Word formation opens the doors to improving your vocabulary with a greater peace. It allows you to learn not only one word at a time but minimum four. Let me show you how that is possible.
The basics of word formation are simple:
1. Every word has a root
‘Happy’ is a root word. We can add prefixes to the beginning of the root and suffixes to the end of the root to form new words and change the meaning and the class of word (noun, verb, adjective and adverb).
As in our example, adding the prefix ‘un-’ to happy will change its meaning to the opposite: unhappy = sad
By adding suffixes to root words, we can change not only their meaning but grammatical function as well. In our example, by adding the suffix ‘-ness’ to ‘happy’ we changed it from an adjective to a noun.
prefix | root | suffix |
un | happy | ness |
Adjective: happy --> opposite of happy: unhappy
Noun: happiness
The same can be done to most English words. Let’s see some more examples:
prefix | root | suffix |
un | employ | ment |
re | consider | ing |
il | legal | ly |
2. There are numerous prefixes and suffixes in English
Knowing the most common prefixes and suffixes and their meanings can boost your ability to succeed in word formation exercises. However, there are hundreds of prefixes and suffixes in English. There are some rules which help you to know which prefix and suffix to add to which word but like all rules there are exceptions. Many times it is easier to learn the root and its forms than memorising pre-and suffix rules.
Prefixes usually do not change the class of the word but its meaning to the opposite.
Prefix | Meaning | Example |
de- | remove, opposite | activate - deactivate hydrate - dehydrate |
dis- | negative | appear - disappear satisfy - dissatisfy agree - disagree |
down- | reduce | downsize, downgrade |
extra- | to a greater extent, beyond | extraordinary, extracurricular, extrajudicial |
ig-, il-, im-, in- ig- before gn or n il- before l im- before b, m or p in- before most letters ir- before r | not | ignoble, illegal, immortal, inactive, irresponsible |
over- | excess, too much | overestimate, overrate |
pre- | before | precaution, prenatal |
re- | again | recall, reborn |
under- | not enough | underestimate, underrated |
up- | increase | upshift, upgrade |
Suffixes commonly change the class of the word.
Noun | Verb | Adjective | Adverb |
-ance This suffix makes nouns from verbs. annoy - annoyance | -en This suffix makes verbs from adjectives or nouns. deep – deepen strength - strengthen | -able This suffix makes adjectives from verbs. excite - excitable | -ly This suffix makes adverbs from adjectives. kind - kindly |
-dom This suffix makes nouns from verbs. bore - boredom | | -al This suffix makes adjectives from nouns. nature - natural | |
-ion This suffix makes nouns from verbs. celebrate - celebration | | -ful This suffix makes adjectives from verbs. cheer - cheerful | |
-ment This suffix makes nouns from nouns or verbs. ship – shipment move - movement | | -ed/-ing These suffixes make adjectives from verbs. terrify – terrified/terrifying | |
-ness This suffix makes nouns from adjectives. shy - shyness | | -less This suffix makes adjectives from verbs or nouns. help – helpless home - homeless | |
| | -y This suffix makes adjectives from nouns. brain – brainy cloud - cloudy | |
3. Same form There are plenty of English words which have the same form as a noun and as a verb. Their spelling remains the same, but their pronunciation might differ. Here is a list of common words which function as nouns and verbs:
act | address | aim | answer | back | bank | battle | bear |
bend | blast | block | break | brush | catch | challenge | charge |
cheer | colour | cook | crack | curl | cycle | dance | design |
die | divorce | doubt | dust | echo | end | face | finish |
fish | flood | fool | garden | glue | guard | guess | hammer |
hand | head | hug | insult | iron | joke | kick | laugh |
loan | love | march | milk | name | number | object | order |
peel | permit | play | produce | punch | question | quiz | rhyme |
rock | roll | run | saw | skate | smell | surprise | tie |
time | toast | trace | train | treat | trick | use | vacuum |
value | visit | wake | walk | water | wish | work | |
4. Compounding
When we use compounding, we link together two or more words to create a new one.
Compounds are very common in English and are found in all word classes. The most frequent types of compounds are:
Nouns: shoeshine, bookshop
Adjectives: heartbreaking, seasick
Verbs: babysit, chain-smoke
Adverbs: whole-heartedly, nevertheless
It is difficult to know where to put hyphens in words that are compounded. It is best to check in a good learner’s dictionary. On Cambridge exams, compounding occurs mainly on C level and with words written together.
Takeaway - How you can benefit from learning about Word Formation:
Word Formation boosts your vocabulary, because you can learn several words at once when you learn not only the base form of a word.
There are hundreds of pre-and suffixes in English. Learning the most common ones can help you ‘play’ with the words and try to figure out which one you could form the needed word with in exam exercises.
Sometimes it is easier to learn a base word together with its forms than memorising the rules of prefixes and suffixes. This is because there are plenty of them, and each rule has several exceptions.
Many English words function as a verb and as a noun in the same form. This is frequently pointed out in exam exercises, so it is best to lean those words.
Compounding is fun but difficult in English because of the spelling. When learning compounds for your exam, focus on the ones which are written as one word.
Let’s see how KnowledgePond’s publication, The Key to Word Formation Revealed, will help you succeed in scoring the maximum point on your Cambridge B2, C1 or C2 language exam.
Word Formation is fun! It not only makes you see how the English vocabulary works, but skyrockets your knowledge of words.
Our list of words for Word Formation exercises is divided by level (B2, C1, C2) so you can learn the ones you really must know for your exam.
Our publication provides you with the most frequently reoccurring words on the exams to maximise your chance of answering all questions on the exam paper.
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