CAT 2010: Learning words through 'roots'
In the last two articles, he has shown you words through various roots such as loq, peri, poten etc. For this week, the roots Balakrishna has chosen are Ver/Veri, Chron and Ante. Let us know what are the meanings and words from these roots.
Having a strong vocabulary is a boon for all CAT 2010 takers. But what about those who are not armed with the word power? Do they not stand a chance to clear the Verbal Ability section of CAT 2010? They certainly do, if they utilize the remaining time left for CAT 2010 in working for a strong vocabulary base.By now, you must have a fair amount of words in your vocabulary account. As our experts had suggested, there are several ways to bundle up your stock of words such as going through dictionaries, vocabulary books, using flash cards etc. But the most basic of them is to learning words through its roots. Sidharth Balakrishna, author, CAT expert and an alumnus of IIM Calcutta is constantly guiding you on strengthening your vocabulary. In the last two articles, he has shown you words through various roots such as loq, peri, poten etc.
For this week, the roots Balakrishna has chosen are Ver/Veri, Chron and Ante. Let us know what are the meanings and words from these roots.
Let us first consider the root Ver/Veri. “This root means ‘true’ or ‘genuine’. These are derived from Latin,” Balakrishna says.
• Verify: To check the accuracy or truth of something-could be a statement, some data, fact or figure etc
• Verifiable: Something that can be checked-the accuracy can be ascertained etc
• Veracity/ Veracious: These words mean something that is correct, truthful, genuine or accurate
• Verisimilar: Something that appears to be true
• Verily: Something that is true or certain, correct or accurate
• Veridity: Something that is genuine and true
• Veritable: Again, this means something that is true
The second root is Chron. “Whenever you see the root, ‘chron’, you should immediately think of ‘time’ for that is what the root means,” Balakrishna mentions.
• Chronology: This means “of, relating to, or arranged in or according to the order of time”
• Chronicle: A record of events in a chronological sequence (in order of time when they occurred)
• Chronic: Means occurring at frequent intervals of time
• Chronometer: A device used to measure/ keep time. A clock is therefore a chronometer
• Anachronism: Something that is out of place in time/ chronologically out of place. For example, if you see someone wearing a dress that was usually worn only in the medieval period, you could call that an ‘anachronism’
The third root which is considered by Balakrishna is ante. “This root means the same as the well-known prefix, pre means i.e. it means ‘before’,” Balakrishna explains.
• Ante-room: A room that leads to a bigger room (literally, a small room before a bigger one)
• Antediluvian: Literally, of or belonging to the period before the great Biblical flood, generally used to refer to someone or someone who is old-fashioned, out of date or antiquated
• Antebellum: The root ‘bell’ means aggressive (think of the words ‘bellicose’, ‘belligerent’ etc). ‘Antebellum’ therefore literally means ‘before the war’ (here the reference is generally to the American Civil War)
• Antedate: To be of an older date than something else, thus precede in time
• Antecedent: refers to a preceding circumstance or event; thus a precursor or fore-runner
Balakrishna also suggests you to find out more words from these roots. “I suggest you take it as a home assignment to find some other words which use these roots,” he says.
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