WordS on Wednesday

The limits of my language are the limits of my mind - Ludwig Wittgenstein

21st April

ECO or EGO?

Two little words, very similar in spelling but oh so different in meaning.

Sometimes a picture, symbol or graphic can help you work out the meaning of words. Look at the graphics to help you think about the different meanings.

Eco and Ego can be words on their own and are also root words. The words below and their definitions will help clarify your understanding.

Ecological - actions or things doing the least damage to the environment or which care for the environment

Ecologist - a scientist who studies living things in their ecosystems

Ecology - the science of living things and how they interact with each other and their environment

Ecosystems - a community of living things

Ecocentric - not able to understand the views of others, only considering your own opinion

Egotism - an inflated or exaggerated sense of yourself and your importance.

Egotist - a person who is vain, boastful, not bothered about others, someone who always puts themselves first, selfish.

new word?

Be a word detective and see how many words you can learn.

  1. When you read or listen to someone reading aloud, or in a conversation, take a second to notice new words.

  2. Note it! Write it down or say it out loud and if you decide you do want to know what it means, do the following:

  3. Think about what you do understand and know from the other words, the sentence or phrase - give it your best deduction (a deduction is an intelligent guess, one based on the evidence you have - the police are great at deducing, it's how they catch criminals!).

  4. Ask someone else what it means or use a dictionary (if you haven't one at home, here's a link to an online dictionary)

  5. Think about how close you were. It's remarkable how the rest of a phrase or sentence can help you be a super sleuth with words.

  6. Try to find three times in the same day where you use the word in your writing or talking to someone else - this is the magic bit for learning the word and remembering it.