Pull, push, speak, write, and cut

Follow one root into related words. Read each connection and explain how the shared meaning develops. Select a word to load its path in the matrix below.

• at + tractattractverb

  To draw someone or something toward a place or goal.

  Tobacco profits helped attract English settlers to Virginia.

• at + tract + ionattractionnoun

  Something that draws interest or encourages movement toward it.

  The attraction of work in El Norte combined with pressures pushing families out of Mexico.

• at + tract + iveattractiveadjective

  Likely to draw interest or desire.

  Already-cleared Powhatan farmland was attractive to expanding tobacco growers.

• ex + tractextractverb

  To take or draw something out of a larger source.

  Planters used coercion to extract labor from enslaved people.

• ex + tract + ionextractionnoun

  The process of taking something from a source.

  The extraction of labor depended on power as well as demand for agricultural products.

• con + tractcontractnoun

  A binding agreement between parties.

  An indenture was a contract that could require years of labor before freedom.

Explain the connection: “These words share ___. In ___ it helps mean ___; in ___ it helps mean ___.”

Follow one root into related words. Read each connection and explain how the shared meaning develops. Select a word to load its path in the matrix below.

• ex + pelexpelverb

  To force someone out of a place or group.

  Troops were used to expel Cherokee people from their homeland.

• ex + puls + ionexpulsionnoun

  The act of forcing someone out.

  Cherokee expulsion opened land to white settlers.

• re + pelrepelverb

  To push someone or something back or drive them away.

  Native resistance sought to repel colonists who threatened land and food supplies.

• re + puls + ionrepulsionnoun

  The act of driving something away, or a strong feeling of disgust.

  The poisoned wine can produce repulsion in a reader while also demanding an explanation of colonial motives.

• re + puls + iverepulsiveadjective

  Causing strong disgust or aversion.

  The repulsive violence of the poisoning reveals the gap between the treaty and its purpose.

• com + pelcompelverb

  To force someone to act through pressure or authority.

  Debt could compel landowners to sell even after winning their claims.

Explain the connection: “These words share ___. In ___ it helps mean ___; in ___ it helps mean ___.”

Follow one root into related words. Read each connection and explain how the shared meaning develops. Select a word to load its path in the matrix below.

• dict + atedictateverb

  To impose a decision or command.

  Landowners’ power could help dictate the terms on which workers obtained land or credit.

• dict + ate + iondictationnoun

  The act of speaking words for someone else to write, or issuing commands.

  Taking dictation from officials would record their claims, but historians must also examine whose interests those claims served.

  Drop the final silent e before the vowel suffix: dictate + ion → dictation.

• dict + ate + ordictatornoun

  A ruler who exercises concentrated power with few effective limits.

  Calling a ruler a dictator is a claim about power that should be tested against the rules people actually faced.

  Drop the final silent e before the vowel suffix: dictate + or → dictator.

• dict + ate + or + ialdictatorialadjective

  Exercising power by imposing commands without meaningful opposition.

  Dictatorial control leaves little room for the people governed to challenge decisions about their lives.

  Drop the final silent e before the vowel suffix: dictate + or → dictator.

• pre + dictpredictverb

  To state what is likely to happen.

  Planters could not reliably predict that students would accept plantation inequality after learning democratic ideals.

• pre + dict + ionpredictionnoun

  A statement about a likely future event.

  Takaki’s discussion of demographic change invites readers to examine a prediction about who will count as a minority.

Explain the connection: “These words share ___. In ___ it helps mean ___; in ___ it helps mean ___.”

Follow one root into related words. Read each connection and explain how the shared meaning develops. Select a word to load its path in the matrix below.

• de + scribedescribeverb

  To give an account of what someone or something is like.

  English writers could describe Native people as uncivilized while ignoring evidence of their farming.

• de + script + iondescriptionnoun

  An account of the qualities or features of something.

  A description of Native people as idle helped justify taking their land.

• de + script + ivedescriptiveadjective

  Giving information about what something is like.

  A descriptive sentence identifies what happened before an analysis explains why it mattered.

• pre + scribeprescribeverb

  To set out a required rule or course of action.

  Colonial law could prescribe different punishments for Black and white servants.

• pre + script + ionprescriptionnoun

  An officially stated rule or recommended course of action.

  Allotment was presented as a prescription for Native independence, even as it reduced Native landholding.

• pro + scribeproscribeverb

  To forbid or prohibit.

  English authorities used rules to proscribe Irish participation in public office.

Explain the connection: “These words share ___. In ___ it helps mean ___; in ___ it helps mean ___.”

Follow one root into related words. Read each connection and explain how the shared meaning develops. Select a word to load its path in the matrix below.

• leg + iblelegibleadjective

  Clear enough to be read.

  A legible copy of John Punch’s court record lets readers check how his sentence differed from the others.

• leg + ible + itylegibilitynoun

  The quality of being clear enough to read.

  The legibility of a record matters when an argument about racial hierarchy depends on John Punch’s exact sentence.

  Before -ity, -ible takes the form -ibil-: legible + ity → legibility.

• il + leg + ibleillegibleadjective

  Too unclear to read reliably.

  An illegible line in a court record would make a claim about John Punch’s punishment harder to verify.

• se + lectselectverb

  To choose from available options.

  We can select evidence that shows both the material demand for land and the ideas used to defend taking it.

• se + lect + ionselectionnoun

  The process or result of choosing.

  A selection of only official promises would hide the actions that contradicted them.

• se + lect + iveselectiveadjective

  Choosing some information or people while leaving others out.

  A selective history can repeat colonial judgments while omitting Native farming.

Explain the connection: “These words share ___. In ___ it helps mean ___; in ___ it helps mean ___.”

Follow one root into related words. Read each connection and explain how the shared meaning develops. Select a word to load its path in the matrix below.

• com + mitcommitverb

  To pledge oneself to an action or cause.

  Workers could commit to a shared strike despite employers’ efforts to divide them.

• com + mit + mentcommitmentnoun

  A pledge or sustained dedication to something.

  Commitment to a collective struggle helped garment workers continue demanding change.

• ad + mitadmitverb

  To allow someone to enter or participate.

  The Brown ruling required public schools to admit students without racial segregation, but full integration took years.

• ad + miss + ionadmissionnoun

  Permission to enter or join.

  Admission to a formerly segregated school required more than a legal statement of equality.

• per + mitpermitverb

  To allow something to happen.

  Unequal laws could permit white servants a future freedom while denying it to Black workers.

• per + miss + ionpermissionnoun

  Approval that allows an action.

  Permission from English authorities did not make taking Native land just.

Explain the connection: “These words share ___. In ___ it helps mean ___; in ___ it helps mean ___.”

Follow one root into related words. Read each connection and explain how the shared meaning develops. Select a word to load its path in the matrix below.

• in + cis + ionincisionnoun

  A cut made into something.
• in + cis + iveincisiveadjective

  Clear and sharp in thought or expression.
• ex + cis + ionexcisionnoun

  The act of cutting something out.

Explain the connection: “These words share ___. In ___ it helps mean ___; in ___ it helps mean ___.”

Follow one root into related words. Read each connection and explain how the shared meaning develops. Select a word to load its path in the matrix below.

• sect + ionsectionnoun

  A part divided from a whole.
• dis + sectdissectverb

  To cut apart for close study.
• dis + sect + iondissectionnoun

  The process of cutting something apart for study.

Explain the connection: “These words share ___. In ___ it helps mean ___; in ___ it helps mean ___.”