Ano Zero Worksheet 3

WORD FORMATION
Strategy and hot tip!

Strategy
Before you try to fill in the gaps, decide whether a missing word is an adjective (e.g. beautiful), an
adverb (e. g. carefuIIy), a noun (e.g. information) or a verb (e.g. believe).

Look at the underlined words in each sentence and decide whether they are adjectives, adverbs,
nouns or verbs.

1. And so began two hours and forty minutes of disbelief (noun), fear and finally horror for the
2,300 passengers of the ‘unsinkable’ (adjective) Titanic.

2. For that was all the time that it took for the biggest and supposedly (……………..….) safest
liner in the world to sink beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

3. The myth of the Titanic’s unsinkability was only one of an incredible (……………..….)
combination (……………..….) of human errors.

4. Although the Titanic struck the iceberg at 11.40 p.m., it was not until five minutes after midnight
that the order was given, ‘Uncover (……………..….) the Iifeboats!’

5. In one of the last overcrowded (……………..….) lifeboats to cave the Titanic stood Mrs Emily
Richards, then twenty-four, and going off to join her husband in the USA.

6. The sea was full of wreckage (……………..….) and bodies.

7. One of the strangest aspects of this disaster was that it had been foreseen in extraordinary
(……………..….) detail in a novel published fourteen years earlier.

8. The book, written by Morgan Robertson, told the story of the biggest and most luxurious
(……………..….) liner ever built.

Hot tip!
Always read the whole sentence to decide if you need a positive or a negative word to fill each
gap. For example, do you need the positive or the negative form of the word in this sentence?

…………………..….. we arrived late and missed the first ten minutes of the film. (FORTUNATE)

Suzana Noronha Cunha

Ano Zero Worksheet 3

WORD FORMATION
Exercises

A. Now fill in the gaps in the following sentences with the correct form of the word in capitals. Decide what
part of speech to use and whether you need a positive or a negative word.

1. The local people are sometimes rather ...unfriendly... and often seem to want to avoid the tourists.
(FRIEND)

Notes: the missing word is an adjective. You know this because ‘are’ and ‘rather’ come before it. The idea
of the sentence is negative.

2. It’s no use getting ………………… just because there’s a long queue to check in. (PATIENT)

3. The man in the tourist information office was very ………………… and gave us lots of free maps and
brochures. (HELP)

4. They decided to close the hotel because it had never been very ………………… . (PROFIT)

5. We had lovely, ………………… weather the whole time we were there. (SUN)

6. Don’t ………………… the cost of hotel accommodation when you plan your next holiday. (ESTIMATE)

7. A dishonest waiter tried to ………………… us for our meal. (CHARGE)

8. Take an umbrella if you go out in autumn as it is very ………………… to rain. (LIKE)

9. There are ………………… people in most of the world’s big cities nowadays. (HOME)

10. The safari park was a bit of a ………………… as there were too few animals. (APPOINT)

B. Again, use the word given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in the space in the
same line

BOOKS

Nearly all the (0) …discoveries… that have been made through the ages 0 DISCOVER
can be found in books. The (1) ………………….…. of the book is one of humankind’s 1 INVENT
greatest (2) ………………….…., the importance of which cannot be overestimated. 2 ACHIEVE
Books are very adaptable, providing us with both (3) ………………….…. and information. 3 ENTERTAIN
The (4) ………………….…. of books began in Ancient Egypt, though not in a form that 4 PRODUCE
is (5) ………………….…. to us today. The books read by the Romans, however, have 5 RECOGNISE
some (6) ………………….…. to the ones we read now. Until the middle of the l5th 6 SIMILAR
century, in Europe, all books were (7) ………………….…. by hand. They were often 7 WRITE
beautifully illustrated and always rare and (8) ………………….….. . With printing came 8 EXPENSE
the (9) ………………….…. of cheap, large-scale publication and distribution of books, 9 POSSIBLE
making (10) ………………….…. more widespread and accessible. 10 KNOW

Suzana Noronha Cunha