only after you have finished reading a section of the text rather than every time you come

across an unfamiliar word.

As you are trying to determine the meaning of words, it helps to be able to

recognise the function of the word. Being able to recognise the role of the word in the sentence can help you to identify the correct meaning from the list of meanings a word may have. In grammar textbooks, these word functions or roles are referred to as parts of speech.

Let us consider the word record as an example. If the dictionary entry for the word record lists several definitions, you can identify the correct definition if

you can determine the role of the word in the sentence.

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Different DefinitionS of the worD reCorD:

1. information kept about something that has happened

2. more, better, worse, faster, etc. than ever before

3. to make a record of something that has happened, usually by writing it somewhere

Different funCtionS of the worD reCorD:

1. She recorded her monthly expenses in her notebook. Role of record: action word (verb).

2. She keeps a record of her monthly expenses in her notebook. Role of record: object (noun) of the action word keep.

3. She spent a record RM2000.00 on groceries in the month of December. Role of record: word to describe the noun (adjective). The noun in

this case is the amount of money RM2000.00.

When record is used as a verb, as in the first sentence, the definition must refer to an action. Therefore, the definition of record in this sentence is to make

a record of something that has happened, usually by writing it somewhere.

When record is used as a noun, as in the second sentence, the definition must be something that can act as doer or object of an action. Therefore, the definition of record in this sentence is information kept about something that

has happened.

When record is used as an adjective, as in the third sentence, the definition must be able to describe a noun. Therefore, the definition of record in this

sentence is more, better, worse, faster, etc. than ever before.

The above strategies for coping with unfamiliar words can help you read more smoothly and thus, motivate you to read. Many people lose the motivation to read when there are too many interruptions in their reading. By being able to read fluently, you will be more motivated to read. The more you read,

the more you learn, and your language proficiency as well as your general

knowledge will improve. This will make it easier for you to understand new reading material.

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Skills

Reinforcing the

Let us apply the skill of guessing the meaning of words to the highlighted words in the following passage.

The soursop, or the fruit from the graviola tree, is a miraculous natural cancer cell killer 10,000 times

stronger than chemotherapy. Why are we not aware of this? This is because some big corporation

wants to recoup the money they spent on years of research by trying to make a synthetic version

of it for sale.

Various parts of the graviola tree the bark, leaves, roots, fruit and

seeds have been used for centuries by medicine men and native

Indians in South America to treat heart disease, asthma, liver problems

and arthritis. The fruit is very large, and the sub-acid sweet white pulp

is eaten out of hand or, more commonly, used to make fruit drinks,

sherbets and such.

A drug company invested nearly seven years trying to synthesize two

of the graviola trees most powerful anti-cancer ingredients. Alas, they

hit a brick wall. The original simply could not be replicated. As the

graviola tree is completely natural, it is not patentable. Theres no way

the company can make serious profits from their research.

Findings from the over 20 laboratory tests conducted since the 1970s

by the drug company were mind-numbing.

1. Extracts from the tree were shown to effectively target and kill malignant cells in 12 types of

cancer, including colon, breast, prostate, lung and pancreatic cancer.

2. The tree compounds proved to be up to 10,000 times stronger in slowing the growth of cancer

cells than Adriamycin, a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug!

3. Whats more, unlike chemotherapy, a compound extracted from the graviola tree selectively

hunts down and kills only cancer cells. It does not harm healthy cells!

The amazing anti-cancer properties of the graviola tree have also been extensively researched by

others:

1. The US National Cancer Institute performed the first scientific research in 1976. The results

showed that graviolas leaves and stems were found effective in attacking and destroying

malignant cells. Inexplicably, the results were published in an internal report and never released

to the public.

Cancer-killer fruit

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2. A paper published in the Journal of Natural Products, following a recent study conducted at the

Catholic University of South Korea, stated that one chemical in graviola was found to selectively

kill colon cancer cells at 10,000 times the potency of Adriamycin.

3. The most significant part of the Catholic University of South Korea report is that the chemical

found in graviola was shown to selectively target cancer cells, leaving healthy cells untouched. This

is unlike chemotherapy, which indiscriminately targets all actively reproducing cells (cancer cells as

well as healthy cells such as stomach and hair cells), causing the often devastating side effects

of fatigue, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, mouth sores and pain in cancer patients.

4. A study at Purdue University found that leaves from the graviola tree killed cancer cells among

six human cell lines and were especially effective against prostate, pancreatic and lung cancers.

Seven years of silence broken its finally here! A limited supply of graviola extract, grown and

harvested by indigenous people in Brazil, is finally available in America.

Source: http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/02/soursop-fruit-natural-cancer-killer-stronger-than-chemo.html

The following shows how you can use context clues to arrive at the meaning of the words highlighted in the above text.

1. synthetic

This is because some big corporation wants to recoup the money they spent on years of research by trying to make a synthetic version of it for sale.

The previous sentence gives us the antonym clue for the word synthetic.

The soursop, or the fruit from the graviola tree, is a miraculous natural cancer cell killer 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.

The word natural is opposite in meaning to synthetic. A definition that

is opposite in meaning to natural is the definition of synthetic. Hence, we

may think of man-made as the meaning of synthetic.

2. pulp

The fruit is very large, and the sub-acid sweet white pulp is eaten out of hand or, more commonly, used to make fruit drinks, sherbets and such.

Most of us have the experience of seeing how fruit drinks are made even if we have not made any ourselves. From this experience clue, we know that the part of the fruit that is used to make fruit drinks is the flesh of the fruit.

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3. mind-numbing

Findings from the over 20 laboratory tests conducted since the 1970s by the drug company were mind-numbing.

In this case, the synonym clue appears in the next paragraph. The word amazing has the same meaning as mind-numbing.

The amazing anti-cancer properties of the Graviola tree have also been extensively researched by others.

4. devastating

This is unlike chemotherapy, which indiscriminately targets all actively reproducing cells (cancer cells as well as healthy cells such as stomach and hair cells), causing the often devastating side effects of fatigue, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, mouth sores and pain in cancer patients.

The type of clue that is present in this sentence is example clue because the sentence provides examples of side-effects that the target word is

describing. As the examples of side effects are horrible, we can guess that

devastating means horrible.

From the above explanation, we can see that the context clues can be in the same sentence as the target word, in adjoining sentences or in other parts of the text. The following table summarises what we have found:

Target wordWord

functionMeaning Type of clue

synthetic adjective man-made the antonym natural from a previous sentence

pulp noun flesh of fruit the experience of eating fruit

mind-numbing adjective amazing the synonym amazing that appears in a later sentence

devastating adjective horrible examples of horrible side effects such as nausea and hair loss

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Skills

Practising the

Read the following passages and give the meaning of the words in bold print.

The history of medicine, as far as the problems and their solutions considered below are concerned,

is the history of unceasing, laborious and creative work of many generations of professionals on

developing methods and means for reliable diagnosis, efficient treatment and prevention of different

diseases for the sake of the health of the living and of the coming generations.

The achievements of todays medical science and practice which made it possible to master a number

of diseases thus prolonging the age of human life cannot, however, obscure our concern about the

fact that man is departing farther and farther from harmony with Nature. But man is the crown of

Nature. The human body is unsurpassed in the complexity and sometimes in the mysteriousness of

its biophysical and biochemical processes.

It is known that the human body and its functioning systems consist of a great number of cells, each

cell being the source of millimetre-wave electromagnetic oscillations of extremely low intensity. The

biological field as well as the electromagnetic field is set up by cells, each of them obeying the total

field synthesised by all cells. Cells influence the whole system with their biochemical and biophysical

fields and obey this system only to the extent to which they are allied to one another and to the

whole. It is this fact that provides the highest degree of integrality of the human body: an event

occurring in some part of it immediately becomes an all-body event.

Thus, in terms of biophysics the human body is an open biological loop of liquid-crystal character

whose inputs and outputs are a field matrix formed by the system of acupuncture meridians. Part

of the energy of the acupuncture system is a complex field which is beyond the human body. All

forms of energy known in physics are found in it. In a close interaction with the physical body is

its bioenergoinformational shell that consists of a fine-energy biofield substance. The mechanisms

of interaction between the energoinformational component of the key systems of the physical

body and its bioenergoinformational shell as part of the environment is the subject matter of fine

human anatomy. Thus, in terms of radio physics, too, the human body may be thought of as an open

bioenergoinformational system exchanging energy and information with the environment. It is safe to

say that bioelectrical phenomena are inherent in a living body, are intimately associated with it and

underlie all processes occurring therein.

text 1

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We are aware of the existence of homeostasis, or a set of well-coordinated neurohumoural reactions

aimed at keeping and recovering the constancy of the internal medium of the human body which is

necessary for the optimum functioning of all key systems. Changes in the health status are known to

be largely governed by the character of adaptive reactions of the human body to one or other agent,

or, in other words, by the resistance of the human body. When the human bodys natural and yet very

complex processes are disturbed, the human body must be given an adequate help to maintain its life

force and to restore the optimum functioning of its organs, systems and tissues.

Source: http://ramed.wikidot.com/en:fundamental-new

Target wordWord


obscure

oscillations

synthesised

matrix

inherrent

The indiscriminate reference to cancer as being a killer disease by professionals and laypeople alike

has turned cancer into a disorder with tragic consequences for the majority of todays cancer patients

and their families. Cancer has become synonymous with extraordinary suffering, pain and death. This

is true despite the fact that 90 to 95 per cent of all cancers appear and disappear out of their own

accord. There is not a day that passes without the body making millions of cancer cells. Some people,

under severe temporary stress, make more cancer cells than usual and form clusters of cancerous cells

that disappear again once they feel better. Secretion of DNAs anti-cancer agent, Interleukin II, drops

under physical and mental duress and increases again when people are relaxed and joyful. Thus, most

cancers vanish without any form of medical intervention and without causing any real harm.

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/022578_cancer_body_disease.html

text 2

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Target wordWord


indiscriminate

synonymous

duress

intervention

Energised water is the nearest thing to cellular water, and its life-enhancing frequencies are gratefully

absorbed by dehydrated and exhausted cells. Without sufficient good quality water in our systems,

many processes grind to a halt. It is estimated that a baby contains approximately 90% water, while an

old person contains 70% the difference is that that water has been replaced by toxins of all kinds

accumulating in the cells.

Dead water, that is, water laden with foreign substances and frequencies, will tend to leach energy

from our system. Dead water is often full of the effects of electromagnetic radiation of various kinds,

particularly man-made, as well as physical and energetic pollutants of all kinds.

Energised water is more alive, wetter meaning that it does a better job of picking up and removing

toxic material from the body. Dead water is disorganized and chaotic and contains clumps of

molecules, while energised or structured water is more like a liquid crystal with much smaller micro-

clusters of water molecules, making it more like the water in cells, more able to hold minerals and

other necessary substances in (colloidal) solution.

People are beginning to become aware of the distinction between decontaminating water

(removing bacteria), purifying water (removing physical impurities) and energising water. Water

remembers frequencies or the energies of substances it has come in contact with. As such, removing

the physical toxins from water is not enough the frequency signature or memory must also be

removed. Energising water involves removing the energy signatures of harmful substances that the

water contains, and adding positive frequencies.

Drinking energised water is possibly the single most effective way to boost your energy many

practitioners in the vibrational medicine field are coming to a similar conclusion. It is the anti-oxidant

par excellence, scavenging free radicals and replacing cellular water with a real liquid crystal water

which nourishes rather than starves the system.

Source: http://www.energizewater.com/index_files/wiew1.htm

text 3

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Target wordWord


dehydrated

chaotic

distinction

scavenging

Dr. Heinicke discovered a substance that he called proxeronine. He found that proxeronine, combined

with another enzyme he called proxeroninase, formed an active ingredient in the body that was not

a protein, carbohydrate or fat, but a substance known as an alkaloid, a nitrogenous organic molecule

that has a pharmacological effect on humans and other mammals.

Dr. Heinicke was able to isolate the alkaloid into a pure state and found it to be a dry crystalline

structure; so he used the Latin prefix xero meaning dry as the first part of the new name, and due

to its alkaline nature, he added the suffix ine to make the word Xeronine, which means dry alkaline

compound. Dr. Heinicke proposed that when released in the body, Xeronine works at the molecular

level to repair damaged cells by regulating the rigidity and shape of proteins at the cellular level of

the body.

The proteins in your bodys cells are made up of organic material. Some of these hold you together,

like your skin, hair and bones. Others at the cellular level, are the functional proteins that help cells do

work such as enzymes, hormones, antibodies and cell membrane receptors. Dr. Heinicke joined forces

with Dr. Solomon to develop the Heinicke-Solomon Theory. The theory explains from a medical

perspective how Noni juice is converted in the body to produce Xeronine that is theorized to help

sick cells resume normal function.

The production of the Xeronine alkaloid is what is believed to create the adaptogenic compound

used to help a specific cell to regain a state of homeostasis that leads the body back to a balanced

state of health. The theory suggests Nonis natural ability to create an adaptive resistance at the cellular

level in the human body may help abnormally functioning or damaged cells to reach a balanced state

and resume normal function while allowing healthy functioning cells to resist adverse influences from

biochemical factors to maintain normal function. This may explain the broad influence Noni has on

the different systems in your body.

Source: http://bnsopp.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-does-noni-work-part-1.html

text 4

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Target wordWord


isolate

perspective

homeostasis

adverse

To download the most frequently used words in academia, visit the following website:http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/

INTERNET RESOURCE

Self-Evaluation

Checklist

Now that you have completed Unit 1, evaluate your skill level:

SkillI can do this

wellI am not good

at thisI am not able

to do this

1. Guess the meaning of words from contextual clues

2. Guess the meaning of words by analysing their word parts

3. Use the dictionary to confirm the meaning and usage of words

Congratulations if there is improvement in your skill level. However, if you are still weak in vocabulary skills, you need more practice using additional reading materials of your choice.

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Finally, note that the above skills go hand in hand. First, you try to guess the meaning of a word from the context. If that does not work, see if you can break down the word into parts and guess its meaning from the meaning of its word parts. Finally, if all else fails, you may look it up in the dictionary!

Even if you have guessed the meaning of a word from the context or word

parts, you may still want to refer to the dictionary to confirm its meaning,

unless you are very confident that you have determined the right meaning.

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APPEnDiX

Common worD rootS

Root Meaning Example Definition

agri field agronomy field-crop production and soil management

anthropo human anthropology study of humans

astro star astronaut one who travels in a spacecraft into outer space

auto self automatic self-acting or self-regulating

bene good benefit advantage

bio life biology study of life

cardio heart cardiograph instrument for recording the mechanical movements of the heart

cede go precede to go before

chrom colour chromatology science of colours

demo people democracy government by the people

derma skin epidermis outer layer of skin

dyna power dynamic characterized by power and energy

equi equal equivalent same as

geo earth geology study of the earth

helio sun heliotrope any plant that turns towards the sun

hydro water hydroponics growing of plants in water reinforced with nutrients

hypno sleep hypnosis state of sleep induced by suggestion

ject throw eject to throw out

lat side bilateral involving two sides

magni great, big magnify to enlarge, to make bigger

man(u) hand manuscript written by hand

meter/metre, metry

measure thermometer; spirometry

device to measure temperature; procedure to measure lung capacity

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Root Meaning Example Definition

mono one monoplane airplane with one pair of wings

nym name pseudonym false name

ortho straight orthodontic branch of dentistry dealing with correction of irregularities of the teeth

ped foot pedestrian person travelling on foot

phile love Anglophile person who loves anything English

phobe; phobia

fear xenophobe; xenophobia

person who fears foreigners or anything foreign; fear of foreigners or anything foreign

phone sound homophone; telephone; Francophone

same sound; device that delivers sound; speaker of French language

pod foot podiatry field of medical care and treatment for the human foot

psycho mind psychology study of the mind in any of its aspects

pyro fire pyrometer instrument for measuring temperatures

script write scriptures sacred writing or book

syn same synonym word with the same meaning

tele distant telescope instrument for seeing or viewing afar

terra earth terrace raised platform of earth

thermo heat thermostat instrument for adjusting heat

zoo animal zoology study of animals

Common prefixeS

Prefix Meaning Example Definition

ante- before antebellum before the war

anti- against antifreeze substance added to a liquid to lower its freezing point

circum- around circumscribe to draw a line around; to encircle

contra- against contradict to speak against

de- reverse (the opposite of), remove, out of, reduce, derived from

defoliate to remove the leaves from a tree

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dis- apart, not, opposite disperse to drive off or scatter in different directions

dys- bad, ill dysfunctional not functioning

ecto- outside, external, outer

ectoparasite parasite living on the exterior of animals

endo- within endogamy marriage within the tribe

equi- equal equidistant equal distance

ex- out of, former, away from, lacking

excavate to dig out

extra- beyond, outside extraterrestrial beyond the earth

hyper- over (excess or exaggeration)

hypertension high blood pressure

hypo- under hypotension low blood pressure

in- a negative force injustice unfairness

inter- between, among, mutually

intervene come between

intra- within intramural occurring within the bounds of an institution

intro- into, inward introspect to look within, as ones own mind

macro- large macroscopic large enough to be observed by the naked eye

mal- bad maladjusted badly adjusted

micro- small microscopic so small that one needs a microscope to observe

multi- many multimillionaire one having two or more million dollars

neo- new neolithic New Stone Age

non- not non-conformist one who does not conform to a generally accepted pattern of thought or action

pan- all panacea something which is a cure-all

poly- many, much polygonal having many sides

post- after postgraduate pertaining to after graduation

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pre- before precede to go before

pro- for, forward proponent supporter

proto- first prototype first or original model

pseudo- false pseudonym false name, especially an authors pen-name

re-, red- back, again rejuvenate to make young

retro- backward retrospect the looking back on things

semi- half semicircle half a circle

sub- under submerge to go or be put under water

super- above, beyond superfine extra fine

trans- across transalpine across the Alps

number prefixeS


uni- 1 uniform clothing standardised to one style

mono- 1 monotonous in a single tone

bi- 2 biannual twice a year

di- 2 dialogue speech between two people

tri- 3 tricycle three-wheeled vehicle

quadr- 4 quadrangle square or oblong open space surrounded by buildings

penta- 5 pentameter poetic verse containing five beats

hex- 6 hexagon a figure having six sides

sept- 7 septet group of seven

octo- 8 octuplets eight babies at a single birth

noni- or novem

9 nonipara a woman who has given birth to nine offspring

deka- or deca-

10 decathlon athletic contest of seven events

cent- hundred centenarian a 100-year-old person

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milli- thousand millennium a period of 1,000 years

mega- million megawatt one million watts

giga- billion gigabyte one billion bytes

Prefixes that mean no

Prefix Meaning Examples

a-, an- without, not asexual, atypical, amoral, anarchy

de- reverse action, away defrost, demystify, desensitize, deduct

dis-, dif-, di- not, apart dissatisfied, disorganized, different, divert

in-, il-, ir-, im- not inappropriate, illegal, irreversible, impossible

non- not nonproductive, non-essential, nonsense

un- not unlikely, unnoticeable, unreliable

contra-, counter- against contrary, contradict, counterproductive

Prefixes that indicate when or where

Prefix Meaning Examples

pre-, pro- before pre-dinner, preliminary, previous, prologue

post- after postwar, postoperative, postpone

ante- before antecedent, antechamber

inter- between, among interstate, intercept, interfere

intra- within intramural, intrastate, intravenous

trans- across transcontinental, transparent, transaction

sub- under submarine, submerge, subjugate

super- above superscript, superior

circum- around circumnavigate, circumference

ultra- beyond, on the far side of, excessive

ultrasonic, ultraviolet, ultraconservative

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Common SuffixeS

Suffix Meaning Examples

-al forms adjectives that means related to electrical, mechanical, occupational

-er added to verb to form noun that means person who

planner, singer, teacher

-ian added to concept noun to form person noun

beautician, grammarian, politician

-ic added to concept noun to form adjective that means having the characteristic of

materialistic, organic, toxic

-ism forms nouns that means the act, state or theory of

criticism, optimism, capitalism

-ist added to object noun to form person noun

environmentalist, florist, pianist

-ize forms verbs from nouns and adjectives computerize, emphasize, generalize

-logy science or study of biology, dermatology, geology

-oid forms adjectives or nouns that means in the shape of

humanoid, ovoid, spheroid

Source: Adapted from http://w ww.infoplease.com/ipa/A0907013.html

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Roots are the main part of the wordSuffixes come after the main part of the wordPrefixes come before the main part of the wordWord parts

unit 1(1-20) for weeks 1-2

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