WORD FORMATION I

PREFIXES
anti- (=against)
auto- (=by oneself)
bi(=two, twice)
dis(=opposite)
ex(=former)
ex(=out of)
in(=opposite)
inter- (=between)
im(=opposite)
il(=opposite)
ir(=opposite)
mal(=badly)
micro- (=small)
mis(=badly)
mono- (=one/single)
multi- (=many)
over(=too much)
post(=after)
pre(=before)
pro(=in favour of)
pseudo- (=false)
re(=again)
semi(=half)
sub(=under)
super(=above)
trans(=across)
un(=opposite)
under- (=not enough)
uni(=one)

anti-war, anti-social, anti-biotic

autograph, auto-pilot, autobiography
bicycle, bi-monthly, biannual, bilingual, biplane
disloyal, disobedient, disappear, disagree, dislike
exwife, exstudent, expresident, exflatmate
extract, exhale, excommunicate, express
inconvenient, inedible, invisible, intolerant, incorrect
intermediate, intersection
impatient, immortal, immature
illegal, illegible, illiterate
irreplaceable, irreversible, irrelevant
malfunction, malnutrition, maltreat
microwave, microscopic, micro-computer
misunderstand, mistranslate, misinform
monorail, monotonous, monologue, monogamous
multilingual, multi-national, multi-racial
overeat, oversleep, overtired, overdo
postwar, postgraduate, post-revolutionary
prejudge, preview, prejudice
pro-government, pro-revolutionary, pro-nuclear
pseudo-scientific, pseudo-nym, pseudo-intellectual
retype, reread, replace, rewind
semicircular, semi-final, semi-detached
subway, submarine, subdivision, sub-editor
superman, supernatural
transatlantic, transaction, transexual
uncomfortable, undo, undress, unload, unlock, untidy
underworked, underused, undercooked
unilateral, unisex, unicycle

PREFIXES which show an opposite state or process

disinim- (before p/m)

il- (before l)
ir- (before r)
malun-

disagree, dishonest, dislike,

incompentent, inefficiency,
impossible, impatient,.
illegible, illegal, illiterate,
irresistible, irregular, irrelevant,
malfunction, malnutrition, maltreat,
unbelievable, undressed, unlocked,

SUFFIXES
A. Verbs suffixes
-ise (ize):

used to make verbs from adjectives

modern --- modernise

general --- generalise
-(i)fy:

commercial --- commercialise

industrial --- industrialise

used to make verbs from adjectives or verbs

note --- notify

terror --- terrify

class --- classify

clear --- clarify

pure --- purify

specific --- specify

B. Noun suffixes
-ance/ence:

used to make nouns from verbs or adjectives

annoy --- annoyance

refer --- reference
-dom:

king --- kingdom

wise --- wisdom

act --- actor

project --- projector

mother --- motherhood

brother --- brotherhood
neighbour --- neighbourhood

people who do a particular job, professions

music --- musician

-ist:

inspect --- inspector

garden --- gardener

used for abstract nouns, especially family terms

child --- childhood

adult --- adulthood
-ian:

send --- sender

*lie --- liar (exception)

things or people who do a particular job, professions

work --- worker

play --- player
-hood:

martyr --- martyrdom

free --- freedom

person who does something (-er) or person who receives something (-ee)

employ --- employer / employee

address --- addresser / addressee
-er/-or:

obedient --- obedience

tolerant --- tolerance

used to make abstract nouns from adjectives or nouns

bore --- boredom

star --- stardom
-er/-ee:

assist --- assistance

prefer --- preference

politics --- politician

electricity --- electrician

used for people who play musical instruments

violin --- violinist

piano --- pianist

cello --- cellist

-ist/-ism:

used for peoples politics, beliefs and ideologies

anarchy --- anarchist

terror --- terrorist
-ity:

physics --- physicist

Marx --- Marxism

used to make nouns from adjectives

flexible --- flexibility

absurd --- absurdity
curious --- curiousity

-ment:

hostil --- hostility

real --- reality
pure --- purity

replace --- replacement

retire --- retirement
excite --- excitement

happy --- happiness

bitter --- bitterness
sad --- sadness

member --- membership

relation --- relationship

strong --- strength

broad --- breadth

wide --- width

warm --- warmth

used to make nouns from verbs

admit --- admission

collect --- collection
alter --- alteration

-y:

author --- authorship

fellow --- fellowship

used to make abstract nouns from adjectives

long --- length

deep --- depth

-(t)ion:

careful --- carefulness

tender --- tenderness

used for abstract nouns, especially status

friend --- friendship

partner --- partnership
-th:

argue --- argument

achieve --- achievement
pay --- payment

used to make abstract nouns from adjectives

good --- goodness

weak --- weakness
ugly ugliness
-ship:

anonym --- anonymity

generous --- generosity
productive --- productivity

used to make nouns from verbs

enjoy --- enjoyment

invest --- investment
agree --- agreement
-ness:

comunist / comunism
socialist / socialism

combine --- combination

imagine --- imagination
produce --- production

act --- action

reduce --- reduction
complicate --- complication

used to make nouns from verbs or from adjectives

injure --- injury

honest --- honesty

perjure --- perjury

fluent --- fluency

royal --- royalty

beautiful --- beauty

C. Adjective suffixes

-able/-ible:

with verbs, it means can be done

drink --- drinkable

count --- countable
-al:

green --- greenish

child --- childish

destruct --- destructive

produce --- productive

attract --- attractive

progress --- progressive

use --- useless

care --- careless

harm --- harmless

cloud --- cloudless

used to make adjectives from nouns

danger --- dangerous

-y:

cheer --- cheerful

wonder --- wonderful

used to make adjectives from nouns or verbs and means without

hope --- hopeless

help --- helpless
-ous:

use --- useful

care --- careful

used to make adjectives from verbs

pass --- passive

act --- active
-less:

magic --- magical

refuse --- refusal

used to make adjectives from nouns and means with the quality of

red --- reddish

-ive:

option --- optional

arrive --- arrival

it makes adjectives from nouns or verbs and means a great quantity of

help --- helpful

hope --- hopeful
-ish:

read --- readable

recognize --- recognizable

used to make adjectives from nouns or verbs

practice --- practical

sphere --- spherical

-ful:

wash --- washable

eat --- edible

fury --- furious

used to make adjectives from nouns

luck --- lucky

trick --- tricky

D. Irregular forms

live --- life

see --- sight
fly --- flight

die --- death

hot --- heat
true --- truth

succeed --- success

young --- youth
angry --- anger

WORD FORMATION II
1.- Expressions of size: adjectives & nouns

broad ------ breadth

long -------- length

deep ------ depth

wide ------ width

high ------ height

2.- Adjectives & adverbs (normally formed by the addition of ly )

slow ------ slowly

pure ------ purely
hard ------ hard

happy ------ happily

strong ------ strongly
fast ------ fast

rude ------ rudely

angry ------ angrily

3.- Adjectives ending in -y , adverbs in -ily , and nouns in -ness

happy ------ happily ------ happiness

pretty ------ prettily ------ prettiness
lazy ------ lazily -------- laziness

ordinary ---- ordinarily ---- ordinariness

fussy ------ fussily ----- fussiness (inquieto)
naughty ----- naughtily ---- naughtiness (malo)

4.- Adjectives in -ful , adverbs in -ly , and nouns in -ness

careful --- carefully --- carefulness

helpful --- helpfully --- helpfulness

cheerful --- cheerfully --- cheerfulness

dreadful --- dreadfully --- dreadfulness (temor)

5.- Verbs with adjectives -ive , adverbs in -ively , and nouns in -ion

attend -------- attentive -------- attentively ---------- attention

attract ------- attractive -------- attractively --------- attraction
destroy ------ destructive ------- destructively ------- destruction
permit ------- permissive -------- permissively -------- permission
persuade ------ persuassive ------ persuassively ------- persuassion
progress ------ progressive ------ progressively -------- progression
6.- Adjectives in -ible/-able , nouns in -ibility/ability

accessible ------- accessibility

credible -------- credibility
impossible ------- impossibility
sensible ---------- sensibility
responsible ------- responsibility

able -------------- ability

capable ------------- capability
adaptable ----------- adaptability
durable ------------ durability
respectable ---------- respectability

7.- Verbs in -fy , nouns in -ation

clarify ------ clarification

falsify ------ falsification
satisfy ------ satisfaction

classify ------ classification

notify -------- notification
specify ------- specification

8.- Verbs in -ate , nouns in -ation

agitate ------ agitation

animate ------ animation
elaborate ---- elaboration
moderate ---- moderation

alternate ------ alternation

duplicate ------- duplication
estimate ------- estimation
separate ------ separation

9.- Verbs in -ise , nouns in -isation

authorise ------- authorisation

generalise ------ generalisation
modernise ------- modernisation

colonise ------ colonisation

legalise ------- legalisation
organise ------ organisation

10.- Adjectives with adverbs in -ly and nouns in -ty

beautiful ----- beautifully ------ beauty

pure --------- purely ---------- purity

rare ------- rarely ------- rarity

real -------- really ------ reality

11.- Verbs forming nouns in -ance/ence

assist ---------- assistance

deliver --------- deliverance
perform -------- performance
resist ------------ resistance
disappear ------- disappearance

adhere -------- adherence

depend ------- dependence
refer --------- reference
persist ------- persistence
prefer -------- preference

12.- Verbs forming nouns in -ment

agree ------ agreement

pay ----------- payment
retire ------ retirement

argue ------- argument

resent ------ resentment
achieve ------ achievement

enjoy ------- enjoyment

treat ------- treatment
replace ----- replacement

13.- Nouns forming adjectives in -al

practice ------- practical

option ---------- optional

comedy ----- comical

magic ------ magical

formality ------- formal

sphere --------- spherical

14.- Verbs in -mit , nouns in -ission

emit -------- emission

omit -------- omission

permit -------- permission

remit -------- remission

submit --------- submission

transmit -------- transmission

15.- Nouns associated with people or their qualities end in -hood , -ship, -ism

boyhood
childhood
neighbourhood

authorship
fellowship
friendship

hypnotism
optimism
realism

EXERCISES
1.- Use the suffixes -er/-or/-ee/-ist to give the names of the following:
a. A person who plays jazz on the piano =
b. The thing that wipes rain off your car windscreen=
c. Person who plays classical violin=
d. Person who takes professional photographs=
e. Person who acts in amateur theatre=
f. Person to whom a cheque is paid=
g. Machine for washing dishes=
h. Person who donates their kidneys upon their death=
i. Person to whom a letter is addressed=

a jazz pianist

2.- Rewrite each sentence by changing the underlined words

a. Most of his crimes can be forgiven
Most of his crimes can be
b. The Club refuses to admit anyone not wearing a tie
The Club refuses
c. Her only fault is that she is lazy
Her only fault is her
d. This firm has produced a lot in recent years
This firm has been very
e. I found the book very easy and pleasant to read
I found the book very

3.- Write the abstract nouns of the following adjectives

affectionate >
original >
hopeful >
popular >
resentful >

amused >
graceful >
equal >
kind >
wise >

attentive >
excited >
happy >
stupid >
secure >

4.- Complete the following table

abstract noun
contentment
argument
emptiness
intensity
satisfaction
sentiment
strength

adjective
contented

verb
to content

adverb
contentedly

5. Write the opposite of these words using a correct prefix

___ happy
___ correct
___ legible
___ pack

____ patient
____ regular
____ friendly
____ lock

____ polite
____ visible
____ employed
____ agree

___ legal
___ possible
___ like
___ honest

6. Replace the underlined words by others with the same meaning

a.
b.
c.
d.

He doesnt have a job, does he? No, he is

Its against the law, isnt it? Yes, it is
He took off his clothes! Yes, he
This handwriting is impossible to read Yes, it is
e. She can never wait for five minutes, can she? No, she is so

f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.

The BBC tries to avoid pronouncing foreign words incorrectly

Hes in favour of the American approach
Most people say they work too hard but are paid too little
He dated his cheque with a date that was later than the real date
Shes still on good terms with the man who used to be her husband
He made so many mistakes in the letter that he had to write it again

7. Write down the name of the person who does these things

act
murder
direct

employ
phychology
dance

football
translate
manage

farm
economics
sing

8. Complete the table

verb
educate
improve
govern
hesitate
arrange
elect

noun

adjective
stupid
dark
weak
similar
punctual
popular

noun

9. Complete the verbs in these sentences

10. Combine the suffixes on the right with the verbs or adjectives on the left and
then complete the text

11. Write down an adjective formed from these nouns or verbs

12. Fill the gaps with suitable adjectives from exercise 11

13. ZERO AFFIXATION

Rewrite these sentences using the underlined nouns as verbs

14. Now rewrite these sentences using the underlined verbs as nouns