Word Formation - Pre/Suffixes

Contents

Definition

Prior knowledge

Theory

Assignments

Objective

KNOW: 

The bases of word formation

CAN: 

Integrate word formation on a number of words

Invert words based on nouns, verbs and adjectives

Definition

Word formation refers to the ways in which new words are formed on the basis of other words.

There are four main kinds of word formation: prefixes, suffixes, conversion and compounds.

Today, we focus on pre- and suffixes. 

Prior knowledge

On the next 4 slides are verbs. Write down as many words that use this word as the base. 

Care

care → careful, careless, caring, carefree

Help

help → helpful, helpless, helper, unhelpful

Play

play → player, playful, playground, replay

Work

work → worker, workable, workplace, workout

Theory

It involves the creation of new words, either by adding something in front of it, behind it, or both. 

In some cases, the use of word formation can change the word class entirely. 

Word formation is divided into 4 categories: Prefix, Suffix, Conversion and Compound. 

Theory

A prefix, is a set of letters added to the beginning of a word, often to negate its meaning. Common prefixes are: ‘un-’, ‘in-’, ‘dis-’, ‘im-’, ‘ir-’, etc.

 

Theory

A suffix, is a set of letters added to the end of a word. This addition mostly changes the word class. Common suffixes are: ‘-ment’, ‘-ness’, ‘-ity’, ‘-ous’, ‘-tion’, ‘-sion’, ‘-al’, ‘-able’, ‘-ible’, ‘-ive’, ‘-ly’, ‘-ate’, ‘-er’, ‘-or’, etc.

Guidelines

Word formation is a tricky part of language. Watch out for the following:

• Consider the meaning you want to convey
• The base word mostly stays the same, expect when you add a prefix
• Suffixes often require removal of letter(s)
• Pre- and suffixes are often divided in classes and use the same group of letters

Give 4 new words with prefixes

Give 4 new words with suffixes

Assignment 1&2

Assignment 1

Change the word to its negative form by adding a prefix from the list

Assignment 2

Change the word by adding a suffix from the list, 

some may change in spelling

Assignment 3

Use the word in the brackets to form a new words that fits better with the context of the sentence

E.g. The situation became _____________. (STABLE)

The situation became UNSTABLE. 

Assignment 4

Complete the table by adding verbs, nouns, and adjectives

E.g.                 NOUN                         VERB                             ADJECTIVE

                        appreciation           appreciate                  appreciative

Recap: What did you learn? What's needs more practice?