Research, Solution, Recognize | Vocabulary

0:00- [David] Give me just a minute, wordsmiths, I'm finishing a crossword puzzle. Alright, 14 across, nine letters. A "word expert," a Khan Academy ELA user. Wait a minute. W-O-R-D-S-M-I-T-H. "Wordsmith." Alright, that's the solution. I'm so glad I recognized the answer, and I didn't even have to do any research.

0:27So, those are our three words for this video. What a coincidence. Solution, research, and recognize. I'll go through each of them, and then we'll talk about their meanings and then I'll use each one in a sentence. Solution. "So-lu-tion." It's a noun, and it means a way to solve or deal with a problem.

0:47It has that "t-i-o-n" ending, which is a suffix, a word ender, that turns verbs into nouns. And the verb hiding inside of "solution" is "solve," to fix something. And putting "t-i-o-n", putting "tion" on the end of that verb, that action word, turns it into a noun, a person, place, thing, or idea.

1:08"Solution", a solving of something. "Research". "Research". Also "research". Two pronunciations. This is both a noun and a verb. To research, the verb, is to study something carefully to learn new things about it. And the "research", the noun, is careful study to learn new things about something.

1:30And whether it's a noun or a verb, will be made clear to you by the context. If it's a verb, an action word, you'll use it like a verb. "I 'researched' the history of pie." If it's a noun, you'll use it like a noun. "During my pie 'research,' I ate 200 pies." Finally, "recognize." "Re-cog-nize."

1:51It's a verb. Another action word. And another word with multiple meanings. The first meaning is to know who someone or something is because you've seen them or it before. Like, "I 'recognize' that man, he's the mayor." But, there's a second meaning, which is less literal.

2:08To recognize also means to understand or say that something is real or true. Let's dive into the example sentences and start with "recognize," so I can better explain what I mean. "After failing to take off 10 times, I 'recognized' that I probably should have read at least one book about flying before building an airplane."

2:28See, I now understand, I "realize" I now know that you can't just eyeball a flying machine. It's related to that meaning of realizing you know someone, but a little different. Not about people or things, but ideas. That's what "recognize" means in this context.

2:43It means realize. Next one, "The 'solution' to the city's clogged pipes," said Loretta, "is more dynamite." What's the problem? Clogged pipes. How does Loretta want to solve this problem? With explosives. Is that a good solution? Not my department. (David laughs) Last sentence.

3:03"Penelope 'researched' the history of her house and learned that a famous scientist once lived there!" She looked it up. She studied the history of her house carefully, and this is what she learned. She did "research." She "researched" it. You can also use those two pronunciations interchangeably, by the way.

3:21Go with whichever one sounds right to you. They're both correct. Thanks for sticking with me, wordsmiths. And hey, thanks again for jogging my memory on the crossword puzzle. I'll see you in the next one. The next video, I mean, not the next crossword puzzle. You can learn anything. David, out.