Root of the Week: GRAPH (Monday)

Autograph (Noun)

“Auto” means “self” and graph means “writing,” so an autograph is a signature made by oneself, a person’s own signature. “Bio” means “life,” so an autobiography is a person’s life story written by him- or herself.

Autobiography, Paragraph (Noun)

Like any other piece of writing, an autobiography contains paragraphs. A paragraph is a unit of writing that focuses on a particular idea or theme. Dividing up a long, written text into paragraphs makes the writer’s train of thought easier to follow.

Epigraph (Noun)

Sometimes a long piece of writing is preceded by an epigraph, which is a short, pithy saying or bit of verse that appears above the main text (the Greek suffix “epi” means “above”) and encapsulates an idea on which the writer intends to expand.