Which concept supports decoding of multisyllabic words?

• A. Syllable division and affix knowledge
• B. Only memory of words
• C. Ignoring roots
• D. Alphabet knowledge alone

Answer: (A)

Chunking multisyllabic words into syllables and using affix knowledge helps decoding. Breaking a long word into syllables gives you manageable units to apply phonics rules to each part, so you can pronounce the word more accurately. At the same time, recognizing prefixes and suffixes (and understanding their meanings) reveals pronunciation patterns and how the word’s form changes its meaning. This combination—how the word is built from smaller parts and how those parts alter pronunciation—lets you read unfamiliar words more reliably and infer meaning.

Relying only on memory won’t help with new or unfamiliar multisyllabic words, ignoring roots removes important meaning clues that aid both decoding and comprehension, and knowing the alphabet alone doesn’t teach how to blend syllables or use affixes to guide pronunciation.