One of the basic structures of Word Microscope is the word sum.
A word sum shows how a word is built up by separating each element by a plus sign + at the joins.
It will also have a rewrite arrow → pointing to the finished word.
For example, the word sum, fiddle + s → fiddles, shows the suffix <−s> being added to the base <fiddle> to form the completed word <fiddles>.
Our on-line glossary contains more about Word Sums.
Word Microscope invites the user to explore the structure of a word by analysing it and dividing it into its constituent parts to form a Word Sum. You can do this using your own or the group's knowledge of word structure or you can call on the Ideas Probe for hints to help you.
This is how the word sum for <discussion> would appear in Word Microscope.
(Our glossary contains a word sum for <accommodation>.)
You can go on to build up a list of word sums. Here is an example of the sums generated in a session looking at the base word <cover>.
Starting with a simple base word you can go on to generate a lot of other words.
The idea of Word Microscope is to provide a forum for exploring the structure of words rather than provide closed definitive answers like a spell checker. The exploration could be your own independent working or between you and your class via an interactive white board, or as a dialogue with the Ideas Probe.