As a final activity, spend some time learning how to use your knowledge of affixes in a challenging situation, such as when you are assigned a difficult passage to read.

You should be able to

A mural of Charles dickens painted on graffitied wall of a building.

Source: Charles Dickens by Don, flickr, garryknight

Hints: Make sure you return to the passage and use the context to assist you in determining the meaning of an unknown word. Watch out for definitions that aren’t supported by context.

Read the following passage from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. In this section of the novel, young Pip has been sent away from his home to Miss Havisham, a grim old woman in town. He has spent the night at the home of his Uncle Pumblechook where they are having breakfast. The passage may be difficult to understand at first, but we’ll go through it together to help you better understand what you read.

A photo of bread broken into two parts, crumbs between them.

Source: Stoneground Bread & Butter, Brett Jordan, flickr

(1) Mr. Pumblechook and I breakfasted at eight o’clock in the parlour behind the shop, while the shopman took his mug of tea and hunch of bread-and-butter on a sack of peas in the front premises. (2) I considered Mr. Pumblechook wretched company. (3) Besides being possessed by my sister’s idea that a mortifying and penitential character ought to be imparted to my diet - besides giving me as much crumb as possible in combination with as little butter, and putting such a quantity of warm water into my milk that it would have been more candid to have left the milk out altogether - his conversation consisted of nothing but arithmetic. (4) On my politely bidding him Good morning, he said, pompously, “Seven times nine, boy?” (5) And how should I be able to answer, dodged in that way, in a strange place, on an empty stomach! (6) I was hungry, but before I had swallowed a morsel, he began a running sum that lasted all through the breakfast. (7) “Seven?” (8) “And four?” (9) “And eight?” (10) “And six?” (11) “And two?” (12) “And ten?” (13) And so on. (14) And after each figure was disposed of, it was as much as I could do to get a bite or a sup, before the next came; while he sat at his ease guessing nothing, and eating bacon and hot roll, in (if I may be allowed the expression) a gorging and gormandising manner.

Let’s think about what we know about the first line: We know what the shopman had for breakfast, and we know from the second sentence that the narrator has an opinion of Mr. Pumblechook, but we might not know what “wretched” means, so we’ll come back to that word.

The third sentence is a real doozy, so our discussion is going to be a doozy also. Be patient. Aside from being long, the sentence has several difficult words. The good thing is that you might be able to use your knowledge of affixes and roots to discover the meanings. The first part of the sentence seems to be a discussion of the narrator’s diet, but what do those words mean? We know that “mort” has to with mortal or the idea that we die. So then mortifying must be negative—very negative—if it has “mort” in it.

A photo of the word “tower est mort” drawn on a yellow sheet of paper and taped to a window.

Source: tower est mort, h-monk, flickr

Notice that mortifying also contains two suffixes, -ify and -ing. We said that -ify means to “make or cause to become.” You probably know that -ing is related to an action or process, so you could interpret mortifying as “an action causing death.” If you read on, you may not exactly know the definition of mortifying, but you will see that it’s used in relation to Pumblechook’s diet. You know it’s not the kind of breakfast you would like to eat!

Now let’s look at penitential. What do we know about the root? Think of penitentiary, penance, penitent? These words have to do with punishment. So that’s another negative word that is used to describe the uncle’s diet and breakfast. Hold onto those thoughts while you think about the word impart. The prefix “im-” means “in” and “part” is an easy word. To part with something means “to give it away.” So impart is “giving something away,” but what’s being given away here? Read it again; you’ll see that the other negative words are describing his diet and his breakfast. Now what do you think the narrator thinks of Pumblechook? Can you guess what wretched might mean?

The rest of the excerpt may be easier to understand, but look at the last line. Can you guess from the context what gorging and gourmandizing might mean? Again, notice the -ing suffixes. What is Pumblechook doing? He’s eating rolls and bacon while the narrator drinks watered down milk and has a small bit of bread, so perhaps we can make a guess that gorging and gourmandizing have to do with eating good food.

This may seem like a great deal of work, but if you do this every time you read a difficult passage, it will get easier. Plus you will increase your vocabulary and your comprehension.

Now see if you can answer a few questions.

In the third sentence, mortifying means—

  1. to make somebody feel deeply ashamed and humiliated.
  2. to kill someone.
  3. to heighten somebody’s intellectual, moral, or spiritual awareness.

Let’s look at each choice. If you choose the first answer, do you think Mr. Pumblechook wants to make the narrator feel ashamed or humiliated? Mr. Pumblechook didn’t give him much food: “. . . giving me as much crumb as possible . . . with as little butter . . .” So this might be a possible answer.

Let’s look at the second choice. Do you think Mr. Pumblechook wants to kill the narrator? Mr. Pumblechook seems mean, but maybe not to the extent of wanting to kill Pip. He is also spending time teaching the narrator math, so he’s investing time and energy into the narrator. This is probably not the best answer.

What if you choose “c”? Do you think Mr. Pumblechook wants to heighten the narrator’s intellectual, moral, or spiritual awareness? Mr. Pumblechook doesn’t treat him like he cares very deeply, but he is teaching him math. The narrator does not like the situation very much, so this might not be a good answer either.

Based on the choices and how they are used in the context of the passage, the first one seems like the best possible answer.

Now try some questions on your own.

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Now that you’ve seen how easy it is to find the meaning of unfamiliar words by breaking them apart, you might want to visit the website “Building a Better Vocabulary” to continue your study of affixes. Once you are on the website, scroll to the bottom of the page. There you will find quizzes to help you gain more knowledge about words and become a better reader.