Final answer:
The statement is true; teaching the most common affixes and their meanings is an application of structural analysis. This includes analyzing words into stems and suffixes, understanding spelling changes during word formation, and morphological changes due to prefix assimilation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Teaching students the most common affixes and their meanings is indeed an application of structural analysis. This statement is true. Structural analysis involves understanding the components that make up a word, including roots, prefixes, and suffixes, and how they combine to give the word its meaning and sometimes its grammatical function. For example, in the word 'analysis', the stem 'analy' is combined with the suffix 'sis' to form a noun that means the process of analyzing something.
Analyzing words into stems and suffixes helps with vocabulary development and word comprehension. For instance, when combining the stem 'gallery' with the suffix 'ies' to form the plural 'galleries', the letter 'y' changes to 'i' to maintain the correct spelling conventions. Similarly, words like 'hurry' become 'hurries', 'study' becomes 'studies', and so on, where the 'y' changes to 'i' before adding 'es' to form the correct plural spelling.
In terms of prefixes, understanding how they assimilate with stems also forms part of structural analysis. For instance, the full assimilation of the prefix 'ad-' in words like 'assimilate' and 'assess' shows morphological changes that affect the spelling and meaning of the resulting word. Additionally, certain additions like 'dis-' or 'mis-' may lead to the doubling of letters such as 'ss' in words like 'disseminate' or 'misspell' owing to simple addition rules.