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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. 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).
·
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.
·
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.
·
Adjectives often end: -able, -ible, -ive, -al, -ic, -ed, -ing.
·
Some verbs end: -ise, -ate, -en.
·
Adverbs often end: -ly.
·
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!
There are many word beginnings (prefixes) and word
endings (suffixes) that can be added to a word to change its meaning or its
word class. The most common ones are shown here, followed by examples of how
they are used in the process of word formation. More can be found in the
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
Verb Formation
The endings ize and ify can be added to nouns and
adjectives to form verbs.
Noun + ize = Verb
American + ize = Americanize Legal + ize = legalize
This will make the factory more modern. This will
modernize the factory. Adjective + ize = Verb
False + ify = Falsify Humid + ify = humidify
These tablets make the water pure. They purify the
water.
Adverb Formation
The ending ly can be added to most adjectives to form
adverbs.
Adjective + ly = Adverb
Easy + ly = easily His behaviour was stupid. He
behaved stupidly
Noun Formation
The endings er, ment, and ation can be added to many
verbs to form nouns.
Verb + er = Noun Fasten + er = faster Open
+ er = opener
John drives a bus. He is a bus driver.
Amaze + ment = amazement Retire + ment = retirement
Children develop very quickly. Their development is
very quick.
Admire + ation = admiration Organize + ation =
organization
The doctor examined me. The doctor gave me an
examination.
The endings ity/ty and ness can be added to many
adjectives to form nouns.
Stupid + ity = stupidity Don’t be so cruel. I hate
cruelty
Adjective Formation
The endings y, ic, ical, ful, and less can be added to
many nouns to form adjectives. The ending able can be added to many verbs to
form adjectives.
Noun + y = Adjective Dirt + y = dirty
That was an awful smell. It was very smelly.
Atom + ic = atomic That was a book of poetry. It was a
poetic book.
Hope + ful = hopeful His broken leg caused pain. It
was very painful.
Care + less = careless The operation didn’t cause
pain. It was painless.
Verb + able = Adjective Love + able = lovable You can
wash this coat.
It’s washable Opposites Prefixes added to the front of
many words can produce an opposite meaning. un + fortunate = unfortunate I’m
not very happy. In fact I’m very unhappy.
Put the correct
form of the word in brackets into the blank .
1. The results were very strange! In fact,
they were ___________________ ! (BELIEVE)
2. He has an unfortunate
___________________ to understand people’s feelings (ABLE)
3. Due to the clerk’s
______________________ we missed the train (STUBBORN)
4. What we saw was beyond all
______________________ (EXPECT)
5. She is a student of the
______________________ (HUMAN)
6. The book contains some great
______________________ (ILLUSTRATE)
7. Please give us details of your present
______________________ (OCCUPY)
8. What is the ______________________ of
the Danube River (LONG)
9. The ______________________ of our
agriculture is important if we want to produce more food (MECHANIC)
10. Drug ______________________ is a
problem causing great concern (ADDICT)
11. The ______________________ of the
awards is scheduled for next Friday (PRESENT)
12. I have been sworn to
______________________ so I can’t say a word (SECRET)
13. After losing her job she was
______________________ for a month (EMPLOY)
14. Pushing into a queue is considered to
be extremely ______________________ (POLITE)
15. The audience gave the violinist a
round of ______________________ (APPLAUD)
16. He isn’t happy with his job because he
feels he is ______________________ (PAY)
17. We have just been shown another
example of ______________________ killing (SENSE)
18. My sister’s ______________________
makes hers social life difficult (SHY)
19. I’m not sure at all I really can’t say
with ______________________ (CERTAIN)
20. My ______________________ is the
history of Elizabethan England (SPECIAL)
21. The police were told by their
______________________ where to find the criminal (INFORM)
22. He received many medals for his acts
of ______________________ during the war (HERO)
23. The ______________________ of the
company is said to be dangerous to small firms (EXPAND)
24. For all of us, Marilyn Monroe was the
______________________ of beauty (PERSON)
25. I can guarantee the ______________________
of our new product (RELY)
26. The government is encouraging heavy
______________________ (INVEST)
27. People who suffer from
______________________ should buy themselves a pet (LONELY)
28. George and I have been friends since
______________________ (CHILD)
29. Everybody is worried about the
______________________ of the rain forest (DESTROY)
30. Some MPs are calling for
______________________ without trial (DETAIN)
31. My grandfather was given a medal for ______________________
(BRAVE)
32. My father takes great
______________________ in his work (PROUD)
33. This bag contains all my photographic
______________________ (EQUIP)
34. ______________________ is probably the
most useful form of energy (ELECTRIC)
35. John turned up on the wrong day
because of a ______________________ (UNDERSTAND)
36. Jake had another
______________________ with his boss (AGREE)
37. The bank robbers were sentenced to
twelve years of ______________________ (PRISON)
38. Mary suddenly felt sick, so we needed
a ______________________ for her part in the play (REPLACE)
39. Failure to apply in time may result in
a ______________________ of benefits (LOSE)
40.
Pat was accused of stealing some ______________________ documents (CONFIDENT)
Put the correct
form of the word in brackets into the blank.
1. In the future the public will have a
wider __________________ of television programs. (CHOOSE)
2. Looking after the health of 700
children is heavy ______________________ . (RESPONSIBLE)
3. The town spent more money on
__________________ and health than ever before (HOUSE)
4. Do you have any particular
__________________ where we sit? (PREFER)
5. There’s a __________________ contrast
between what he does and what he says. (STRIKE)
6. The party turned out to be a huge
______________________ (DISAPPOINT)
7. He was fined and __________________ for
reckless driving (QUALIFY).
8. Is it possible to remove the smell from
the books that have been in _______________ for such a long time? (STORE)
9. Many people are interested in job
__________________ more than in earning large amount of money (SATISFY).
10. I hadn’t made a __________________ ,
so I just got on the first flight available. (RESERVE)
11. The anti-doping association believes
that all sports must be free of drug __________________ (USE).
12. The country is facing a population
__________________ . (EXPLODE)
13. It is __________________ to fasten
your seat-belts before take-off (ADVISE)
14. She claimed __________________ benefit
for over six months. (EMPLOY)
15. Tax __________________ is one of the
biggest problems that face the new country. (EVADE)
16. You can basically wear what you want
but there is an _____________ law that says you must not wear jeans. (WRITE)
17. The __________________ course is being
paid for by the company. (MANAGE)
18. It’s a __________________ shame that
she didn’t have a better chance in life. (CRY)
19. The farm house we stayed in was
completely off the __________________ track. (BEAT)
20. The police searched the house
_______________________ . (SYSTEM)
21. He is a __________________ -paid
senior executive. (HIGH)
22. A full-scale ____________________ of
our company is urgently needed (ORGANIZE)
23. Are we going to be saved
__________________ by our oil supplies? (ECONOMY)
24. Experts have tried to find a
__________________ to the personnel problems. (SOLVE)
25. She’s a specialist in psychology and
human __________________ . (BEHAVE)
26. The __________________ of the most
important port of the country eliminated all trade. (BLOCK)
27. The __________________ system of some
countries used to be based on gold. (MONEY)
28. He recovered from his injuries in the
__________________ hospital (NAVY)
29. He has loved her __________________
ever since they first met. (PASSION)
30. The importance of this
__________________ has been extremely overrated. (INVENT)
31. He is a convinced __________________
of Chinese communism (FOLLOW)
32. Jane’s party was more of an
__________________ test than anything else. (ENDURE)
33. The government has committed itself to
developing __________________ sources of energy. (NEW)
34. He took a job as a sales
__________________ in a big department store. (ASSIST)
35. The potential benefits of this
treatment __________________ the risks. (WEIGH)
36. Make sure the hairdryer is
__________________ before you fix the switch. (CONNECT)
37. They say that travel
__________________ the mind. (BROAD)
38. Without his teacher’s __________________
he would have given up long ago. (ENCOURAGE)
39. Dickens’s last novel was
__________________ The Mystery of Edwin Drood. (TITLE)
40.
She has known me for two years now but she still __________________ my name. (PRONOUNCE)
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