Learn Prefixes, Suffixes to Expand Your Vocabulary - VOA ...

A prefix is a letter or a group of letters that we add to the beginning of a word. Prefixes change the meanings of words. For example, the ... Accessibilitylinks Skiptomaincontent SkiptomainNavigation SkiptoSearch Next Close Previous Next PrintOptions: Images Multimedia EmbeddedContent Comments Cancel Print Linkhasbeencopiedtoclipboard AboutLearningEnglish BeginningLevel IntermediateLevel AdvancedLevel USHistory Video FollowUs Languages Search Search Previous Next BreakingNews Education LearnPrefixes,SuffixestoExpandYourVocabulary December12,2017 LearningcommonprefixesandsuffixescanhelpyougreatlyexpandyourEnglishvocabulary. Share               LearnPrefixes,SuffixestoExpandYourVocabulary share Seecomments Print Embed share LearnPrefixesandSuffixestoExpandYourVocabulary byVOA Embed share Thecodehasbeencopiedtoyourclipboard. TheURLhasbeencopiedtoyourclipboard ShareonFacebook   ShareonTwitter   Nomediasourcecurrentlyavailable 0:00 0:07:53 0:00 Directlink 128kbps|MP3 64kbps|MP3 Pop-outplayer Onarecentprogram,weexplainedthatknowingjustafewrootwordsinEnglishcanhelpyouunderstandthemeaningofhundredsmorewords. Torefreshyourmemory,arootwordisthesimplestformofaword.Forexample,twoformsoftherootfortheword“see”arevis-andvid-suchasinthewords"television"and"video." Today,wewilltellyouaboutprefixesandsuffixes–groupsoflettersthatappearatthebeginningsandendingsofwords. LearningthemeaningsofcommonprefixesandsuffixescanhelpyouunderstandunknownEnglishwordsyoucomeacross.Itcanalsohelpyoubecomebetteratspellingwords. Prefixes Let'sstartwithprefixes. Aprefixisaletteroragroupoflettersthatweaddtothebeginningofaword.Prefixeschangethemeaningsofwords.Forexample,theprefixun-(oru-n)canmean"not,""remove,"or"opposite."Addingun-totheword"happy"givesyoutheword"unhappy,"whichmeansnothappy. U-nandr-e(orre-)arethetwomostcommonprefixesintheEnglishlanguage.Re-means"again"or"back,"suchasinthewords"rethink""redo"and"repay." Hereareafewthingstorememberwhenlearningprefixes: DifferentprefixesinEnglishcanhavesimilarmeanings,suchasun-,in-andnon-allofwhichmean"not"or"oppositeof."Also,theprefixesmis-andir-mean"wrong,""wrongly,"or"incorrectly." Noticethatdoublelettersarepossible.Forexample,whenyouaddtheprefixim-towordsthatbeginwiththeletter"m,"yougettwo"m"sasin"immeasurable."That'salsotruewhenyouaddun-towordsthatbeginwiththeletter"n,"asin"unnoticeable."Thesameistrueformanyotherprefixes. Whenaddingaprefixtoaword,thespellingofthebasewordneverchanges.Forexample,theprefixun-didnotchangethespellingoftheword"happy."And,theprefixre-wouldnotchangethespellingoftheword"live"in"relive." Watchoutfor"lookalikes"–wordsthatlookliketheycontainprefixesbut,infact,donot.Forexample,theun-intheword"uncle"isnotaprefix,noristhere-inthewords"reach"or"real." Suffixes Now,let'sturntosuffixes. Asuffixisaletterorgroupoflettersaddedtotheendofaword.Suffixesarecommonlyusedtoshowthepartofspeechofaword.Forexample,adding"ion"totheverb"act"givesus"action,"thenounformoftheword.Suffixesalsotellustheverbtenseofwordsorwhetherthewordsarepluralorsingular. ​Somecommonsuffixesare-er,-s,-es,-ed,-ingand-ly. Hereareafewthingstorememberwhenlearningsuffixes: Somesuffixeshavemorethanonemeaning.Forexample,thesuffix-ermaysuggestapersonwhoperformsanaction,likeateacher.But"er"isalsocommonlyaddedtotheendsofadjectivesandadverbs.Theycomparetwothingsandshowthatoneis"more"thantheother,suchasin"faster"and"stronger." Thespellingofabasewordcanchangewhenasuffixisadded.Thisistrueofmostbasewordsendingintheletter"y."Forinstance,whenweaddthesuffix-nesstotheword"crazy"tomake"craziness,"wereplacethe"y"withan"i."Thisruleisalsotrueofmanybasewordsendinginasilent"e"whenthesuffixbeginswithavowel.Forexample,inthewords"write,""make"and"manage,"wedropthe"e"inthewordswhenweadd-ingtomake:"writing,""making"and"managing."Wealsooftendropthesilent"e"beforethesuffix-ablesuchasin"usable."Becareful,though,becausewithsomewords,wekeepthe"e,"suchasin"changeable"and"loveable." Thereareadditionalsuffixrules,buttheydealwithspellingandcanbelearnedwithtimeandpractice. Athingtokeepinmindaboutbothprefixesandsuffixesisthatsomeareonlyusedwithsomewords.Forexample,weaddthesuffix-fultosomenounstomean"fullof,"suchasinthewords"beautiful"or"helpful."But,wecannotadd-fultojustanynoun.Youcouldnot,forexample,say"loveful"tomeanfulloflove. So,whataresomewaysthatyoucanpracticecommonprefixesandsuffixes? OnewayistouseonlineflashcardsfromwebsiteslikeQuizlet.Youcanchoosesetsofcardsthatarealreadymadeorcreateanduseyourownsets.Or,youcanmakeyourownflashcardswithpiecesofpaper. Onceyou'vespenttimepracticing,takeanewsstoryorpageinabookandlookforwordsthathavetheprefixesandsuffixesyoulearned.Then,usewhatyouknowaboutthemeaningoftherootwordstoguessthemeaningsofthosewords. LearningprefixesandsuffixeswillnotonlybuildyourvocabularybutcanmakeunfamiliarEnglishwordsalotlessfrightening. I'mPhilDierking.AndI'mAliceBryant. AliceBryantwrotethisstoryforLearningEnglish.GeorgeGrowwastheeditor. _______________________________________________________________ WordsinThisStory spell–v.tosay,write,orprintthelettersofaword(gerund:spelling) practice–n.todosomethingagainandagaininordertobecomebetteratit vowel–n.oneofthelettersa,e,i,o,uandsometimesy flashcard–n.acardthathaswords,numbers,orpicturesonitandthatisusedtohelpstudentslearnaboutasubject Newest Newest Oldest Seecomments(26) Thisforumhasbeenclosed. 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