What are word families?

Root words form the basis of word families, or groups of all the words derived from a given root.

Word families include all the inflections and derivations of a given root word. However, because language evolves over time, some words in a word family might have very different meanings, even if they share the same etymological root.

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How can I identify a root word?

To break down a word and identify the root, it is helpful to first identify any affixes attached to the word. Prefixes and suffixes often modify root words, so removing these can reveal the root word and help you unlock the word’s meaning.

For example, “predated” has the prefix “pre-” (“before”) and the suffix “-ed,” which is used here to indicate the past tense. Removing the prefix and the suffix gives us the root word “datus,” or the past participle of “dare,” “to give,” in Latin.

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What is the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses?

Both restrictive clauses and nonrestrictive clauses are types of relative clauses (or adjective clauses), which act as adjectives in sentences to describe nouns or pronouns.

  • Restrictive clauses give essential identifying information about the nouns they modify. They often answer the question “which one?” If they are removed from a sentence, the meaning of the sentence is changed or becomes unclear (e.g., “Apples that are picked too early are sour”).
  • Nonrestrictive clauses give extra, nonessential information about the nouns they modify. They can be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning or making it unclear (e.g., “Apples, which are my favorite fruit, are high in fiber”).

Nonrestrictive clauses are set off from the rest of the sentence by commas. Restrictive clauses should not be set off by commas.

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Why are nonrestrictive clauses used?

Nonrestrictive clauses are used to give extra, nonessential information about a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase (e.g., “The summer Olympics, which take place every 4 years, will be in Paris”).

Unlike restrictive clauses, which are used to identify people or things, nonrestrictive clauses are typically used to give additional information about particular people or things. So, they are frequently used with specific nouns (e.g., “my mom,” “the new teacher,” “your house”) rather than general nouns (e.g., “kids,” “the man,” “books”).

When a relative clause is used to describe a proper noun (e.g., “David,” “Prospect Park”), a nonrestrictive clause is almost always used.

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Which word signals a nonrestrictive clause?

Nonrestrictive clauses, like all relative clauses (or adjective clauses), begin with a relative pronoun, typically “which,” “who,” “whom,” or “whose” (e.g., “I want to vacation in Majorca, which is part of Spain”).

The relative pronoun “that” is only used with restrictive clauses, never with nonrestrictive clauses.

Nonrestrictive clauses are set off from the rest of the sentence by commas.

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How can I identify a misplaced modifier?

To identify a misplaced modifier, it is important to understand which word(s) in a sentence a modifier is describing. If the modifier is far away from those words, it likely needs to be moved closer.

Example:
“Running away with its tail between its legs, the child laughed after frightening the dog.”

In this sentence, the subject of the modifying clause “Running away with its tail between its legs” clearly refers to the dog, but another subject, “the child” is squeezed between the clause and what it describes.

Better phrasings would be as follows:

  • “The child laughed after frightening the dog, which ran away with its tail between its legs.”
  • “Running away with its tail between its legs, the dog had been frightened by the child, who laughed afterward.”

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What is a squinting modifier?

A squinting modifier, also known as an ambiguous modifier, is a modifier that could possibly modify two different parts of the sentence.

The following sentence has a squinting modifier:
“Paolo works in a restaurant serving shrimp.”
In this sentence, it is unclear if Paolo’s specific job is serving shrimp in a restaurant or if the restaurant is dedicated specifically to shrimp.

This can be clarified as either of the following two sentences:

  • “Paolo works serving shrimp in a restaurant.” [indicating that Paolo serves shrimp]
  • “Paolo works in a restaurant that serves shrimp.” [indicating that the restaurant serves shrimp]

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What’s the difference between dangling and misplaced modifiers?

A dangling modifier is a modifier that does not have a subject within the sentence. In contrast, a misplaced modifier does have a subject, but the modifier and the subject being modified are separated.

The following sentence has a dangling modifier:
“Eager to leave the room, the presentation ended early.”
In this sentence, there is no subject indicating who was eager to leave the room.

In contrast, this sentence has a misplaced modifier:
“My mom gave the food to the dog that we wouldn’t eat.”
The placement of the modifier “that we wouldn’t eat” makes it seem as if it is modifying “the dog” instead of “the food.”

A clearer structure would be the following:
“My mom gave the food that we wouldn’t eat to the dog.”

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