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Reading and Literature Studies · Reading Like a Grade 10 Critic: Literature, Information and Shakespeare

Reading Fluently: Idioms, Euphemisms, Word Parts, Precise Words and Etymology

3.1 3.2 3.3About 65 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can understand idioms, euphemisms, slang, dialect, acronyms and technical terms in context.
  • I can work out unfamiliar words by reading beyond them and using word parts.
  • I can explain why a writer chose a precise word.
  • I can use etymology to understand and remember words.

Words to know

idiom
An expression whose meaning differs from the meanings of its separate words.
euphemism
A mild or indirect word used in place of a harsh or unpleasant one.
slang
Informal words used by a particular group, often for a short time.
dialect
The words and grammar of a particular region or community.
acronym
A word formed from the first letters of other words.
etymology
The origin and history of a word.
root
The main part of a word that carries its core meaning.
precision
Choosing the exact word for the meaning and effect you want.

Hook: same word, different planet

In science class, a current flows through a circuit. In geography, a current carries a canoe downriver. In history, you discuss current events. Same word, three meanings. Fluent readers switch instantly; struggling readers stop and stall. Grade 10 texts, especially Shakespeare, academic articles and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) that most students write in Grade 10, need quick, flexible word skills.

Remember from Grade 9

In Grade 9 you read and spelled complex words by their parts (bases, prefixes and suffixes), learned Greek and Latin roots, and used context clues. Grade 10 adds idioms, euphemisms, slang, dialect, acronyms and etymology, and asks you to notice how precisely writers choose words.

1. Reading familiar words in new contexts

Fluent readers automatically understand:

  • Idioms: expressions whose meaning isn't the sum of the words (break the ice = start a conversation; cold feet = nervousness before something big).
  • Euphemisms: gentle or indirect words for something unpleasant (passed away = died; let go = fired; pre-owned = used). Writers choose them to be kind, polite, or sometimes to hide the truth.
  • Slang: informal words used by a group, often for a short time.
  • Dialect: words and grammar of a region or community. Canadian English has toque, washroom and double-double; in Newfoundland English, b'y means boy or is used like buddy.
  • Academic and technical terms: words with exact meanings in a subject (thesis, photosynthesis, variable).
  • Acronyms: words formed from first letters (OSSD: Ontario Secondary School Diploma; OSSLT).
  • Multiple meanings: familiar words that change meaning by context (current, plot, cell, foot: in poetry a foot is one unit of rhythm, like an iamb).
currentSciencethe flow of electriccharge in a circuitGeographywater moving in onedirection in a riverEverydayup to date: acurrent eventResearcha current sourceis recent (currency)
One familiar word, four contexts. Fluent readers use the subject and the surrounding words to pick the right meaning instantly.

2. Decoding unfamiliar words

When you meet a word you don't know:

  1. Read beyond it. Finish the sentence or paragraph; the overall sense often explains it.
  2. Break it into parts: prefix + root + suffix. Keep a personal list of common prefixes and suffixes.
  3. Check foreign words and phrases in dialogue with a dictionary of foreign words and expressions (déjà vu, faux pas, carpe diem).
  4. Confirm with a dictionary, and choose the definition that fits the context.
unpredictabilityunnot+prebefore+dictsay+abilable to be+itystate ofprefix + prefix + ROOT (Latin dicere, to say) + suffix + suffix= the state of not being able to be told (said) beforehand
Breaking a long word into its parts. Each part carries meaning, so even a very long word becomes readable.
Worked example

Let's decode words in a novel passage

Use reading beyond, word parts and a foreign-phrase dictionary to work out the bold words in this passage (written for this website):

"Bon courage," whispered Madame Léger as Amira stepped onto the stage. Amira's trepidation grew with every step; her knees shook and her mouth went dry. But the judges' faces were indecipherable. She couldn't tell whether they loved her piece or hated it.

  1. Bon courage is French. A dictionary of foreign expressions gives good luck or be brave, said to someone about to do something hard. It fits: Amira is about to perform.
  2. Trepidation: read beyond it. Her knees shook and her mouth went dry describes fear or nervousness. Dictionary check: trepidation = fear or worry about what may happen.
  3. Indecipherable: parts: in- (not) + decipher (work out the meaning of a code) + -able (able to be). So: not able to be read or understood. The next sentence confirms it: she couldn't tell what they thought.
  4. Check: each meaning fits the passage when substituted back in.

Bon courage = good luck, be brave; trepidation = fear about what will happen; indecipherable = impossible to read or work out.

3. Expanding your vocabulary

Precision. Strong writers pick the exact word. She said is neutral; she muttered, snapped, pleaded and announced each say something different about the character. When you read, notice why the writer chose that word over its synonyms.

Etymology is the history of a word: where it came from and how its meaning changed. An etymological dictionary traces this. Knowing a word's story helps you remember it and spot its relatives.

  • disaster comes from Italian disastro: dis- (bad) + astro (star). People once blamed bad events on unlucky stars.
  • quarantine comes from Italian quaranta giorni, forty days, the period ships were once kept isolated.
  • kayak comes from the Inuktitut word qajaq.
  • toboggan came into English through Canadian French (tabagane) from an Algonquian language of eastern Canada; dictionaries trace it to Mi'kmaq or Maliseet.
  • Canada comes from kanata, a word meaning village or settlement in the language of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians.
Worked example

Let's analyse word precision and etymology

  1. Explain why a writer might choose trudged rather than walked in: After the game, Leo trudged home through the slush.
  2. Use etymology to explain disastrous.
  1. Precision: trudged means walked slowly and heavily, with effort. It suggests exhaustion or disappointment (maybe the team lost), and it fits the heavy slush. Walked gives no feeling at all.
  2. Etymology: disastrous = disaster + -ous (full of). Disaster comes from dis- (bad) + astro (star): an event under a bad star. So disastrous means full of misfortune, very bad.
  3. Connection: the root astro also appears in astronomy and astronaut. Knowing one root helps unlock a word family.

Trudged shows tired, heavy movement and mood; disastrous means full of misfortune, from the idea of a bad star.

Just for fun

Funny-but-true: the word muscle comes from the Latin musculus, which means little mouse. One explanation is that a flexing muscle looked like a mouse moving under the skin.

Hands-on activity

Build your word toolkit

You need: a notebook (or a page at the back of your binder), a dictionary or a reliable online dictionary, and one text you're reading.

  1. Start a personal prefix and suffix list with at least 10 entries (for example in-, dis-, pre-, re-, -able, -ous, -ity, -tion, -less, -ful), each with a meaning and an example word.
  2. While reading, collect five unfamiliar words. For each, write the sentence, your guess (from context or parts), then the dictionary meaning.
  3. Choose two of your words and look up their etymology. Write one sentence about each word's history.
  4. Find one euphemism and one idiom in something at home (news, a sympathy card, a TV show) and translate each into plain words.

What to look for: guesses made before checking (that's the skill), correct meanings that fit the context, and etymologies from a reliable source.

Your turn

1

What is a euphemism? Give one example and its plain meaning.

2

What does current mean in the current in the wire and in current events?

3

Break indecipherable into parts and give its meaning.

4

What are two ways to work out an unfamiliar word without a dictionary?

5

What is etymology?

6

Why might a writer choose pleaded instead of said?

7

What is an acronym? Give one from Ontario schools.

More practice: warm-up

1

What does the idiom break the ice mean?

2

What does the prefix pre- mean?

3

Which language does the word kayak come from?

4

Is toque an example of slang, dialect or an acronym?

5

What does quarantine originally mean in Italian?

More practice: on your own

1

Why might a company say pre-owned instead of used? What does this show about euphemisms?

2

Use word parts to predict the meaning of irreversible.

3

In poetry, what is a foot? Why is this an example of multiple meanings?

4

Read beyond: The lecture was so soporific that half the class was yawning and one student fell asleep. What does soporific mean?

5

Explain how knowing the root dict (say) helps with contradict, predict and dictionary.

Challenge

1

Find the euphemism in this news sentence and rewrite it plainly: The company is rightsizing its workforce. Explain why the writer may have chosen it.

2

Write a sentence using plot in two different meanings, then explain the context clues that separate them.

3

Look up (or recall) the etymology of Canada and toboggan, and explain what these word histories show about Canadian English.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Let go (meaning fired) is an example of...

2.

Which strategy uses the rest of the sentence to work out a word?

3.

Indecipherable most likely means...

4.

Etymology is the study of...

5.

Disaster comes from words meaning...

6.

In poetry, a foot is...

For parents and teachers

What this lesson teaches: ENG2D Reading 3 (Reading With Fluency): 3.1 automatically understanding most words in varied contexts (idioms, euphemisms, slang, academic and technical terms, multiple meanings), 3.2 decoding unfamiliar words (foreign phrases, word parts, personal affix lists, reading beyond), and 3.3 expanding vocabulary (euphemisms, slang, dialect, acronyms, academic language, technical terms, and etymology).

How to help at home:

  • Share idioms and euphemisms you use without noticing; teens enjoy catching parents.
  • Encourage guessing a word's meaning before looking it up.
  • Most Ontario students write the OSSLT in Grade 10; flexible vocabulary skills help with its reading section.

Common difficulties:

  • Stopping at every unknown word. Teach read to the end of the sentence first.
  • Choosing the first dictionary definition even when it doesn't fit the context.
  • Over-trusting word parts. Some words look like they contain a prefix but don't; always check in context.

Facts used: disaster (Italian disastro, bad star), quarantine (Italian quaranta giorni, forty days), kayak (Inuktitut qajaq), toboggan (via Canadian French tabagane from an Algonquian language, traced by different dictionaries to Mi'kmaq or Maliseet), Canada (from kanata, village or settlement, St. Lawrence Iroquoian), muscle (Latin musculus, little mouse) are standard dictionary etymologies. The OSSLT is normally written in Grade 10. The Amira passage was written for this website.