THE MY WORDS ACTIVITY

For this activity, you, the student, will need to determine 5 words for
which you do not know the meanings or want to learn more about.
You may hear/see these words on TV or in a lecture or online or in a book.
My Words will probably be assigned every two weeks or so. The due dates
are listed in the syllabus, but they may change – attending class will keep
you up-to-date on those changes. Each time a My Words activity is due, you
will be asked to find the following information with each of your five words:

1- The word in its context as you found it (did you read it in a book?
Then put the original sentence down for #1; if you heard it somewhere, put
where you heard it, etc)
2- The definition (can be found online or in a dictionary, obviously)
3- The part of speech (is it a noun, verb, adverb, adjective – this is found
with the definition usually and some words are more than one part of
speech)
4- Any root words, suffixes, or prefixes (see example below)
5- Its etymology and the historical meaning (see example below – you
may only find out that the word is Old English and that’s okay; some words
are tough)
6- An original sentence using the word (this means you’ll create a
brand-new sentence with the word in it)

To find the information online use the following steps:

= Use the site for the American Heritage Dictionary OR Dictionary.com
= etymonlinec.com = etymology web site
= Another site to try: wordnavigator.com

EXAMPLE:
ancestor
1) "The wolf is the ancestor of man's oldest animal friend -- the dog." Book:
History of Wolves
2) definition: forefather, progenitor, forebear
3) part of speech: noun
4) root word: ancestry suffix: -or
5) etymology: ante meaning before; cedere meaning to go
6) My ancestors are German and Irish.

Save your MY WORDS for the final test!

This idea was stolen from a very cool NDSCS adjunct named Jackie.