I think that knowing root words is good, but there are times when it really isn't terribly helpful. I think your example illustrates the limitations. Knowing the word claim, in my opinion does not give very much insight to the meaning of proclaim, declaim, acclaim, reclaim, disclaim and exclaim. Knowing the root is nice, but you still have to know all of these words individually, or it will be easy to make wrong assumptions. For instance:

Tom claimed again that he was tired.

This is one use of the word claim. You might be tempted to think that because the prefix re means to do again we could rewrite the sentence as follows:

Tom reclaimed that he was tired.

But this is not good usage of the word reclaim. Reclaim is used like recycle, or to assert ownership.

Jim reclaimed his seat on the couch from his little sister.

I'm not saying don't use roots at all, but be very careful that you don't make incorrect assumptions. I can sympathize with the difficulty of rote memorization, but I advice caution when making implications from root words.

I think that knowing root words is good, but there are times when it really isn't terribly helpful. I think your example illustrates the limitations. Knowing the word claim, in my opinion does not give very much insight to the meaning of proclaim, declaim, acclaim, reclaim, disclaim and exclaim. Knowing the root is nice, but you still have to know all of these words individually, or it will be easy to make wrong assumptions. For instance:

Tom claimed again that he was tired.

This is one use of the word claim. You might be tempted to think that because the prefix re means to do again we could rewrite the sentence as follows:

Tom reclaimed that he was tired.

But this is not good usage of the word reclaim. Reclaim is used like recycle, or to assert ownership.

Jim reclaimed his seat on the couch from his little sister.

I'm not saying don't use roots at all, but be very careful that you don't make incorrect assumptions. I can sympathize with the difficulty of rote memorization, but I advize caution when making implications from root words.

I think that knowing root words is good, but there are times when it really isn't terribly helpful. I think you example illustrates the limitations. Knowing the word claim, in my opinion does not give very much insight to the meaning of proclaim, declaim, acclaim, reclaim, disclaim and exclaim. Knowing the root is nice, but you still have to know all of these words individually, or it will be easy to make wrong assumptions. For instance:

Tom claimed again that he was tired.

This is one use of the word claim. You might be tempted to thing that because the prefix re means to do again we could rewrite the sentence as follows:

Tom reclaimed that he was tired.

But this is not good usage of the word reclaim. Reclaim is used like recycle, or to assert ownership.

Jim reclaimed his seat on the couch from his little sister.

I'm not saying don't use roots at all, but be very careful that you don't make incorrect assumptions. I can sympathize with the difficulty of rote memorization, but I advice caution when making implications from root words.

I think that knowing root words is good, but there are times when it really isn't terribly helpful. I think your example illustrates the limitations. Knowing the word claim, in my opinion does not give very much insight to the meaning of proclaim, declaim, acclaim, reclaim, disclaim and exclaim. Knowing the root is nice, but you still have to know all of these words individually, or it will be easy to make wrong assumptions. For instance:

Tom claimed again that he was tired.

This is one use of the word claim. You might be tempted to think that because the prefix re means to do again we could rewrite the sentence as follows:

Tom reclaimed that he was tired.

But this is not good usage of the word reclaim. Reclaim is used like recycle, or to assert ownership.

Jim reclaimed his seat on the couch from his little sister.

I'm not saying don't use roots at all, but be very careful that you don't make incorrect assumptions. I can sympathize with the difficulty of rote memorization, but I advice caution when making implications from root words.