Prefix: Lesson 2

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

In the previous Related Lesson, found in the right-hand sidebar, you were introduced to prefixes.

You have explored the meaning of a few prefixes. In this lesson, you will explore more prefixes and meanings.

Let's begin by looking at the word expel.

• If you take away the prefix ex, what is left?

Yes, pel remains.

• Is this a real word?

No, it is not.

Ex is added to words that are base words and stand-alone, but it is also a prefix that sometimes makes up the beginning of a word. It is then combined with another word part, called a root. A root has a meaning but cannot stand alone as a word.

A Latin root is a part of a word that has meaning, but it usually has a prefix or a suffix.

The prefix ex means out of or away from.

The root pel means to push.

If you combine ex and pel, you come up with the word expel.

• What does expel mean?

Yes, to push out of, or push away from.

• Now that you understand the meaning of the prefix and root of the word expel, does that help you understand the meaning of the word used in the following quote?

"One must verify or expel his doubts, and convert them to certainty of yes or no."  - Thomas Carlyle.