Rules and Patterns of Word Formation

I. The following are some rules to keep in mind when trying to figure
out the elements that make up a word.  Please note: like all "rules"
in the study of languages, there are enormous numbers of exceptions,
but you can usually depend on the following:

1) PREFIXES need not come at the beginning of the word, but they almost NEVER come at the end:
	RIGHT: A-the-ist:   "a-" = not/without
	RIGHT: my-A-sthen-ia:    "a-" = not/without
	WRONG:  amphi-bi-AN   "an-" = not/without
		INSTEAD: "-an" = pertaining to

2) Similarly, SUFFIXES need not come at the end of the word, but they
will NEVER EVER come at the beginning (this one you can bank on)

	RIGHT: tox-IC:  "-ic" = characterized by
	RIGHT: tox-IC-o-gnath:  "-ic" = characterized by

	Question:  What is a word that means "Tumour composed of fat"?
		WRONG: OMAlip:  "-oma" = "Tumour composed of"
		RIGHT:  lipOMA

	WRONG: AN-a-drom-ous: "-an" = pertaining to
		INSTEAD: ana-DROM-ous:  "ana-" = up

3) Between BASES (I repeat, BASES), a Linking Vowel may occur for ease
of pronunciation.  In Greek, the most common linking vowel is "O".
These vowels have no meaning and are not needed with some combinations
of bases.

	EXAMPLE: ech-O-cardi-O-gram (Linking Vowel between every base)
	EXAMPLE: CHOL-ANGI-ENTER-o-STOM-y (4 bases, 1 Linking Vowel)

3a) COROLLARY: Linking Vowels usually do NOT come between PREFIXES and
other elements:

	WRONG: par-O-dyn-ia ("O" = Linking Vowel; "DYN" = power)
	RIGHT:  par-ODYN-ia  ("ODYN" = pain)
	WRONG: peri-O-dont-ist ("DONT" = tooth?????)
	RIGHT: peri- ODONT-ist ("ODONT" = tooth)

     Nor do they come between SUFFIXES and other elements:

	WRONG: psych-O-sis ("-sis" = act of or process of)
	RIGHT: psych-OSIS ("-osis" = diseased condition of)

EXCEPTIONS: 
1. Linking Vowels can be used before the so-called
"compound suffixes" (see lessons 5 & 6).  This is not truly an
exception since the compound suffixes are composed of a base and a
suffix

		EXAMPLES: psych-O-logy (LOG+y); hem-O-philia (PHIL + ia)

2. Linking Vowels can be used to add extra elements onto a
pre-existing word.  In such cases, Linking vowes can occur adjacent to
prefixes and suffixes

		EXAMPLE: Tox-IC-O-gnath (Toxic + GNATH)
		EXAMPLE: Arthr-O-endo-scop-y (ARTHR + endoscopy)

4) You should try as hard as you can to account for EVERY LETTER in a
word.  If, after analysing a word, you find you have some unexplained
letters left, start over again and try to analyse it differently.

		Question:  What elements make up the word ENTOMOLOGY?

			WRONG ANSWER:
				ento- "within"
				-logy "science of"
				-MO-:  it's only 2 letters; I can ignore them, 						right?

			RIGHT ANSWER:
				en- "into"
				TOM- "to cut"
				-logy: "science of"