Word Formation
Use of English Part 3
Word formation
You get a root word in capitals and change its form to fit a gap. 8 items, 1 mark each, in the B2, C1 and C2 papers.
The results of the experiment were quite ________. EXPECT
Answer: unexpected - negative prefix un- + adjective form -ed
Answer: unexpected - negative prefix un- + adjective form -ed
121Word families
20+Key prefixes
20+Key suffixes
How to answer
- Part of speech? Before a noun → adjective or noun. After a verb → noun or adverb. After to → verb.
- Which suffix? Nouns: -tion, -ness, -ity, -ment, -ance. Adjectives: -ful, -less, -ive, -al, -ous, -able. Adverbs: -ly. Verbs: -ise, -ify, -en.
- Negative prefix needed? Check the meaning: un-, in-, im-, ir-, il-, dis-, mis-.
- Spelling change? happy → happiness, create → creativity, describe → description, occur → occurrence.
All parts must be correct for the mark - part of speech, suffix, and prefix if one's needed.
Common traps
- Double transformation: some items need prefix AND suffix - EMPLOY → unemployment.
- Spelling changes: -tion often changes the stem - describe → description, repeat → repetition.
- -ful vs -less: opposite meanings, identical structure - read the sentence carefully.
- Irregular forms: strong → strength, long → length, wide → width, high → height.
Prefixes
Before the root
Prefixes change meaning, not part of speech. Negative prefixes are the most tested type - the correct one depends on the root, not a fixed rule, so this is a common source of errors.
Negative prefixes
un-not / reverse of
- happy→unhappy
- expected→unexpected
- employment→unemployment
- aware→unaware
- pack→unpack
in-not (Latin roots)
- complete→incomplete
- formal→informal
- secure→insecure
- accurate→inaccurate
- direct→indirect
im-not (before m/p/b)
- possible→impossible
- polite→impolite
- patient→impatient
- mature→immature
- moral→immoral
ir-not (before r)
- regular→irregular
- relevant→irrelevant
- responsible→irresponsible
- rational→irrational
- reversible→irreversible
il-not (before l)
- legal→illegal
- logical→illogical
- legible→illegible
- literate→illiterate
- legitimate→illegitimate
dis-not / opposite
- agree→disagree
- honest→dishonest
- appear→disappear
- satisfied→dissatisfied
- organised→disorganised
mis-wrongly / badly
- understand→misunderstand
- lead→mislead
- behave→misbehave
- interpret→misinterpret
- use→misuse
non-not (factual/neutral)
- fiction→non-fiction
- existent→non-existent
- verbal→non-verbal
- renewable→non-renewable
- sense→nonsense
Degree, time and position prefixes
over-too much / above
- work→overwork
- estimate→overestimate
- confident→overconfident
- crowded→overcrowded
under-too little / below
- estimate→underestimate
- rated→underrated
- achieve→underachieve
- funded→underfunded
re-again / back
- use→reuse
- consider→reconsider
- build→rebuild
- assure→reassure
pre-before
- view→preview
- arranged→prearranged
- occupied→preoccupied
- historic→prehistoric
inter-between / among
- national→international
- active→interactive
- connected→interconnected
- dependent→interdependent
self-by / of oneself
- employed→self-employed
- confident→self-confident
- sufficient→self-sufficient
- aware→self-aware
out-surpass / beyond
- number→outnumber
- perform→outperform
- weigh→outweigh
- spoken→outspoken
multi-many
- cultural→multicultural
- national→multinational
- media→multimedia
- tasking→multitasking
More common prefixes
anti-against / opposed to
- social→antisocial
- biotic→antibiotic
- clockwise→anticlockwise
post-after / later than
- graduate→postgraduate
- war→post-war
- script→postscript
de-remove / reverse
- frost→defrost
- forest→deforest
- code→decode
sub-under / below
- way→subway
- marine→submarine
- standard→substandard
co-together / with
- operate→cooperate
- exist→coexist
- author→co-author
trans-across / change
- form→transform
- port→transport
- late→translate
Suffixes
After the root
Suffixes change the part of speech - the core skill tested here: spot which suffix is needed, then apply any spelling changes.
Noun suffixes
-tion / -sionaction / state
- educate→education
- decide→decision
- pollute→pollution
- discuss→discussion
- describe→description
-nessstate / quality of
- happy→happiness
- aware→awareness
- dark→darkness
- lonely→loneliness
- weak→weakness
-ity / -tystate / quality of
- equal→equality
- creative→creativity
- possible→possibility
- loyal→loyalty
- flexible→flexibility
-mentaction / result
- achieve→achievement
- develop→development
- employ→employment
- disappoint→disappointment
- manage→management
-ance / -encestate / quality (noun)
- important→importance
- different→difference
- persist→persistence
- rely→reliance
- tolerate→tolerance
-er / -or / -istperson / agent
- teach→teacher
- direct→director
- science→scientist
- journal→journalist
- economy→economist
Note: -ance / -ence are noun suffixes only. importance = noun. Never write importantance as an adjective.
Adjective suffixes
-fulhaving / full of
- help→helpful
- stress→stressful
- success→successful
- power→powerful
- care→careful
-lesswithout / lacking
- help→helpless
- care→careless
- home→homeless
- harm→harmless
- hope→hopeless
-ive / -ativetending to / having quality
- create→creative
- compete→competitive
- imagine→imaginative
- attract→attractive
- inform→informative
-al / -ialrelating to
- nation→national
- environment→environmental
- finance→financial
- technology→technological
- commerce→commercial
-ous / -ioushaving the quality of
- danger→dangerous
- ambition→ambitious
- mystery→mysterious
- fame→famous
- vary→various
-able / -iblecapable of
- rely→reliable
- accept→acceptable
- sense→sensible
- flex→flexible
- sustain→sustainable
Verb & adverb suffixes
-ise / -izemake / become (verb)
- modern→modernise
- popular→popularise
- global→globalise
- character→characterise
-ify / -fymake / cause (verb)
- simple→simplify
- intense→intensify
- just→justify
- class→classify
-enmake / become (verb)
- wide→widen
- short→shorten
- strength→strengthen
- dark→darken
-lyin a … way (adverb)
- quick→quickly
- significant→significantly
- fortunate→fortunately
- exception→exceptionally
-ic adjectives → -ally: dramatic → dramatically, basic → basically, automatic → automatically. Exception: public → publicly.
More noun suffixes
-shipstate / rank / skill
- leader→leadership
- friend→friendship
- member→membership
-domstate / condition
- free→freedom
- bored→boredom
- wise→wisdom
-hoodstate / period of life
- child→childhood
- neighbour→neighbourhood
- adult→adulthood
-ageaction / result / amount
- short→shortage
- use→usage
- pack→package
Use of English Part 3
Word formation practice
Read each sentence and write the correct form of the word in capitals. One mark per item - spelling counts.
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