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Word Formation & Affixation Word Formation and Affixation: Receptive Vocabulary
Word Formation & Affixation Word Formation and Affixation: Receptive Vocabulary
If we have noticed that -ness often occurs at the end of nouns, such as
happiness, sadness or usefulness, we can make nouns of our own, for
example, carelessness (from the adjective careless).
When we know that un- is often used to show the negative of an adjective,
we can make the adjective unreliable from the positive adjective reliable
3. By knowing about these endings (called suffixes) and beginnings
(called prefixes) we can learn vocabulary more quickly.
All these words, formed from the root develop, are derivatives. They form a
Word Family.
Tips on Word Formation
It is useful to identify the root of any new word we learn, because it can help
us form other members of the Word Family..
Advise (verb) is the root of all these derivatives.
advisable
inadvisable
advisability
inadvisability
advisor
advice
(adjective)
(-ve adjective)
(adverb)
(-ve adverb)
(person who advises)
(noun)
Note that adverbs are built on the adjective rather than directly on the root:
(noun)
(adjective)
(adverb)
science
scientific
scientifically
history
historic
historically
geography
geographic
geographically
mathematics
mathematical
mathematically
Notice how frequently -ic was used to form the adjective, and -ically to
form the adverb. Mathematical is used here because we cannot add another
-ic to Mathematics.
In the text a number of words were in bold they are all derivatives.
When we group the derivatives under the Part of Speech they belong to, we
see some very common affixes:
Noun
(people)
teachers
specialists
students
learners
Noun
Adjective
correctness
pronunciation
confidence
dictionary
guidance
phonics
spelling
recording
definition
marker
individual
phonetic
useful
stressed
practical
helpful
comparative
-ve
Adjective
unsure
unstressed
Recording Vocabulary
Word Families can be recorded in the form of Mind Maps, which is known to
help learners remember more vocabulary.
In the table below are the most common affixes, together with some more
uncommon ones which are used for science subjects, for example:
exoexosphere,
endo -
hypo-
hyperhyperglycemia, ..
Noun
(people)
-or (visitor)
-er (teacher)
-ist (artist)
-(i)an
(politician)
-ant
(dependant)
Abstract Noun
Adjective
Prefixes
-ment
(argument)
-tion (attention)
-(a)tion
(civilization)
-(i)tion
(rendition)
-sion
(permission)
-(i)ty (poverty)
-ance
(importance)
-ence
(independence)
-ry (misery)
-ness (sadness)
-al (arrival)
-age (shortage)
-ism (racism)
-dom (freedom)
-hood
(childhood)
-ship
(leadership)
-ive (attractive)
-ical (practical)
-(i)ous
(generous)
-ful (helpful)
-y (happy)
-ar (popular)
-ised
(centralised)
-ly (weekly)
-ic (economic)
-en (wooden)
-ent (absorbent)
-(a)tory
(contradictory)
-ing (interesting)
-ed (interested)
-able/-ible
(capable)
-less (homeless)
-proof
(waterproof)
-ish (yellowish)
-th (fifth)
un- (unhappy)
in- (inability)
im- (impractical)
ir- (irregular)
il- (illegal)
de- (de-ice)
dis- (disappear)
pre- (preheat)
re- (redo)
mis-(misinterpret)
over- (overheated)
ex- (ex-Yugoslavia)
sub- (subnormal)
non- (nonsense)
co- (co-exist)
hypo(hypothermic)
hyper(hyperactive)
a- (atypical)
inter- (interact)
exo- (exothermic)
endo(endothermic)
anti- (anti-war)
pro- (pro-life)
bi- (bipolar)
tri- (triangle)
post- (post-war)
semi- (semidetached)
counter(counteract)
super- (superheated)
Miscellaneou
s
-ite (bauxite)
-ide (chloride)
-ine (chlorine,
bromine)
Verb
-en
(strength
-ate
(estimate
-ify
(quantify
-ise/ize
(criticize)
Stress in derivatives
The stress in a derivative might not be the same as in the root or in other
derivatives:
photograph
photographer
Ooo
photography
photographic
oOoo
oOoo
ooOo
It is always best to check a dictionary to see where the main stress is.
Special Cases
1. Adjectives derived from verbs
We can often make adjectives from verbs by adding -ing or -ed to
the verb:
Verb
-ing adjective
interest
bore
tire
interesting
boring
tiring
-ed adjective
interested
bored
tired
unstressed
Some other ing adjectives can be derived from nouns, for example
enterprising, and neighbouring.
2. Nouns derived from verbs
In the text we had the words spelling and recording. These are
nouns from the verbs spell and record. To name an activity, we often
make nouns from verbs. We call these Gerunds.
Other examples of Gerunds are:
listening, working, studying and learning
3. Comparatives and Superlatives
the
Note that:
1. We add -est to short words and the most to longer words.
2. We use the because the superlative describes a unique property there
is nothing greater than it.
The comparative and superlative are used for adverbs as well as adjectives:
Adjective
hard
tragic
interesting
little
few
good
bad
Adverb
well
badly
Comparative
harder
more tragic
more interesting
less
fewer
better
worse
Comparative
better
worse
Superlative
the hardest
the most tragic
the most interesting
the least
the fewest
the best
the worst
Superlative
the best
the worst
(adv)
(adv)
Spelling Tips
If the adjective has a consonant vowel consonant pattern, double the
consonant and add er/-est:
wet
wetter
wettest
big
bigger
biggest
If it ends in a y, change the y to i and add er/est:
happy
happier
happiest
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