2022 / 2023 ASVAB For Dummies. Angie Papple Johnston

bibliography brev short abbreviate cede or ceed go, yield recede chrom color monochrome cogn know cognizant corp body corporate dict speak diction domin rule dominate flu or fluc flow influx form shape formulate fract or frag break fragment graph writing biography junct join juncture liber free liberate lum or lumen light illuminate oper work cooperate path or pathy suffer, feeling pathology port carry portable press squeeze repress scrib or script write describe sens or sent feel sentient tract pull traction voc or vok call revoke

When you see an unfamiliar word, try dropping a couple of letters from the beginning and/or the end of the word to see whether you recognize what’s left — the root. If so, you can make a good guess about the meaning of the word. You can find more root words to help maximize your vocabulary in Appendix C.

      Word families: Finding related words

When you see an unfamiliar word on the Word Knowledge section, don’t get upset and pound on the computer (they make you pay for those things if you break them). You may know the word after all — just in a different form. Suppose you run across the word beneficent on the Word Knowledge portion:

       Beneficent most nearly means

      (A) kind.

      (B) beautiful.

      (C) unhappy.

      (D) troubled.

      You sit there and begin to sweat. You’ve never seen the word before, and it’s all over for you, right? Well, maybe not. Take a closer look. What other word starting with the letters benefi do you know? How about the word benefit? A benefit is something that helps or aids. It’d be a good bet that the word beneficent is related to helping or aiding. So, when you look over the possible choices, you can choose the one that has something to do with helping.

      But wait! None of the answers states help or aid. Now what? Just use the process of elimination. If someone is helpful (beneficent), they probably aren’t troubled or unhappy. They may be beautiful, but more likely, they’re kind. So, the best answer would be Choice (A).

       Remember when your high school guidance counselor recommended that you take French or Spanish? You should thank them when you score well on this subtest. Why? Because knowledge of other languages can help you puzzle out the meaning of many English words. For example, if you know that salud means “health” in Spanish, you may be able to puzzle out the meaning of the English word salutary (favorable to or promoting health). Knowing that sang means “blood” in French may help you figure out what the English word sanguine means (try to puzzle this one out on your own; then check a dictionary to see how close you are).

      Deconstructing words

      Pulling apart words is a great strategy when you’re not sure what something means. Even knowing what part of a word means can help you make a smarter choice — and on the ASVAB, every question counts.

      Try to pull apart the word in this question to see whether you can figure out its meaning.

       Detractor most nearly means

      (A) critic.

      (B) driver.

      (C) expert.

      (D) adulatory.

      Take apart the word detractor:

       de- is the prefix

       tract is the root

       -or is the suffix

      If you’ve learned what any part of the word means, whether it’s the prefix, root, or suffix, finding the correct answer is easier. (Check Tables 4-2, 4-3, and 4-4 if you’re not sure yet.)

      The prefix de- means “away from,” tract means “pull,” and the suffix -or means “one who does a thing.” After you’ve broken down the word detractor, you can see that it means a person who pulls away from something.

Remember, too, that the suffix -or often makes a word a noun (a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea), so you can immediately rule out Choice (D). That leaves three choices: critic, driver, and expert.

      If you guessed that detractor most nearly means critic, Choice (A), you’re right. It’s the only one that makes sense when you know what each part of the word means.