day 16: it was just an “illusion” (or was it an “allusion”?)

Adding to the alluded/eluded and allusive/elusive quandary is the illusion/allusion Wacky Word pair! Again, looking at roots and affixes can be a great help.

Let’s start with allusion—since we had alluded yesterday. (Yes, you read that right—the roots are the same!)

1. Allusion (allude)

a.      Related to ludicrous: Hint—“What he alluded to was ludicrous!”

b.     Related to allusion—“He made an allusion to our previous conversation.”

c.      If you remember the allude/ludicrous (What he alluded to was ludicrous!), you will also remember allusion—allusion is something you allude to.

                                                                        i.     Allude is the verb---“What did he allude to?”

                                                                      ii.     Allusion* is the noun—The thing—“What was his allusion to your situation?”

2. Illusion

      a. Related to illustrate—See that root?

              i. Illustration is a picture

             ii. Illusion is an abstract picture

b.     Used to mean a facsimile or something that appears different than it is

i. “The ride gives you the illusion that you are on a mountain.”

ii. “They used Kleenexes to give you the illusion of fabric.”

iii. “Her success is just an illusion."

c.  Illusion is also related to hallucination—seeing things that are not really there!

*Note: A more advanced vocabulary technique that you will learn this year on LL 365 is “illustrated” in suffixes—tion and sion generally signify a word is a noun.