Different ways to write the word and - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

Learning how to write in short form is a skill. It takes time, but it’s certainly doable. This article will look at some good choices for writing “and” in short form. It’s a common word, so the more options we can provide to avoid repeating it, the better!

How Can I Write “And” In Short Form?

There are a few great examples of “and” in the short form. Some of them, you might even be familiar with. Why not check out some of the best ones here:

&
N
‘N’
+
/
Et
Whatever you want

The preferred version is “&” (ampersand). It works well because everyone recognizes the ampersand symbol and knows how to interpret it. Therefore, it’s a really easy one to remember to use correctly when writing in short form, and anyone will understand what you mean.

&

“&” is the most universally recognized symbol for “and.” It works well when we want to write in the short form because everyone will be able to make sense of it. If you are planning on sharing your notes with others, this is your best bet to help them understand it.

It’s not always common for short-form notes to be shared. Usually, we are the only people who read them after we’ve taken the notes. However, if you are likely to share your notes, we recommend the ampersand because everyone knows that it means “and.”

Also, it’s a fairly quick symbol to create with a pen. While it might look a little wavy and difficult to create at first, it’s really simple to create it with one brush stroke.

You should test it by first doodling an ampersand and then writing “and” on a piece of paper. You will notice that the ampersand is a lot quicker to complete than “and,” which is what also makes it such a powerful choice for writing in the short form.

Jack & Joseph will be arriving at 6 later tonight or tomorrow, depending on event finish time.
Boss & supervisor want meeting at 3. Will attend office ready for that time.
Friday & Saturday have booked time off. Will enjoy that time away from work.

N

“N” is a one-letter option we can use to replace “and.” We use “N” because it closely resembles the sound that you make when saying “and” (since the “N” is an important letter when pronouncing it).

Using one letter instead of three is a great way to shorten your writing. Since “N” and “and” are so similar, many short-form writers like to stick to this letter usage whenever they’re showing that multiple things should be put into the same group.

Remember, the whole point of the short form is to save you time when taking notes. It’s also to help you look back on your notes and remember what you were writing at the time.

Since “N” is already recognized as an “and” form, we can always rely on remembering what we meant. It’s a great short-form choice for this reason.

Also, it’s entirely up to the writer whether they want to capitalize the letter or not. Some people like to capitalize it to make it stand out, while others like to write it in the lower case because it’s quicker to write.

Michelle N Rodrigo are up to no good again.
Tom N Jenkins need to go to the store later tonight
Cat n dog both out of food, so should get some later.

‘N’

“‘N’” is an extension of the one we explained previously. You might notice that the letter “N” is still used here. However, we’ve also included apostrophes on either side to really highlight that “N” is different from the rest of the sentence.

For some people, this inclusion of extra apostrophes is unnecessary. After all, the whole point of writing in the short form is that it should be quicker and easier to write.

‘N’ and “and” have the same amount of characters (three), so there isn’t anything that shows that ‘N’ will be quicker. However, it’s a stylistic choice. If you like to include the apostrophes to get it to stand out, there should be no reason why you can’t.

Rock ‘n’ roll date underway.
Friday ‘n’ Tuesday booked in for spa day.
Football ‘n’ hockey nights have been set to record.

+

“+” is one of the most popular short-form choices for replacing “and.” Many people use the plus sign whenever they can because it’s one of the more obvious ways to show that two or more things should be grouped together.

The symbol originates from mathematical equations. You are probably already familiar with using plus signs to add things up. Well, the same idea applies when you write plus signs in the short form.

However, this time, instead of adding numbers together, you’re adding words, people, or things. The plus sign helps to group those things up into values that matter and allows you to refer back to your short-form when needed.

The best part about writing in the short form is that you are typically the only person who needs to read it. As we’ve already stated, as long as you know what you’re using the symbols for, there’s no reason why you can’t choose whatever one you want.

Company director + chair want meeting with big boss on Friday.
Friday + Monday need to be in office to make sure ready for the presentation.
Interview + date on same day, so can recycle the clothes you wear for both occasions.

/

Next, we want to go over the slash. It’s not one of the most common options, but we think it’s still beneficial. Some short-form writers swear by the slash, which is why we included it.

“/” allows us to break up two different objects in a sentence. While some people might think the “/” means “or,” others like to use it as both “and” and “or,” depending on the context.

If you’re writing short form that you know other people will be reading, perhaps it’s best to avoid using the forward-slash symbol. However, if you are the only person reading your short form and you know what the slash is for, you can use it to replace “and.”

Since many people only write in the short form for their own sakes (i.e. to help them take notes of a class or presentation), they are the only people who need to understand what they’ve written. That’s why slashes work well, so long as you’re the audience.

If you ever show your short-form notes to other people, you might cause a bit of confusion.

Steve / Marcus wanted to have a holiday in the Spring.
Pythag / Newton both have designed something I’m supposed to know about in school today.
Teachers / students want to gather in the playground to have a soccer match for lunchtime.

Et

We want to touch on “et.” It’s not the best option, which is why we put it last. However, some people like to use it.

“Et” is the Latin form of “and.” It’s commonly seen in other Latin phrases like “et al.,” but we rarely use it as the short form of “and.” However, some people like to use Latin forms like this (and it is still one letter shorter than “and”).

The idea of writing in short form is to make it quicker to write. “Et” is a much quicker word to write down than “and.” In fact, you should give it a try on a piece of paper in front of you.

Since short form developed from notepads, it is much more common to write with a pen, and “et” is much quicker to complete than “and.”

While some people might find “et” to be pretentious because of its Latin roots, there’s nothing wrong with using it if you like it. Some people simply do not like to use symbols.

Tom et Callie will be coming to party tonight at 3.
He et she will be there. Make sure there is room for both to arrive.
They et co. have decided to make it a gathering for the masses.

Whatever You Want

Okay, this last one is a bit outlandish, but stick with us. Since most people write in short form to help them take notes, they tend to be the only people who will read it.

Therefore, you can technically use whatever symbol, letter, or word you want to replace “and.” As long as it’s shorter than “and,” and you know what it means when you read it back, you can use anything.

The whole point of the short form is to allow you to look back on your notes and decipher them when it matters. It’s wise to keep the same letter, symbol, or word throughout your short-form writing if you’re going to make up your own.

You might end up confusing yourself more if you have multiple different symbols that all mean the same thing. So, if you’re going to use whatever you want to use, make sure it stays consistent at the very least!

You may also like: When Should I Use “&” vs. “And”? Easy Ampersand Guide

Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.

Источник

What is the correct to write and/or? I have seen it written «and or» as two separate words and I think it looks odd.

asked Oct 28, 2014 at 16:50

You’d be hard pressed to find a style guide that doesn’t admonish you to drop “and/or” and choose either “and” or “or.”

In writing either and or or is usually adequate.

If a greater distinction is needed, another phrasing is available
         : X or Y, or both.

References:

And/or

ELU: The difference between «and» and «and/or»

It is more common in technical,business,and legal writing.

answered Oct 28, 2014 at 17:45

MistiMisti

13.7k4 gold badges29 silver badges64 bronze badges

There is no correct way; it depends on what style guide you are using.

However, at least in AmE, and/or is the vastly more common construction. If in doubt, I would choose and/or.

For more information, I’ll point you to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And/or

answered Oct 28, 2014 at 16:54

Nick2253Nick2253

4,4961 gold badge15 silver badges31 bronze badges

This has been a debate for a long time at my work. I thought it was and, or. I was informed that a slash should be kept for forms. I will/will not attend.

answered Apr 28, 2017 at 13:55

«and/or» has the same logical value as «or», I always use «or» which is simpler and better looking. In fact, the slash sign «/» is not even part of the standard punctuation and looks terrible when replacing the comma in normal text. Another reason for discouraging «/» is its ambiguous interpretation: «A/B» could mean «A or B», but also «either A or B» (what logicians call an «exclusive or», sometimes encoded as «xor» as in the Latin «aut» as opposed to «vel», which is the usual inclusive «or»).

answered Sep 21, 2017 at 17:23

In writing the phrase and/or, for example in a sentence as: I need to purchase a new item and/or return this one. the sentence would literally translate to: I need to purchase a new item and and or or return this one.

To properly designate the intention of «and/or» it would be written: I need to purchase a new item/return this one.

Nonetheless, the usage of the phrase is highly regarded as inappropriate/poor writing.

answered Sep 6, 2016 at 0:12

Источник

You should never start a sentence with the words “and” or “but”—never.

If that was drilled into your head at some point during your elementary school English lessons, then you’re not alone. Most of us were taught this rule in school—and we followed it with every writing assessment, research paper, and book report we ever wrote.

So, if it’s improper to start a sentence with the words “and” or “but” then why do so many prolific, notable writers do it? As do bloggers, journalists, and copywriters. It might seem like a rebellious move—but the truth is, it’s not really “against the rules” at all.

Telling It Straight

The truth is, it’s okay to start a sentence with the words “and” or “but”—if you do it correctly. After all, there is a time and place for everything, right?

First, let’s take a quick jump down memory lane to those Schoolhouse Rock! tapes you watched when the substitute teacher didn’t know the subject. Ever had the tune to “Conjunction Junction” stuck in your head for no apparent reason? You’re not alone.

However, after so many years, do you remember what the function of a conjunction really is? It might seem obvious—a conjunction connects two thoughts or ideas. “And” and “but” are called coordinating conjunctions and are a part of a much longer list of words.

There are seven coordinating conjunctions:

However, the ones we were specifically taught to avoid starting a sentence with are “and” and “but.” The good news is, you can rest easy knowing that there is no true grammar rule that says you can’t ever start a sentence with one of these conjunctions.

“Contrary to what your high school English teacher told you, there’s no reason not to begin a sentence with but or and; in fact, these words often make a sentence more forceful and graceful. They are almost always better than beginning with however or additionally.” — Professor Jack Lynch, Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University, New Jersey

Why Were We All Taught a Rule that Doesn’t Exist?

Realizing now, ten, twenty, or even thirty years or more later that you were lied to might be frustrating—but your teachers really did have your best interests in mind. While there is no definitive answer as to why we were taught this “rule,” the explanation that makes the most sense was that it was meant to prevent kids from writing the way they talk.

Think about it—have you listened to a child or teenager talk for any extended amount of time? If you have, then you can understand exactly what these teachers were trying to avoid.

If you haven’t—well, these two examples will help provide some insight…

“We wanted to go to get burgers and they weren’t open. But we still got burgers. But we had to go somewhere else to get them. But they weren’t as good as the ones we were going to get.”

“My friend and I went to the beach yesterday. And while we were on the beach, we saw lots of seagulls and other birds. And this one seagull stole some guy’s fries while he was trying to eat them! And it scared the guy so much, he jumped nearly ten feet in the air!”

It’s one thing to verbally hear a story told in this fashion. But reading it is an entirely different experience. No matter what the word is, you never want to start too many consecutive sentences with the same word. The overuse of “and” and “but” in spoken English is likely the main reason our teachers forbid us from starting a sentence with them in our writing!

When Is It Okay to Start a Sentence with “And” or “But”?

So, if there is a time and place for everything—where is the proper time and place to use “and” or “but” at the beginning of your sentence?

The first thing you want to remember is that you’re using this word to connect two thoughts—so your phrase should be able to stand on its own. This means it has a clearly defined subject and verb.

If you remove your conjunction and you suddenly have a sentence fragment that doesn’t seem to make sense, then you need to rework your wording. Perhaps this means making your two sentences one—using “and” or “but” with a comma, rather than a period.

You should also take into consideration what you are writing. Different types of writing call for different approaches. The use of “and” or “but” at the start of a sentence sometimes brings a sense of informality. It might be right for your blog posts, whereas more formal coordinating conjunctions like “additionally” or “however” might read better in a white paper.

The bottom line is though, it’s never truly off limits. Sometimes it’s more impactful to be so precise and direct.

When Should You Follow the Old “English Class Rule”?

In most business writing—especially digital marketing copy like blog posts, emails, and social media posts—you shouldn’t stress using “and” or “but” to start your sentence. No one is going to point it out. No one is going to laugh at you. In fact, someone else who doesn’t already know the truth might think you’re the rebel for being so daring in the first place!

But there are times when you’ll want to follow this mock rule. Data-driven content—case studies, statistic focused white papers, text book content, these are places where you might not only see less opportunity to start a sentence with a conjunction, but also where it could be beneficial to avoid doing so.

If you’ve already got years of practice avoiding starting your sentence with one of these words, then it might take some retraining to find yourself starting a sentence this way. On the other hand, following this rule helps you to expand your vocabulary and use other words and phrases to get your points across. (I could have used “but” to start that last sentence; «on the other hand» adds variety while also giving a stronger sense of weighing up options.)

Breathe Easy Knowing You’re Not the Only Misled Student

It’s been years now since teachers started drumming into students that they should never—ever—start their sentence with the words “and” or “but.” If you’re one of likely millions who was taught this lie during your schooldays, don’t feel bad. This is just another case of a few people creating a problem for the rest of us.

Since teachers didn’t think they could trust some students to be more creative in telling their stories, they restricted everyone. Sure, it worked—you’ll hardly come across something written on the internet with repetitive starts, especially not “and” or “but”—but at what cost? Many of us were following a grammar rule that doesn’t exist—and probably got irrationally mad that editors missed such a common mistake again and again.

Can you already feel the weight lifted? If you’re one of many who has been avoiding using “and” or “but” to start a sentence, don’t hold back! It’s the freedom that comes with finding out a constraint you’ve worked around for years is no longer an issue.

Try using this new technique in your writing to create more direct and powerful statements.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips From Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas.

This guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers.

Have you tried ProWritingAid yet? What are you waiting for? It’s the best tool for making sure your copy is strong, clear, and error-free!

Источник

Silent letters are letters that use to write the word, but we don’t pronounce. You will see them on paper, but you won’t hear them when you say the word. In this post, you will find a comprehensive list of words that contain silent letters. Bookmark this page so that you can check it anytime and download our free guide for more tips on how to improve your English pronunciation.

Why Are There Silent Letters?

Silent letters may seem useless but –believe it or not– they are not always redundant. They may help us in different ways:

👯 Homophones. Silent letters help us distinguish between homophones (i.e. words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings) in writing (e.g. be/bee, in/inn, lent/leant, rest/wrest, new/knew, night/knight, jam/jamb).

🗣️ Pronunciation. Even though these letters are not pronounced, they can help the reader to stress the correct syllable (e.g. physics/physiques) and also change the pronunciation of other letters (e.g. guest/gesture, rid/ride).

🗺️ Origin. Silent letters may help us better understand the origin or meaning of a word and also connect them with one another from the same family (e.g. resign-resignation, vine-vineyard).

Now that you see they’re not totally useless –at least not always– let’s check what words have silent letters. Read the list and pronounce the following terms out loud. Try to use them in a sentence, and you will see much better results in your pronunciation.

Look at the words below and read them out loud. Putting them in a sentence will help you better remember which words include silent letters.

Words With Silent B

The letter B is often silent when it is placed at the end of a word and is preceded by M (-MB).

Aplomb
Bomb
Climb
Comb
Crumb
Debt
Doubt
Dumb
Jamb
Lamb
Limb
Numb
Plumb
Subtle
Succumb
Thumb
Tomb
Womb

Words With Silent C

The letter C is often silent when it is placed after an S (SC).

Abscess
Ascend / ascent
Conscience
Conscious
Crescent
Descend
Disciple
Evanesce
Fascinate
Fluorescent
Muscle
Obscene
Resuscitate
Scenario
Scene
Scissors

Words With Silent D

The letter D is often silent when it is placed in the middle of a word, either after an N or before a G (-DG-, -ND-).

Bridge
Edge
Handkerchief (**NOTE: in the word «hand», the D is not silent)
Handsome
Handful
Grandson
Ledger
Sandwich
Wednesday

Words With Silent E

Many words contain a silent E, especially at the end of a word. Usually these words end in Vowel + Consonant + Silent E. The list is very extensive; here are some examples:

Debate
Desire
Excite
Kite
Love
Make
Name

In American English, we tend to drop silent E’s in some words.

Judgement (BrE) / judgment (AmE)
Programme (BrE) / program (AmE)

Words With Silent G

The letter G is oftentimes silent when it is placed before N, mostly when GN appears at the beginning or the end of the word. It is also usually silent when it appears before H (GH).

Align
Assign
Benign
Champagne
Cologne
Consign
Design
Feign
Foreign
Gnarl
Gnash
Gnaw
Gnome
Gnomic
High
Light
Resign
Sign

Words With Silent H

The letter H is sometimes silent when it is placed after C (CH) and it is always silent when it appears after some consonants (GH, WH, RH). Here are +30 words with silent H:

Anchor
Archeology (in BrE: archaeology)
Architect / architecture
Archive
Borough
Chaos
Character / characteristic
Charisma
Chemical / chemistry / chemist
Choreograph
Chorus
Christmas / Christian
Echo
Heir
Herbs (**only in AmE)
Hour
Honest / honor
Ghost
Psychology
Rhino
Schedule (**only in AmE)
Scheme
School
Tech / technology / techie
Thai / Thailand
Thigh
Thorough
Vehicle
Weigh
What / when / where / why / which
White
While

Words With Silent K

The letter K is silent when it appears at the beginning of a word followed by N (KN-).

Knack
Knave
Knead
Knee
Kneel
Knell
Knickers
Knife
Knight
Knit
Knob
Knock
Knoll
Knot
Know / knew / known
Knowledge
Knuckle

Words With Silent L

The letter L is often silent in the combination ALF, ALM, and OULD.

Almond
Balm
Behalf
Calf
Chalk
Could
Folk
Half
Palm
Salmon
Should
Stalk
Talk
Walk
Would
Yolk

Words With Silent N

The letter N is often silent when it appears at the end of a word preceded by the letter M (-MN).

Autumn
Column
Condemn
Damn
Hymn
Solemn

Words With Silent P

The letter P is often silent at the beginning of a word followed by S (PS-).

Coup
Cupboard
Psychology
Pneumonia
Pseudo
Psychiatrist
Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Psychotic
Receipt

Words With Silent T

Apostle
Bristle
Bustle
Castle
Fasten
Glisten
Hustle
Listen
Moisten
Often

Words With Silent U

The silent U is used to soften the letter G (GU-). It is also silent in most words with the structure -UIT or -UILT.

Baguette
Biscuit
Build
Building
Built
Circuit
Disguise
Guess
Guest
Guide
Guild
Guilt
Guilty
Guise
Guitar
Rogue
Silhouette

Words With Silent W

The letter W is often silent when it is placed before the letter R (WR).

Awry
Playwright
Sword
Wrack
Wrangle
Wrap
Wrapper
Wrath
Wreak
Wreath
Wreck
Wrestle
Wriggle
Wring
Wrinkle
Wrist
Writ
Write / wrote / written
Wrong

Keep Improving Your English Pronunciation

Some of these may sound like difficult silent words in English (or words with silent letters in them), but it’s only a matter of practice!

Download our free pronunciation guide and learn how to improve your English pronunciation. It includes video tutorials and tips to practice on your own. If you are serious about improving your pronunciation and business English, contact Talaera. We will help you find the program for you and your teams.

Keep Learning

Talaera Free resources
Learning Business English? +20 Top Tips You Need To Know
How To Pronounce The Most Difficult English Sounds Correctly
How To Improve Your English Pronunciation [Free Guide]
How To Effectively Reduce Your Accent in English!

For any additional information or questions, you can also reach out at hello@talaera.com. Interested in getting the best offers and receiving free content on Business English communication? Subscribe to our newsletter and we will keep you in the loop with offers, free events, and development materials!

Источник

Lecture 3.
Word-building: affixation, conversion, composition, abbreviation.
THE WORD-BUILDING SYSTEM OF ENGLISH
1.
Word-derivation
2.
Affixation
3.
Conversion
4.
Word-composition
5.
Shortening
6.
Blending
7.
Acronymy
8.
Sound interchange
9.
Sound imitation
10. Distinctive stress
11. Back-formation
Word-formation is a branch of Lexicology which studies the process of building new
words, derivative structures and patterns of existing words. Two principle types of wordformation are distinguished: word-derivation and word-composition. It is evident that wordformation proper can deal only with words which can be analyzed both structurally and
semantically. Simple words are closely connected with word-formation because they serve as the
foundation of derived and compound words. Therefore, words like writer, displease, sugar free,
etc. make the subject matter of study in word-formation, but words like to write, to please, atom,
free are irrelevant to it.
WORD-FORMATION
WORD-DERIVATION
AFFIXATION
WORD-COMPOSITION
CONVERSION
1. Word-derivation.
Speaking about word-derivation we deal with the derivational structure of words which
basic elementary units are derivational bases, derivational affixes and derivational patterns.
A derivational base is the part of the word which establishes connection with the lexical
unit that motivates the derivative and determines its individual lexical meaning describing the
difference between words in one and the same derivative set. For example, the individual lexical
meaning of the words singer, writer, teacher which denote active doers of the action is signaled by
the lexical meaning of the derivational bases: sing-, write-, teach-.
Structurally derivational bases fall into 3 classes:
1. Bases that coincide with morphological stems of different degrees оf complexity, i.e.,
with words functioning independently in modern English e.g., dutiful, day-dreamer. Bases are
functionally and semantically distinct from morphological stems. Functionally the morphological
stem is a part of the word which is the starting point for its forms: heart – hearts; it is the part
which presents the entire grammatical paradigm. The stem remains unchanged throughout all
word-forms; it keeps them together preserving the identity of the word. A derivational base is the
starting point for different words (heart – heartless – hearty) and its derivational potential
outlines the type and scope of existing words and new creations. Semantically the stem stands for
the whole semantic structure of the word; it represents all its lexical meanings. A base represents,
as a rule, only one meaning of the source word.
2. Bases that coincide with word-forms, e.g., unsmiling, unknown. The base is usually
represented by verbal forms: the present and the past participles.
3. Bases that coincide with word-groups of different degrees of stability, e.g., blue-eyed,
empty-handed. Bases of this class allow a rather limited range of collocability, they are most
active with derivational affixes in the class of adjectives and nouns (long-fingered, blue-eyed).
Derivational affixes are Immediate Constituents of derived words in all parts of speech.
Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to
different types of bases. Affixation is subdivided into suffixation and prefixation. In Modern
English suffixation is mostly characteristic of nouns and adjectives coining, while prefixation is
mostly typical of verb formation.
A derivational pattern is a regular meaningful arrangement, a structure that imposes
rigid rules on the order and the nature of the derivational base and affixes that may be brought
together to make up a word. Derivational patterns are studied with the help of distributional
analysis at different levels. Patterns are usually represented in a generalized way in terms of
conventional symbols: small letters v, n, a, d which stand for the bases coinciding with the stems
of the respective parts of speech: verbs, etc. Derivational patterns may represent derivative
structure at different levels of generalization:
- at the level of structural types. The patterns of this type are known as structural
formulas, all words may be classified into 4 classes: suffixal derivatives (friendship) n + -sf →
N, prefixal derivatives (rewrite), conversions (a cut, to parrot) v → N, compound words (musiclover).
- at the level of structural patterns. Structural patterns specify the base classes and
individual affixes thus indicating the lexical-grammatical and lexical classes of derivatives
within certain structural classes of words. The suffixes refer derivatives to specific parts of
speech and lexical subsets. V + -er = N (a semantic set of active agents, denoting both animate
and inanimate objects - reader, singer); n + -er = N (agents denoting residents or occupations Londoner, gardener). We distinguish a structural semantic derivationa1 pattern.
- at the level of structural-semantic patterns. Derivational patterns may specify semantic
features of bases and individual meaning of affixes: N + -y = A (nominal bases denoting living
beings are collocated with the suffix meaning "resemblance" - birdy, catty; but nominal bases
denoting material, parts of the body attract another meaning "considerable amount" - grassy,
leggy).
The basic ways of forming new words in word-derivation are affixation and conversion.
Affixation is the formation of a new word with the help of affixes (heartless, overdo).
Conversion is the formation of a new word by bringing a stem of this word into a different
paradigm (a fall from to fall).
2. Affixation
Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes
to different types of bases. Affixation includes suffixation and prefixation. Distinction between
suffixal and prefixal derivates is made according to the last stage of derivation, for example,
from the point of view of derivational analysis the word unreasonable – un + (reason- + -able) is
qualified as a prefixal derivate, while the word discouragement – (dis- + -courage) + -ment is
defined as a suffixal derivative.
Suffixation is the formation of words with the help of suffixes. Suffixes usually modify
the lexical meaning of the base and transfer words to a different part of speech.
Suffixes can be classified into different types in accordance with different principles.
According to the lexico-grammatical character suffixes may be: deverbal suffixes, e.d.,
those added to the verbal base (agreement); denominal (endless); deadjectival (widen,
brightness).
According to the part of speech formed suffixes fall into several groups: noun-forming
suffixes (assistance), adjective-forming suffixes (unbearable), numeral-forming suffixes
(fourteen), verb-forming suffixes (facilitate), adverb-forming suffixes (quickly, likewise).
Semantically suffixes may be monosemantic, e.g. the suffix –ess has only one meaning
“female” – goddess, heiress; polysemantic, e.g. the suffix –hood has two meanings “condition or
quality” falsehood and “collection or group” brotherhood.
According to their generalizing denotational meaning suffixes may fall into several
groups: the agent of the action (baker, assistant); collectivity (peasantry); appurtenance
(Victorian, Chinese); diminutiveness (booklet).
Prefixation is the formation of words with the help of prefixes. Two types of prefixes can
be distinguished: 1) those not correlated with any independent word (un-, post-, dis-); 2) those
correlated with functional words (prepositions or preposition-like adverbs: out-, up-, under-).
Diachronically distinction is made between prefixes of native and foreign origin.
Prefixes can be classified according to different principles.
According to the lexico-grammatical character of the base prefixes are usually added to,
they may be: deverbal prefixes, e.d., those added to the verbal base (overdo); denominal
(unbutton); deadjectival (biannual).
According to the part of speech formed prefixes fall into several groups: noun-forming
prefixes (ex-husband), adjective-forming prefixes (unfair), verb-forming prefixes (dethrone),
adverb-forming prefixes (uphill).
Semantically prefixes may be monosemantic, e.g. the prefix –ex has only one meaning
“former” – ex-boxer; polysemantic, e.g. the prefix –dis has four meanings “not” disadvantage
and “removal of” to disbrunch.
According to their generalizing denotational meaning prefixes may fall into several
groups: negative prefixes – un, non, dis, a, in (ungrateful, nonpolitical, disloyal, amoral,
incorrect); reversative prefixes - un, de, dis (untie, decentralize, disconnect); pejorative prefixes
– mis, mal, pseudo (mispronounce, maltreat, pseudo-scientific); prefix of repetition (redo),
locative prefixes – super, sub, inter, trans (superstructure, subway, intercontinental,
transatlantic).
3. Conversion
Conversion is a process which allows us to create additional lexical terms out of those
that already exist, e.g., to saw, to spy, to snoop, to flirt. This process is not limited to one syllable
words, e.g., to bottle, to butter, nor is the process limited to the creation of verbs from nouns, e.g.,
to up the prices. Converted words are extremely colloquial: "I'll microwave the chicken", "Let's
flee our dog", "We will of course quiche and perrier you".
Conversion came into being in the early Middle English period as a result of the leveling
and further loss of endings.
In Modern English conversion is a highly-productive type of word-building. Conversion
is a specifically English type of word formation which is determined by its analytical character,
by its scarcity of inflections and abundance of mono-and-de-syllabic words in different parts of
speech. Conversion is coining new words in a different part of speech and with a different
distribution but without adding any derivative elements, so that the original and the converted
words are homonyms.
Structural Characteristics of Conversion: Mostly monosyllabic words are converted,
e.g., to horn, to box, to eye. In Modern English there is a marked tendency to convert
polysyllabic words of a complex morphological structure, e.g., to e-mail, to X-ray. Most converted
words are verbs which may be formed from different parts of speech from nouns, adjectives,
adverbs, interjections.
Nouns from verbs - a try, a go, a find, a loss
From adjectives - a daily, a periodical
From adverbs - up and down
From conjunctions - but me no buts
From interjection - to encore
Semantic Associations / Relations of Conversion:
The noun is the name of a tool or implement, the verb denotes an action performed by the
tool, e.g., to nail, to pin, to comb, to brush, to pencil;
The noun is the name of an animal, the verb denotes an action or aspect of behavior
considered typical of this animal, e.g., to monkey, to rat, to dog, to fox;
When the noun is the name of a part of a human body, the verb denotes an action
performed by it, e.g., to hand, to nose, to eye;
When the noun is the name of a profession or occupation, the verb denotes the activity
typical of it, e.g., to cook, to maid, to nurse;
When the noun is the name of a place, the verb will denote the process of occupying the
place or by putting something into it, e.g., to room, to house, to cage;
When the word is the name of a container, the verb will denote the act of putting
something within the container, e.g., to can, to pocket, to bottle;
When the word is the name of a meal, the verb means the process of taking it, e.g., to
lunch, to supper, to dine, to wine;
If an adjective is converted into a verb, the verb may have a generalized meaning "to be
in a state", e.g., to yellow;
When nouns are converted from verbs, they denote an act or a process, or the result, e.g.,
a try, a go, a find, a catch.
4. Word-composition
Compound words are words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language
as free forms.
Most compounds in English have the primary stress on the first syllable. For example,
income tax has the primary stress on the in of income, not on the tax.
Compounds have a rather simple, regular set of properties. First, they are binary in
structure. They always consist of two or more constituent lexemes. A compound which has three
or more constituents must have them in pairs, e.g., washingmachine manufacturer consists of
washingmachine and manufacturer, while washingmachine in turn consists of washing and
machine. Compound words also usually have a head constituent. By a head constituent we mean
one which determines the syntactic properties of the whole lexeme, e.g., the compound lexeme
longboat consists of an adjective, long and a noun, boat. The compound lexeme longboat is a
noun, and it is а noun because boat is a noun, that is, boat is the head constituent of longboat.
Compound words can belong to all the major syntactic categories:
• Nouns: signpost, sunlight, bluebird, redwood, swearword, outhouse;
• Verbs: window shop, stargaze, outlive, undertake;
• Adjectives: ice-cold, hell-bent, undersized;
• Prepositions: into, onto, upon.
From the morphological point of view compound words are classified according to the
structure of immediate constituents:
• Compounds consisting of simple stems - heartache, blackbird;
• Compounds where at least one of the constituents is a derived stem -chainsmoker,
maid-servant, mill-owner, shop-assistant;
• Compounds where one of the constituents is a clipped stem - V-day, A-bomb, Xmas,
H-bag;
• Compounds where one of the constituents is a compound stem - wastes paper basket,
postmaster general.
Compounds are the commonest among nouns and adjectives. Compound verbs are few in
number, as they are mostly the result of conversion, e.g., to blackmail, to honeymoon, to
nickname, to safeguard, to whitewash. The 20th century created some more converted verbs, e.g.,
to weekend, to streamline,, to spotlight. Such converted compounds are particularly common in
colloquial speech of American English. Converted verbs can be also the result of backformation.
Among the earliest coinages are to backbite, to browbeat, to illtreat, to housekeep. The 20th
century gave more examples to hitch-hike, to proof-read, to mass-produce, to vacuumclean.
One more structural characteristic of compound words is classification of compounds
according to the type of composition. According to this principle two groups can be singled out:

words which are formed by a mere juxtaposition without any connecting elements,
e.g., classroom, schoolboy, heartbreak, sunshine;

composition with a vowel or a consonant placed between the two stems. e.g.,
salesman, handicraft.
Semantically compounds may be idiomatic and non-idiomatic. Compound words may be
motivated morphologically and in this case they are non-idiomatic. Sunshine - the meaning here
is a mere meaning of the elements of a compound word (the meaning of each component is
retained). When the compound word is not motivated morphologically, it is idiomatic. In
idiomatic compounds the meaning of each component is either lost or weakened. Idiomatic
compounds have a transferred meaning. Chatterbox - is not a box, it is a person who talks a great
deal without saying anything important; the combination is used only figuratively. The same
metaphorical character is observed in the compound slowcoach - a person who acts and thinks
slowly.
The components of compounds may have different semantic relations. From this point of
view we can roughly classify compounds into endocentric and exocentric. In endocentric
compounds the semantic centre is found within the compound and the first element determines
the other as in the words filmstar, bedroom, writing-table. Here the semantic centres are star,
room, table. These stems serve as a generic name of the object and the determinants film, bed,
writing give some specific, additional information about the objects. In exocentric compound
there is no semantic centre. It is placed outside the word and can be found only in the course of
lexical transformation, e.g., pickpocket - a person who picks pockets of other people, scarecrow an object made to look like a person that a farmer puts in a field to frighten birds.
The Criteria of Compounds
As English compounds consist of free forms, it's difficult to distinguish them from
phrases, because there are no reliable criteria for that. There exist three approaches to distinguish
compounds from corresponding phrases:
Formal unity implies the unity of spelling

solid spelling, e.g., headmaster;

with a hyphen, e.g., head-master;

with a break between two components, e.g., head master.
Different dictionaries and different authors give different spelling variants.
Phonic principal of stress
Many compounds in English have only one primary stress. All compound nouns are
stressed according to this pattern, e.g., ice-cream, ice cream. The rule doesn't hold with
adjectives. Compound adjectives are double-stressed, e.g., easy-going, new-born, sky-blue.
Stress cannot help to distinguish compounds from phrases because word stress may depend on
phrasal stress or upon the syntactic function of a compound.
Semantic unity
Semantic unity means that a compound word expresses one separate notion and phrases
express more than one notion. Notions in their turn can't be measured. That's why it is hard to
say whether one or more notions are expressed. The problem of distinguishing between
compound words and phrases is still open to discussion.
According to the type of bases that form compounds they can be of :
1.
compounds proper – they are formed by joining together bases built on the stems
or on the ford-forms with or without linking element, e.g., door-step;
2.
derivational compounds – by joining affixes to the bases built on the word-groups
or by converting the bases built on the word-groups into the other parts of speech, e.g., longlegged → (long legs) + -ed, a turnkey → (to turn key) + conversion. More examples: do-gooder,
week-ender, first-nighter, house-keeping, baby-sitting, blue-eyed blond-haired, four-storied. The
suffixes refer to both of the stems combined, but not to the final stem only. Such stems as nighter,
gooder, eyed do not exist.
Compound Neologisms
In the last two decades the role of composition in the word-building system of English has
increased. In the 60th and 70th composition was not so productive as affixation. In the 80th
composition exceeded affixation and comprised 29.5 % of the total number of neologisms in
English vocabulary. Among compound neologisms the two-component units prevail. The main
patterns of coining the two-component neologisms are Noun stem + Noun stem = Noun;
Adjective stem + Noun stem = Noun.
There appeared a tendency to coin compound nouns where:
 The first component is a proper noun, e.g., Kirlian photograph - biological field of
humans.
 The first component is a geographical place, e.g., Afro-rock.
 The two components are joined with the help of the linking vowel –o- e.g.,
bacteriophobia, suggestopedia.
 The number of derivational compounds increases. The main productive suffix to coin
such compound is the suffix -er - e.g., baby-boomer, all nighter.
 Many compound words are formed according to the pattern Participle 2 + Adv =
Adjective, e.g., laid-back, spaced-out, switched-off, tapped-out.
 The examples of verbs formed with the help of a post-positive -in -work-in, die-in,
sleep-in, write-in.
Many compounds formed by the word-building pattern Verb + postpositive are numerous
in colloquial speech or slang, e.g., bliss out, fall about/horse around, pig-out.
ATTENTION: Apart from the principle types there are some minor types of modern wordformation, i.d., shortening, blending, acronymy, sound interchange, sound imitation, distinctive
stress, back-formation, and reduplicaton.
5. Shortening
Shortening is the formation of a word by cutting off a part of the word. They can be
coined in two different ways. The first is to cut off the initial/ middle/ final part:
 Aphaeresis – initial part of the word is clipped, e.g., history-story, telephone-phone;
 Syncope – the middle part of the word is clipped, e.g., madam- ma 'am; specs
spectacles
 Apocope – the final part of the word is clipped, e.g., professor-prof, editored, vampirevamp;
 Both initial and final, e.g., influenza-flu, detective-tec.
Polysemantic words are usually clipped in one meaning only, e.g., doc and doctor have
the meaning "one who practices medicine", but doctor is also "the highest degree given by a
university to a scholar or scientist".
Among shortenings there are homonyms, so that one and the same sound and graphical
complex may represent different words, e.g., vac - vacation/vacuum, prep —
preparation/preparatory school, vet — veterinary surgeon/veteran.
6. Blending
Blending is a particular type of shortening which combines the features of both clipping
and composition, e.g., motel (motor + hotel), brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog),
telethon (television + marathon), modem , (modulator + demodulator), Spanglish (Spanish +
English). There are several structural types of blends:

Initial part of the word + final part of the word, e.g., electrocute (electricity +
execute);

initial part of the word + initial part of the word, e.g., lib-lab (liberal+labour);

Initial part of the word + full word, e.g., paratroops (parachute+troops);

Full word + final part of the word, e.g., slimnastics (slim+gymnastics).
7. Acronymy
Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of parts of a word or phrase,
commonly the names of institutions and organizations. No full stops are placed between the
letters. All acronyms are divided into two groups. The first group is composed of the acronyms
which are often pronounced as series of letters: EEC (European Economic Community), ID
(identity or identification card), UN (United Nations), VCR (videocassette recorder), FBI
(Federal Bureau of Investigation), LA (Los Angeles), TV (television), PC (personal computer),
GP (General Practitioner), ТВ (tuberculosis). The second group of acronyms is composed by the
words which are pronounced according to the rules of reading in English: UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome), ASH (Action on Smoking and Health). Some of these pronounceable words are
written without capital letters and therefore are no longer recognized as acronyms: laser (light
amplification by stimulated emissions of radiation), radar (radio detection and ranging).
Some abbreviations have become so common and normal as words that people do not think
of them as abbreviations any longer. They are not written in capital letters, e.g., radar (radio
detection and ranging), laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) yuppie,
gruppie, sinbads, dinkies.
Some abbreviations are only written forms but they are pronounced as full words, e.g.,
Mr, Mrs, Dr. Some abbreviations are from Latin. They are used as part of the language etc. - et
cetera, e.g., (for example) — exampli gratia, that is - id est.
Acromymy is widely used in the press, for the names of institutions, organizations,
movements, countries. It is common to colloquial speech, too. Some acronyms turned into
regular words, e.g., jeep -came from the expression general purpose car.
There are a lot of homonyms among acronyms:
MP - Member of Parliament/Military Police/Municipal Police
PC - Personal Computer/Politically correct
8. Sound-interchange
Sound-interchange is the formation of a new word due to an alteration in the phonemic
composition of its root. Sound-interchange falls into two groups: 1) vowel-interchange, e.g., food
– feed; in some cases vowel-interchange is combined with suffixation, e.g., strong – strength; 2)
consonant-interchange e.g., advice – to advise. Consonant-interchange and vowel-interchange
may be combined together, e.g., life – to live.
This type of word-formation is greatly facilitated in Modern English by the vast number
of monosyllabic words. Most words made by reduplication represent informal groups:
colloquialisms and slang, hurdy-gurdy, walkie-talkie, riff-raff, chi-chi girl. In reduplication new
words are coined by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes as in bye-bye or with a
variation of the root-vowel or consonant as in ping-pong, chit-chat.
9. Sound imitation or (onomatopoeia)
It is the naming of an action or a thing by more or less exact reproduction of the sound
associated with it, cf.: cock-a-do-doodle-do – ку-ка-ре-ку.
Semantically, according to the source sound, many onomatopoeic words fall into the
following definitive groups: 1) words denoting sounds produced by human beings in the process of
communication or expressing their feelings, e.g., chatter; 2) words denoting sounds produced by
animals, birds, insects, e.g., moo, buzz; 3) words imitating the sounds of water, the noise of metallic
things, movements, e.g., splash, whip, swing.
10. Distinctive stress
Distinctive stress is the formation of a word by means of the shift of the stress in the
source word, e.g., increase – increase.
11. Back-formation
Backformation is coining new words by subtracting a real or supposed suffix, as a result
of misinterpretation of the structure of the existing word. This type of word-formation is not
highly productive in Modern English and it is built on the analogy, e.g., beggar-to beg, cobbler to cobble, blood transfusion — to blood transfuse, babysitter - to baby-sit.

Источник