English Words from Latin and Greek Elements

This is the exact book I used in high school, excellent book, excellent class, excellent teacher. The experience was knowledgeable and one of the best to date.

I originally checked this book out from my library to use as a textbook for my undergraduate etymology class, but I loved it so much that I had to have my own copy! Each chapter gives you a set of base/root words from Latin and Greek so you can learn them in chunks. However, I will admit that the chapter and index organization is not the clearest for the reader, but it's not half bad once you get used to it.

First, do note that it is most definitely a textbook. If you just want a book to help you understand the English language, I would read Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue. I had to read this for a course on Latin and Greek roots, and found this book very easy to follow despite not being very familiar with the subject matter. I did feel a few things could have used better explaining (it doesn't explain "doublets" well at all, and there were parts that were quite repetitive), and I think the usefulness of this book really comes down to how the instructor uses it, as well as the workbook. But overall, it was an engaging read, one that gave me a new area of interest beyond my credit requirement.

I first read this book in a college class, "Foundations of World Languages," and had since loaned it to other members of my family who were in class. I have had to replace mine twice so far because it doesn't seem to find its way home, but I will keep replacing it as often as necessary because it is a fascinating book and an aid to understanding the meaning of new words. Words you have never heard before can be deciphered with what is in this precious little book!

I did buy this for a class, and doing the required work was rather time consuming, however, it was also very rewarding and useful. Never again will you wonder when a medical professional throws out some term. Despite knowledge of Latin and/or Greek, this book just drills you on breaking words down when applied to English, as well as some light discussion of semantic shift over time and some other basic linguistic principles, which are sufficient for the layman or classics student, while short enough to not be tedious to someone in linguistics. The examples used are a bit antiquated in the chapter introductions, but as the rest of the lessons deal with antiquated suffixes, prefixes and roots/bases of words, it is rather timeless. I still frequently carry it with me to brush up on what I learned.

Twenty plus years ago I took a college class, Greek and Latin Elements in English. I loved the class, kept my class notes and notebook, but the book vanished when I went overseas. I was sad for a long time until I found it on Amazon Prime. I love it! As far as I can tell, it's accurate. I'm not a scholar, but I love knowing more about our language and passing on tidbits to help my children with vocabulary.

I was intrigued by this book and bought it. I wanted something for myself to be more aware of English roots, and also something I could use with my students to help them build their vocabularies. I teach English in a foreign high school. It was fun to flip through and look at, but not directly accessible for my kids. For me not really necessary either, though I will probably go over it off and on when I have some free time, for curiosity's sake. For me, the roots it explains that would be useful, I already know the majority of, and the ones in the book I don't know so well are generally unusual words/ technical words. It may be possible to use as one reference when making your own materials. For example if you have low level students or foreign learner students, this book as is wouldn't be so useful, but you could make your own materials using this, your own knowledge, and other references. This may be a work of 4 or 5 stars, but for my purposes, 3. I did not get the wkbk sold separately, and I recommend you don't get the wkbk at the same time as this bk. Get it first and see if it is useful to you before you get the wkbk.

I find this book excellent for my grandchildren who is now being educated in the home. I had something similar to this back in Jr. high school. I am glad that I found this book.

for the purpose of building vocabulary, I bought this. Explanation of etymology is very interesting to me. As my knowing etymology, each word becomes more familiar to me.