Prefixes and suffixes

DOWNLOAD THE NEW AND IMPROVED PREFIX AND SUFFIX LIST HERE

 

A key part of the Cambridge Exam English assessments is word formation. You need to take the root form of a word and adapt it so that it makes sense in a sentence. You need to focus on learning the high frequency root words and put them into context so that you can recognize how to fill in the gaps. Try these exercises to improve your understanding HERE.

Word formation is important as it allows language learners to increase their knowledge of word classes and helps them to increase their vocabulary base. For example, if you learn the word SPEND, you should learn all of the different forms of the word.

Verb = spend

Noun = expense(s)

Adjective = (in)expensive

Adverb = expensively

This way you will learn all of the words in the word family and not just one. Try our vocabulary game HERE to test your knowledge of word formation.

VOCABULARY TRICKS FOR THE WORD FORMATION: This post is going to point out some of the tricks that you can use to know what type of word, meaning which “word class”, you need to use to fill in the gaps in word formation exercises for the Use of English exercises of the Cambridge Exam English assessments.

 

WORD CLASSES:

  • We already know that you can fill in the gaps using nouns, -age, -al, -ance, – ence, -cy,-dom, -hood, -iety, -ity, -ness. see the suffixes.
  • Verb suffixes are usually ...ize, …en, …fy
  • You can also use adjectives, see the suffixes …al, …able, …ful, …ic, …ive, …less, …ous, …y, click HERE.
  • You can use adverbs, usually ending with the …ly, …ily or …ally suffix. See our post on adverbs here.

Another essential part of word formation is having an extensive knowledge of prefixes and suffixes. You need to know what the mean and how they fit into individual contexts. For instance, it is convenient to understand that Re = again and Anti = against. Be careful with negative prefixes as they can be confusing.

 

non-

not

nonsense

 

dis-*

not, opposite of

disable

 

in-, im-, il-, ir-*

not

injustice, impossible, illegal, irregular

 

un-*

not

unkind

 

DOWNLOAD THE NEW AND IMPROVED PREFIX AND SUFFIX LIST HERE

 

PREFIX MEANING EXAMPLE
ANTI AGAINST ANTIHISTAMINE
BI TWO BICYCLE
DE OPPOSITE DETER
EN/EM CAUSE EMBARK
FORE BEFORE FORECAST
IN/IM IN INEPT
INTER BETWEEN INTERCHANGE
MID MIDDLE MIDDAY
MIS WRONGLY MISUSE
NON NOT NONSENSE
DIS NOT/OPPOSITE DISABILITY
IN/IM/IL/IR/UN NOT ILLEGITIMATE
OVER MORE OVERFISH
PRE BEFORE PREEMPT
RE AGAIN REDO
SEMI HALF SEMICIRCLE
SUB UNDER SUBNORMAL
SUPER ABOVE SUPERPOWER
TRANS ACROSS TRANSATLANTIC
UNDER UNDER UNDERVALUE
ABLE/IBLE CAN DO ACCEPTABLE
AL/IAL HAVING VOCATIONAL
ED PAST (PARTICIPLE) LISTENED
EN MADE OF WOODEN
ER COMPARATIVE SILLIER
ER WHO WORKS AS  RESEARCHER
EST SUPERLATIVE FATTEST
FUL FULL OF SUCCESSFUL
IC POSSESS REALISTIC
ING GERUND/PRESENT PARTICIPLE LAUGHING
ION/TION ACT COLLABORATION
ATION/ITION/ITY/TY STATE OF ATTRITION
IVE/ATIVE/ITIVE ADJECTIVE COLLABORATIVE
LESS WITHOUT CARELESS
LY/ILY CHARACTERISTIC OF HAPPILY
MENT ACTION ENJOYMENT
NESS STATE OF HAPPINESS
OUS/EOUS/IOUS POSSESSING ADVENTUROUS
S/ES PLURAL CLASSES
Y CHARACTERISED BY FUNNY

For a full PREFIX AND SUFFIX LIST, click HERE with explanations

 

It is recommendable to learn words in context and through examples, not just memorize individual prefixes and suffixes.

Recent Posts

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0
YouTube
Instagram