Word formations

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 2

nature

natural

WORD FORMATION

TODAY

Today, you are going to work on a small exercise about word formations. First read about what they are and then try to do your best with the exercises. Work together or use a dictionary if you feel it’s too difficult for you. 

What are they?

This exercise is a common one in tests like Anglia and Cambridge. It can help you test your knowledge of English words.

In a sentence or text you have to change the form of a word, e.g. from a noun to an adjective, or from a verb to a noun.  

What are they?

 For example:

The _____ was very nervous. (sing)

You have to complete the sentence with the person noun (singer). 

You change the verb (sing) into the person noun (singer).

Follow these steps:

• Look at the word you have to change. 

Which words do you know that are in the same word family?

• The beginning of the word is often the same and the end of the word changes.

 

Follow these steps:

• What form is the new word? A verb? A noun? An adjective? An adverb?

• Nouns often end: -ment, -ion, -ness, -ity.

• People nouns often end: -er, -or, -ist, -ian.

Follow these steps:

• Adjectives often end: -able, -ible, -ive, -al, -ic, -ed, -ing.

• Some verbs end: -ise, -ate, -en.

• Adverbs often end: -ly.

Follow these steps:

• Is the new word negative? If so, you may need a prefix, e.g. un- (unhappy), im- (impolite), in- (inexperienced), dis- (dishonest), etc.

• If you don’t know the new word, guess. You may be right!

• Check your answers carefully when you finish

Exercise

On the following slides you will find a couple of exercises.

Read the sentence and use the word in brackets (haakjes) to form a new word that fits within the sentence.

This queue hasn't moved in five minutes. I'm getting a bit ______!
(patient)

If you go walking around the factory, ensure you have ______ clothing on.
(protect)

Are you sure you have cleaned the kitchen? There is still a pretty _____ smell coming from it. (pleasant)

Finding a cure for cancer will be a huge _____ breakthrough for mankind.
(medicine)

Have you seen my handbag John? It seems to have totally ________!
(appear)

It isn't very ____ that Paula is at home, is it? She usually works at this time.
(like)

I was just trying to be ___ towards him and he accused me of wanting his money! - (friend)

Now, 

do the exercises on the document you were given by your teacher and answer the evaluation question on the next slide.

What did you think of this lesson? (Please be as specfic as you can)