Which statement best helps decode unfamiliar words by examining prefixes and suffixes?

• A. Relying only on pictures
• B. Memorizing a whole word list
• C. Analyzing prefixes and suffixes to infer meaning
• D. Ignoring morphology

Answer: (C)

Understanding unfamiliar words often comes from looking at how they are built—prefixes and suffixes reveal meaning even when the whole word is new. Prefixes like un-, re-, and mis- hint at negation, repetition, or incorrectness, while suffixes such as -able, -tion, -er, and -ly show how a word functions or its tense, part of speech, or action. By analyzing these parts, you can predict the sense of a new word by connecting the root with what the affixes suggest. This approach builds decoding power from familiar pieces and helps you generalize to many words beyond ones you’ve seen before. Relying only on pictures can fail when no image cues accompany a word, memorizing a long word list isn’t practical or transferable, and ignoring morphology discards a valuable tool for uncovering meaning.