thienan123456
Member
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2012
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Vietnamese
- Home Country
- Vietnam
- Current Location
- Vietnam
I'm wondering if the word "preponderance" is a word family of the word "ponder"?
One word can't be a family of another. What you're wondering is whether the two words are in the same word family, or whether one word is in the same family as another. (I don't know).I'm wondering if the word "preponderance" is a word family of the word "ponder"?
One word can't be a family of another. What you're wondering is whether the two words are in the same word family, or whether one word is in the same family as another. (I don't know).
"Preponderance' is the obvious answer. Whether the test-setter has simply assumed that 'ponder' is the base word for 'preponderance', I don't know. The OED, or some other etymological dictionary might help. 'Preponderance' could have arisen from "the state of having been thoroughly 'pre-pondered' (pondered beforehand) before making a decision". It could also have come from "ponderous", signifying the lengthy weight of sifting all the evidence. Maybe someone else knows.Well, there's a question like this: Use the correct form of the word in parentheses to complete this sentence.
The ______ of evidence suggests that he's guilty. (PONDER)
The answer is preponderance and what I want to know is that if this can be possible.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_family
A word family is the base form of a word plus its inflected forms and derived forms made from affixes (Hirsh & Nation 1992, p. 692). The idea is that a base word and its inflected forms support the same core meaning, and can be considered learned words if a learner knows both the base word and the affix.
So according to this, the foregoing is impossible, right?
If you have a question about the English language and would like to ask one of our many English teachers and language experts, please click the button below to let us know: