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Affixes Prefixes Suffixes
Affixes Prefixes Suffixes
Affixes Prefixes Suffixes
READING COMPREHENSION
When you try to figure out the meaning of a new vocabulary item from the context and to use the item
correctly in speaking and writing, it helps to know what part of speech the word is. Sometimes, you can tell
the part of speech from the suffix (the ending) on a word. Here are some common noun and adjective
suffixes.
NOUNS ADJECTIVES
Exercise 1. Are the following words nouns or adjectives? On each line, write n (noun) or adj
(adjective). The first items are done as examples.
Exercise 2. Complete the following sentences with the noun or adjective from Exercise 1 that is
related to each underlined word. The first one is done as an example.
Exercise 1. Are the following words nouns, adjectives or adverbs? On each line, write n (noun), adj
(adjective) or adv (adverb). The first item is done as an example.
Exercise 3. Read the following sentences. Most of the sentences have at least one incorrect word. Write the
part that is missing. IF you think a word is complete and doesn’t need anything, put an X in the
blank.
1. People from differ_____ cultural backgrounds may think different____ about family life.
For instance, there may be a big differ____ in their ideas about the import_____ of
marriage and children_____ .
2. Family members today may not share many family activit____ because they probably
lead very act____ lives outside the home. For example, a woman may active_____ run
her own business. In this case, she probably expects her family to take more
responsabil____ for housework and shopping.
3. Nobody in our family likes to clean up the kitchen after dinner. I guess we’re a
typical_____ American family. My brother and I had a terrible argu____ last night about
the dish____. Final____, after about ten minutes of screaming, we decided to do them
together. Unfortunate____, my brother and I are both care____ people. We broke
three glass____ and a very expens_____ plate.
When you understand the meanings and uses of suffixes (word endings), you can better learn
vocabulary systematically. In other words, you can study word families – groups of related words with the
same stem, or main part, but different suffixes. In some dictionaries, these related words appear in the
same word entry; in other dictionaries, related words appear in separate entries. Here are examples of
word families.
Exercise 1. Complete the following story with words from the displayed words. For some blanks, more
than one answer may be correct. The first few are done for you.
In my favorite story, someone murdered a hotel manager. No one seemed to have a motive, so this
murderous act mystified everyone except the detective. _____________, she figured out the answer to the
______________ quickly. The _______________ was the chef.
nerve nervous nervously
perfection perfectionist perfect
The chef was a ___________ - he insisted on _________ in the kitchen. Every meal had to be
_____________. Because of the cook’s perfectionism, the kitchen workers were always feeling
_______________ . One day the hotel manager had the ___________________ to talk to the cook about the
problem. _______________, he went into the kitchen.
surprise surprised surprisingly
critic criticism criticize
The manager’s ______________ was a complete _____________ to the chef. After all, no one ever
__________d the cook because all the meals from the kitchen were perfect. Also, the manager was not a
well–known food _____________. But ______________, the chef didn’t get angry at the manager. Then the
manager was ________________ and worried.
The next evening, the manager got a strange fortune cookie with his Chinese dinner. His _______________
said, “You are ____________ to get this warning about your ___________ death, _____________, you will
die tonight. But _________, now you know about the ______________.
stranger strange strangely
silencer silence silent
When a ______________ came into the dining room, no one said anything; everyone was ______________
_____________. Suddenly, a __________________ thing happened. A shout broke the _______________.
A kitchen helper yelled, “Help! The chef is shot!”
6
A prefix is a word element placed at the beginning of a root. Prefixes are like suffixes in that they change
the meaning of the root and form a new word; however, prefixes do not change the word’s part of speech.
Knowing the meaning of a prefix will give a clue to the meaning of the word. The following prefixes mean
“no” or “not” and add negative meanings to words; that is, these prefixes create antonyms, or words with
opposite meanings.
Exercise 1. Which of these words contains a prefix with a negative meaning? Underline these prefixes.
Put an X on the lines next to the words without negative prefix. The first two are done as
examples.
1. incomplete 9. nonstop
2. X include 10. impolite
3. important 11. imply
4. uncommon 12. unfortunately
5. illegal 13. impossible
6. inherited 14. inhabitants
7. distance 15. illness
8. disagree 16. uncomfortable
Exercise 2. From your own knowledge, write the missing negative (dis-, il-, im-, in-, non-, un-)in each
blank. Then check your answers in the dictionary.
a. Prefixes
Prefixes come before a root word and have an adverbial effect. That is, they modify the meaning of the
root word.
In vade In complete
vert correct
b. Suffixes
They have two functions:
1) They show grammatical inflexion.