Word with negative affix

Ricardo: “I can say ‘The price is uncorrect?’”
Me: “No, the right word is incorrect.”
Ricardo: “Why?”
Me: “Great question.”
Enter this post.

The English language provides us with several ways to negate words, one of which is the use of negative affixes (i.e. prefixes and suffixes). In other words, a letter or group of letters can be attached to the beginning (prefix) or end (suffix) of a word to change its meaning. Although prefixes and suffixes can be used in a variety of scenarios to modify the meaning of a root word, this post will address their use as a method for negating words. Take for example the above interaction. In order to obtain the opposite/negative/contrary meaning of the word correct, we had to add the prefix in-, resulting in the word incorrect.

But how do we know the word is incorrect, not uncorrect? Unstable, not instable? Irregular, not unregular?

Both in- and un- convey the meaning of “not something,” which can lead to confusion regarding which (if any) prefixes to use. This post will start by describing the different prefixes (10 in total!) and one suffix that can be used to negate a word. The next section will address some exceptions and other interesting comments. Finally, I will complete a brief comparative analysis of the use of negative affixes in other languages.

NEGATIVE PREFIXES AND SUFFIX

Prefixes can be classified either based on the role they play/effect they have (semantically) or by the type of grammar rules applicable to them (grammatically). I have chosen to divide the prefixes semantically, which gives us the following categories: negative prefixes (a(n), dis-, in-, non-, un-), reversative or privative prefixes (de-, dis-, un-), pejorative prefixes (mal-, mis-) and prefixes of opposition (anti-, counter-).

Source: prepared using data from Merriam Webster’s online dictionary.
*Exceptions discussed in further detail below.

The question is, with so many options, how do native speakers and learners of English know which prefix to use? Unfortunately, there are few rules in this regard and those that do exist are based on the origin of the root word (Germanic, Greek or Latin) which, I imagine, most people and, in particular, nonnative speakers, will not know.

Negative Prefixes

This first category comprises the “true” negative prefixes. I say true, because oftentimes the term negative prefixes is used to refer to all 10 of the above prefixes, but only more accurately applies to 5 of them. What is a negative prefix? Negative prefixes are those that have the meaning of “not ____” or “lacking of,” which includes the following prefixes: a-, dis, in-, non- and un-.

A(N)-

This prefix has its roots in the Greek prefix “a-,” which means “without” or “lack of.”

When is this prefix used? And, again, bear in mind that these are not strict rules, but rather just a few useful observations.

1. Often used with adjectives formed from nouns: (color – (a)chromatic ; symmetry – (a)symmetric)
2. Adjectives ending in –al (e.g. amoral, asexual, atypical, asymmetrical)
3. Words of Greek origin (dictionary.com is a good place t0 check word origin)
4. Technical or scientific words (e.g. atrophy, anarchism, anorexia, asymmetry)
5. Not usually used with verbs or adverbs

One final note. Although this prefix is generally used before words starting with a consonant, when it does precede a word starting with a vowel, the prefix becomes an–.

DIS-

This prefix has several meanings and can be used with verbs, adjectives, nouns and adverbs! As with all the other prefixes in this category, this prefix can mean “not ______” or “lacking of.” However, as we will see in the section on reversative/privative prefixes, it can also mean “opposite of.”

As the origin of the prefix comes from Latin, this word is often used with words of Latin origin. (e.g. disloyal, dishonest, discomfort).

IN-

The most common problem or confusion with this prefix can be summarized by the following question; “What is the difference between im, in, il, and ir?” Essentially nothing. In- is the basic prefix; however, it is subject to modification based on the first letter of the main word it is modifying, in order to ease pronunciation. For those of you that are familiar with Spanish, this is similar to use of the word “e” to mean “and,” instead of the normal “y,” when it is followed by a word starting with the “EEE” sound (e.g. las mujeres e hijas). In English, the prefix in- changes according to the following rules:

• im– before words beginning with m or p (e.g. immaterial, impertinent, imperfect)
• il– before words beginning with l (e.g. illegal, illegitimate, illegible)
• ir– before words beginning with r (e.g. irrelevant, irrational, irrelevant)

The prefix in- can also be modified to ig–, although this is not very common. The only words I can think of are ignoble and ignominious, and none of these words are used very frequently.

As mentioned above, this prefix means “not _____.” However, it is important to note that this prefix may also sometimes be used to add emphasis to/intensify a word. This is the case with the words invaluable, illuminate, innovative, incredible, and inflammable.

A common complaint of English learners, and what triggered this post, is the difference between in- and un-. These two prefixes are the most commonly confused. On a very basic level, the distinction here is that in- comes from Latin and is therefore used primarily with words of Latin origin, whereas words of Germanic origin tend to take the prefix un- (Fowler). However, it’s not quite as simple as it sounds.

As with many aspects of English grammar, there is much inconsistency in the use of these prefixes. Over the course of history, this inconsistency has been primarily driven by the availability of a foreign (in-) and a native (un-) prefix, both with the same meaning. As the English language was developing, it faced a choice between directly adopting foreign words (in-) or translating those words into English by changing the prefix to un-.

This inconsistency was all but nonexistent in Old English; however, this problem of which prefix to use grew alongside the growing English language. This can most likely be attributed to the increased borrowing of Latin-origin words through French, thanks to the Norman invasion of the British Isles, which was then codified in dictionaries. The problem with this is that the lexicographers were making choices between codifying words with in– or un- primarily based on personal preference, not following any sort of semantic or grammatical rules (Seale 1).

NON-

This prefix is one of the two prefixes (together with ANTI-) that is most frequently used to create new words in the English language.

In general, this prefix is attached to adjectives and slightly less frequently to nouns, but almost never to adverbs or verbs. Examples of use with an adjective include: noncompliant, nonessential, nonpartisan and non-dairy[1]. Examples of use with nouns include: nonconformist and noncompliance.

UN-

This is the most commonly used prefix to negate words to obtain the meaning “not + word.” So, when in doubt, use un-. It is interesting to note that this was not always the case, but un- is currently the preferred prefix as between in- and un-.

This prefix also has an additional meaning, which will be addressed under the section on reversative and privative prefixes.

Reversative and Privative Prefixes

These prefixes, together with the remaining prefixes discussed below, are not technically negative prefixes in the strict sense, but still convey the idea that we are straying from the meaning of the main word and heading into antonym-ish world.

Let me first start by breaking down what the heck “reversative” and “privative” mean. Reversative prefixes refer to the reversal of something and privative prefixes are used to convey the idea of “lacking.”

DIS-

When used with a verb, or with an adjective or adverb derived from the verb, it generally means the “opposite of.” (e.g. disenchanted, disagree, disprove).

UN-

When this prefix is used to modify a verb, un- means “to undo or reverse the action.” For example, untie, unfasten, unbuckle, etc. You may have noticed in the table above that there is another prefix (de-) that can be used to mean reversal of an action.

DE-

This prefix can also, similar to un-, be used to reverse the action of the verb being modified, although de- is much more commonly used for this purpose. Examples: defriend, deregulate, defrost. It is important to note that this prefix is generally only used when implying the reversal of an action that has in fact been taken. For example, dis- is used with the verb “member” to form dismember, as in to cut a body into pieces (sorry, kind of a grotesque example, but it was the best I could come up with). In this case, we could not use the prefix de-, as the action of first “membering” the body was never taken….the person just came pre-membered.

-LESS

The only suffix of this type, making its application and use very easy. It is used to express the idea that something does not have the quality of the base word. For example, odorless, meaningless, speechless.

Pejorative Prefixes

Pejorative prefixes are prefixes that provide a negative evaluation of the word being modified.

MAL- (badly) and MIS- (wrongly)

Mal- and Mis- are probably two of the easiest prefixes to apply. The former means badly and the latter wrongly. Although “bad” and “wrong” may at first glance appear tobe one and the same, there are slight differences. For example, you may heat a whole gallon of ice cream in one sitting. Is this bad, as in unhealthy, not good for you? Yes. Is it wrong? Probably only if someone forbade you to eat it and you did so anyway.

Examples with “mal-“: malnourished, malodorous, maladjusted
Examples with “mis-“: misadvise, misconduct, misdiagnose

Opposition Prefixes

Opposition prefixes are those that can be added to a word to convey the idea of opposite, opposed or against.

ANTI-

This one is relatively simple to use and also very helpful. It is used in three separate contexts:

1. “opposed to”                       Examples: anti-Semitism

1. “opposite”                           Examples: antithesis, antisocial

1. “acting to prevent sth.”  Examples: antibodies, antiaging, antifreeze, anti-inflammatory

COUNTER-

This prefix means the opposite of something. Consider counterclockwise, the opposite of clockwise. Examples: counterintuitive, counterfire, counterclaim, counterterrorism, and counterstrike (yes, as in the videogame).

SPECIAL CASES, EXCEPTIONS AND FINAL COMMENTS

Prefix Look-Alikes

I would also like to point out that not all words that appear to have a negative prefix actually do. There are many words that start with the same letters as these prefixes, that is, with these combinations of letters, but which are not always intended to negate something. This is the case in particular with verbs beginning with “in-.” Examples: incline, inform, and involve. The key here is to focus on the word following the introductory letters. If the main word (the one after the prefix or letters matching the prefix) is not a word on its own, then no prefix is at play (e.g. in the word in·cline, cline is not a word). Other examples of words that appear at first glance to be employing a prefix, but are not, are: alike, antiquated, decrease, destroy, include, illuminate, important, impact, irrigate, and universe.

Hyphens

As you probably noticed if you haven’t been bored to death reading this and actually made it to this point, words formed with these prefixes are sometimes joined using a hyphen (e.g. anti-American). So, when do we need to use a hyphen?

1. Depending on the personal preference of the writer, when there is a double vowel or double consonant (e.g. non-native, anti-inflammatory). Exception: hyphens are never used with the prefix in- (illegal)
2. Base word is a proper name/capitalized word (anti-American, sub-Saharan, un-English)
3. Before numbers (post-9/11)
4. With nouns formed using more than one prefix (non-self-governing)
5. Separating repeated double prefixes (sub-subsection)
6. If the prefix can stand alone as its own word (over-, under-, macro-, micro-, ex-, self-) Note: this does not apply to any of the prefixes addressed herein

Inconsistent Prefixes

Anyone thinking; “Cool, all I have to do is remember that stable goes with un-, and I can apply this to all of the forms of the word…adjectives, adverbs, nouns, verbs…everything!” Sorry, but no. The prefix used for one word type (e.g. adjective) is not always consistently used with the other variations of that same word. For example, the adjective able is negated using un- (unable), but its corresponding noun and verb forms are, respectively, inability and to disable. Some other examples include:

Luckily, this is the exception, and most words seem to maintain the same prefix across the different word forms. I was unable to find a specific rule (if there is one), on when words take the same prefixes and when not. Any knowledge/input on this topic would be awesome!

Multiple Prefixes per Word

Another note. A lot of words will accept numerous prefixes, but it is important to understand that this does not mean they are interchangeable. The choice of prefix will, in some cases, change the meaning of the word.

This first group of words that can take more than one suffix poses minimal problems for language learners, as the different prefixes the word accepts have different meanings.

Misdiagnosed: diagnosed improperly
Undiagnosed: not diagnosed at all, no diagnosis was provided

Misinformed: to be inaccurately apprised of something
Uninformed: to not be apprised of

Inappropriate: not suitable
Misappropriate: to take something dishonestly for your own use

This next grouping includes words that take more than one prefix where the meaning is more similar. In these cases, the words are primarily seen as synonyms, usually with use being a matter of preference. It is also interesting to note that many of these word combinations are not actually words. I have marked those words that do not technically appear in the dictionary, but which are oftentimes used by native speakers. As far as the difference between each variation, I have opted not to include a definition for those pairs of words that I felt were synonyms. I would love to hear your input though on any subtle differences you may see between each pair of words.

Unaffected: not influenced
Disaffected: disconnected

Unmoral: not affected or guided by morals
Amoral: having or showing no regard for morality, often relating to behavior

Unbelief: lack of belief
Disbelief: feeling of not being able to believe something

Disinterested: having no personal feelings or interest in something
Uninterested: not interested

Inability: lack of ability
Disability: condition that limits person’s physical or mental abilities

Irreligious: not believing in or practicing any religion
Unreligious: having no connection to religion
Antireligious: against or opposed to religion
Nonreligious: having nothing to do with religion

Unapproved: approval was rejected, not approved
Disapproved: not agreeing with or approving something

Dislike: to not like
Unlike: not similar

Unprofessional: conduct deviating from normal professional standards
Nonprofessional: describing someone that is not a professional in a particular field

Disorganized and Unorganized

Insecure and Unsecure*[2]

Infertile and Unfertile [3] 

Inept: lacking skill or ability
Inapt: not appropriate/suitable
Unapt: not likely

Incapable and Uncapable

No Prefix

Last but not least, words can be negated through the use of the word “not” as opposed to by prefixation. Unfortunately, there is, as far as I was able to discern, no clear line of when to use a prefix and when to use a separate word (i.e. not) for the purposes of negation. This is another here where I had trouble discerning any rules so, again, if anyone has any thoughts/knowledge I’d love to hear from you!

Unintelligent – not intelligent
To defund (take away funding) – not funded (didn’t receive funding)
Impossible – not possible
Disagree – not agree
Completely unfazed – not fazed at all
Unreliable – not reliable

Non-words

Last but not least, to emphasize the utter confusion in this area, I want to address words that native English speakers often have trouble with and ultimately opt for the wrong prefix. Common words that people use but which are not actually listed in most dictionaries include incertain and irregardless.

Let’s look a little more at irregardless, an interesting case of language evolution. The base word here, regardless, meaning lacking attention. At some point, people started using irregardless as its synonym (potentially as a combination of irrespective and regardless). So many people started using this word, that it is now in fact a word, although its use is still frowned upon.

COMPARATIVE STUDY

The following is a very brief look at how other languages handle this same issue. Many words in the other romance languages take the same/similar prefixes. For example, insufficient in English uses the same prefix in Spanish (insuficiente), Portuguese (insuficiente) and French (insuffisant). Although the prefix selected in German for this same word is un- (ungenügend), insuffizient can be used in more specialized language.

Comparative with Spanish

Spanish has a similar system of negating words using affixes, many of which are the same as in English. Spanish prefixes include A-, ANTI-, CONTRA-, DES-, IN-, MAL-. The prefix in- even changes based on the following letter, just as in English (e.g. irreparable, irrespectivo). Another interesting similarity is the tendency of natives to misuse irregardless (irrespectivo). And, yet another similarity here is that in- can also be used for emphasis, as in invaluable (incalculable).

Despite these similarities, it is important to remember that “un-” is a uniquely Germanic prefix and therefore, when translating such words from English into Spanish, the prefix will have to be adjusted. It would be great if there were a rule along the lines of “translate the un- prefix in English to in- in Spanish.” Unfortunately, this does not work 100% of the time, although by looking at the table below you can see that this rule can, in general, be applied.

Comparative with French

The available prefixes in French include A-, CONTRE-, DÉ(S)-, IN-, NON-, MAL-, and MÉ(S)-. You will notice the same thing as with Spanish, which is the lack of the un- prefix.

And here is a table comparing certain prefixed words in French and English:

I am not even going to try to come up with some sort of rule for when what word takes what prefix in which language.

Comparative with German

I wanted to add a section on German to see how these work with another Germanic language besides English. The available affixes here include the prefixes A-, DES, IN-, MISS-, VER- and UN- and the suffix –LOS, –FREI, and -LEER.

Some interesting things are happening here. First, let’s take a look at the prefix VER-. We do not have this prefix in English, but it is an extremely useful prefix in German that is essentially used to form the opposite of the root verb. For example, kaufen (to buy) becomes verkaufen (to sell).

As with English, there are certain words that may appear to be employing a prefix, but which are not. For example, the word Unmenge (a gazillion) is clearly not trying to negate the meaning of the root word “Menge,” which means amount or quantity.

As with the French, there appears on the surface to be no rhyme or reason to when to use which prefix.

CONCLUSION

That’s all folks. Sorry it was so long! Every time I tried to find an answer to a question I had, I discovered a bazillion new things I wanted to discuss. For those of you who are reading this as an English learner, I’m afraid to say that the best way to learn these really is by rote memorization. My suggestion would be to keep a piece of paper or page in a notebook with ten columns (one for each affix), and jot down words as you come across them!

Footnotes: 

[1] You may be wondering why there is a hyphen here. I will address the use of hyphens with prefixes at the end of this post.

[2] Follow this https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=insecure%2Cunsecure&year_start=1900&year_end=2016&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cinsecure%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cunsecure%3B%2Cc0“>link for a view of the Google Ngram for these two words.

[3] Follow this https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=infertile%2C+unfertile&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cinfertile%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cunfertile%3B%2Cc0“>link for a view of the Google Ngram for these two words.

Works Cited:

H.W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage: The Classic First Edition

Lea L. Seale, The Rise and Decline of Negative Doublets in English, American Speech, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Oct., 1960).

Тест недоступен для мобильных устройств.

Словообразование – очень обширная тема в английском языке. В ней не всегда применимы правила — чаще всё зависит от устоявшегося словоупотребления в языке. Тем не менее, слова, которые нужно уметь превращать в разные части речи, всё-таки есть. И их превращением мы планируем заняться сегодня в этой статье.

Освоив тему словообразования, вы сможете достаточно сильно расширить свой словарный запас, потому что начнёте понимать логику. Например, вы знаете слово understand – (что делать?) понимать. Прибавим к нему суффикс –able: understandable. Теперь это не глагол, а прилагательное – (какой?) понятный. А вот приставка mis- придаст слову отрицательное значение: misunderstand – неправильно понять. А теперь добавим окончание –ing: misunderstanding – (что?) недопонимание. И вот из одного, всем известного, слова у нас получилось три новых. Интересно, правда?

Но, как видите, сегодня мы затронем только небольшую часть этой огромной темы — отрицательные приставки. Но если вы захотите продолжения, обязательно напишите об этом в комментариях.

Возможно, вы читаете эту стать не случайно – вам предстоит экзамен? Если да, то помимо этой статьи вам нужно почитать такие наши пособия, как «Как не завалить егэ по английскому языку?», «IELTS. Как сдать экзамен на 7+ баллов?»(2 книги). Если же участь сдачи экзамена миновала, то и для вас найдётся что-то полезное. Рекомендуем следующее: «10 лайфхаков для эффективного изучения английского», «Как подготовиться к разговору с иностранцем», «32 совета. секреты полиглотов», «Английский для путешествий» и другие.

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Какие существуют отрицательные приставки?

Конечно, вы не можете не знать, что многие слова пришли в английский язык из латинского или греческого. Но помимо слов, пришли и их части – приставки, суффиксы и т.д. Давайте же посмотрим, какие английские приставки являются исконными, а какие были заимствованы из других языков.

Всего в английском языке насчитывается 13 отрицательных приставок:

1. un-
2. mis-
3. non-
4. mal-
5. under-
6. dis-
7. in-
8. il-
9. im-
10. ir-
11. de-
12. contra-
13. anti-

Мы провели исследование и обнаружили интересный факт: исконно английскими приставками считаются un-, mis-, non-, mal-, under-. Таких приставок нет ни в латинском, ни в греческом языках.

А вот все префиксы, начинающиеся с буквы i, имеют латинское происхождение: in-, il-, im-, ir-. Также латинскими являются приставки dis-, de- и contra-. Приставка же anti- была заимствована из греческого языка.

💡 Разберём на нескольких примерах, как меняется значение слова, если к нему подставить префикс.

Приставка dis- придаёт отрицательное значение, часто переводится на русский язык приставками не-, дез-, бес-, без-:

1. obedient (послушный) – disobedient (непослушный)
2. order (порядок) – disorder (беспорядок)
3. appear (появляться) – disappear (исчезать)

Приставка im- означает отрицание. Употребляется, если слово начинается с согласных «р», «b» и «m»:

1. moral (нравственный) – immoral (безнравственный)
2. balance (баланс) – imbalance (неустойчивость)
3. parity (равенство) – imparity (неравенство)

Пока мы затронули всего несколько примеров, но дальше их будет гораздо больше.

Правила употребления отрицательных приставок

Как уже было сказано в начале – часть приставок регламентируется правилами. Как раз их мы сейчас разберём.

1. Приставка il- употребляется с прилагательными, которые начинаются с согласной буквы «l»:

literate (грамотный) – illiterate (неграмотный),
legal (легальный) – illegal (нелегальный),
legitimate (легитимный) – illegitimate (нелегитимный),
legible (разборчивый) – illegible (неразборчивый),
logical (логичный) – illogical (нелогичный),
adequate (адекватный) – inadequate (неадекватный),
liberal (либеральный) – illiberal (нелиберальный).

2. Приставка ir употребляется с прилагательными, которые начинаются с буквы «r»:

responsible (ответственный) – irresponsible (безответственный),
replaceable (заменимый) – irreplaceable (незаменимый),
regular (регулярный) – irregular (нерегулярный),
relevant (актуальный) – irrelevant (неактуальный),
rational (рациональный) – irrational (нерациональный),
removable (съемный) – irremovable (несменяемый),
replaceable (заменимый) – irreplaceable (незаменимый),
relative (относительный) – irrelative (безотносительный),
reconcilable (примиримый) – irreconcilable (непримиримый),
recoverable (извлекаемый) – irrecoverable (невозвратимый).

3. Префикс im, как правило, употребляется перед прилагательными, начинающимися с согласных «р», «b» и «m»:

possible (возможный) – impossible (невозможный),
polite (вежливый) – impolite (невежливый),
perfect (совершенный) – imperfect (несовершенный),
patient (терпеливый) – impatient (нетерпеливый),
precise (точный) – imprecise (неточный),
moral (моральный) – immoral (безнравственный),
probable (вероятный) – improbable (невероятный),
perceptible (ощутимый) – imperceptible (незаметный),
pure (чистый) – impure (нечистый),
balanced (сбалансированный) – imbalanced (несбалансированный),
maculate (измазанный) – immaculate (безупречный).

4. Приставка in чаще всего употребляется:

• Перед сочетанием букв ас:
  accurate (точный) – inaccurate (неточный),
  active (активный) – inactive (неактивный);
• Перед согласным звуком с:
  coherent (связный) – incoherent (бессвязный),
  capable (способный) – incapable (неспособный),
  frequent (частый) – infrequent (нечастый),
  competent (компетентный) – incompetent (некомпетентный),
  correct (правильный) – incorrect (неправильный),
  credible (правдоподобный) – incredible (невероятный).

Исключения составляют следующие слова:

informal (неформальный), inarticulate (невнятный), invalid (недействительный).

5. Префикс un- является одним из самых популярных, поэтому с ним можно образовать наибольшее количество слов. Но, всё-таки, существует несколько правил, которые подсказывают, что именно эта приставка должна употребляться:

• чаще всего используется в прилагательных и причастиях перед гласными:
  usable (пригодный) – unusable (непригодный),
  attractive (привлекательный) – unattractive (непривлекательный);
• перед согласными:
  helpful (полезный) – unhelpful (бесполезный),
  happy (счастливый) – unhappy (несчастный),
  fair (справедливый) – unfair (несправедливый),
  bearable (терпимый) – unbearable (невыносимый),
  friendly (дружелюбный) – unfriendly (недружелюбный),
  daunted (обескураженный) – undaunted (неустрашимый),
  natural (естественный) – unnatural (неестественный),
  welcoming (приветливый) – unwelcoming (неприветливый),
  shaven (бритый) – unshaven (небритый),
  real (реальный) – unreal (нереальный);
• с глаголами. Тут значение префикса un- будет не отрицательным, а противоположным:
  do – undo (застегнуть — расстегнуть),
  chain – unchain (сковать — освободить).

6. Приставка dis- может употребляться перед гласными, как и приставка in-, из-за чего возникает путаница. Поэтому в некоторых случаях лучше просто запоминать слова с префиксом dis-:

• с причастиями и прилагательными:
  advantageous (выгодный) – disadvantageous (невыгодный),
  organized (организованный) – disorganized (неорганизованный),
  obedient (послушный) – disobedient (непослушный);
• если слово начинается с “h”:
  honest (честный) – dishonest (нечестный),
  honored (почетный) – dishonored (обесчещенный),
  harmonious (гармоничный) – disharmonious (дисгармоничный),
  heartened (ободренный) – disheartened (обескураженный);
• некоторые слова, которые начинаются с согласных:
  qualified (квалифицированный) – disqualified (дисквалифицированный),
  coloured (цветной) – discoloured (обесцвеченный),
  satisfied (удовлетворенный) – dissatisfied (неудовлетворенный),
  similar (похожий) – dissimilar (непохожий),
  respectful (уважительный) – disrespectful (неуважительный),
  passionate (страстный) – dispassionate (бесстрастный);
• с существительными:
  ability (способность) – disability (неспособность);
• с глаголами:
  satisfy (удовлетворить) – dissatisfy (не удовлетворить),
  like (нравится) – dislike (не нравится),
  arm (вооружить)– disarm (обезоружить),
  appear (появляться) – disappear (исчезать),
  agree (соглашаться) – disagree (не соглашаться).

7. Префикс mis- употребляется в значении «ошибочный», «неправильный». Чёткого правила тут нет, но ассоциируйте эту приставку с её значением, и уже будет проще. Употребляется:

• с существительными:
  fortune (удача) – misfortune (несчастье);
• глаголами:
  dial (набирать номер) – misdial (неправильно набрать номер);
• прилагательными:
  leading (ведущий) – misleading (вводящий в заблуждение).

8. Думаем, вы уже замечали, что префикс non- часто используется со словами наравне с другими приставками.
Вместо него мы можем использовать, например, префикс un-:
unprofessional (профессиональный) – non-professional (непрофессиональный),
non-recoverable (восстанавливаемый) – unrecoverable (невосстанавливаемый).

Надеемся, что эти правила помогут вам подружиться со словообразованием. В какой-то степени они и правда облегчают нам жизнь, главное – не запутаться в них. Ну а если вам хочется отработать употребление префиксов на практике, тогда в конце этой статьи вас ждёт несколько упражнений. Также не забудьте получить бонус от школы Инглиш Шоу – бесплатное занятие! Переходите по ссылке и записывайтесь, наши преподаватели будут «бороться» друг с другом за возможность поработать именно с вами!

Таблица отрицательных приставок в английском

Давайте подведём итог. таблица ниже поможет вам ориентироваться в правилах быстрее. обязательно сохраните и распечатайте её себе, чтобы в нужный момент она была под рукой.

Помимо правильного употребления приставок, их нужно ещё и уметь применять в речи. К сожалению навык говорения не приобретается путём чтения статей. Чтобы заговорить, нужно говорить. Приходите к нам в Инглиш Шоу на Разговорный Марафон, где вы наконец-то научитесь выживать в чужой стране, добираться в нужное место, не блуждая по незнакомому городу, говорить о себе, смотреть фильмы в оригинале и многому другому!

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Упражнения на отрицательные приставки в английском

В английском языке существует несколько способов словообразования и один из них — добавление приставок к той или иной части речи. Если в русском языке мы легко можем образовать отрицание всего лишь одной приставкой -не, то в английском языке дела обстоят немного сложнее. Сегодня мы разберемся в отрицательных приставках, а также правилах их употребления.

English language is a language of variety, and it works like a machine where you can put parts together to build a specific shape or structure. In English language, we can find a variety of rooted words that can have different synonyms or antonyms, and to vary the way we write or speak, we can also use some techniques such as affixation.

An affix is a morpheme that can be divided no further, it’s a small part of language that can be added to a rooted word to modify the meaning and to convey it into different parts of speech; such as adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and verbs. For example,

Expect (root in verb form) — Ожидать (основное слово)
Expected (adjective) — Ожидаемый (прилагательное)
Unexpected (antonym adjective) — Неожиданный (прилагательное-антоним)
Unexpectedly (antonym adverb) — Неожиданно (наречие-антоним)
Expectation (noun) — Ожидание (существительное)

The affix that we add to the beginning of a rooted word is called prefix and the affix that we add to the end of the word is called suffix. In this article, we will be delving into how we can make negative forms and antonyms using the commonly known and most used negative prefixes.

NON-

Non- is a prefix that shows the meaning of “absent” and it can be used with nouns or adjectives. For example:

Smoker — non-smoker
Sense — nonsense
Alcoholic — non-alcoholic

  He used to be an alcoholic, but now he consumes only non-alcoholic beverages.
  Раньше он был алкоголиком, но теперь он употребляет только безалкогольные напитки.

DIS-

Dis- is a prefix that comes with the usage of making antonyms, and it is very common among native speakers and writers. For instance,

Regard — disregard
Charge — discharge
Connect — disconnect
Comfort — discomfort
Loyal — disloyal

  We sensed that he was disloyal and would eventually turn on us.
  Мы чувствовали, что он ненадёжен, и в конечном итоге нас выдаст.

IM-

Im- comes after rooted words that start with “m” or “p”, and it is usually used to show negation or antonyms.

Possible — Impossible
Mortal — immortal

  The noise made sleep impossible.
  Из-за шума было невозможно спать.

IN-

In- so similar to im- and is used for the same purposes, an example for that:

  My friend had been active on social media for years, but now he’s inactive.
  Мой друг был активен в социальных сетях в течение многих лет, но сейчас он неактивен.

Other examples include:

Appropriate — inappropriate
Secure — insecure

These are just example to show you briefly, but be sure that you’ll find so many words that are used with the prefix in-.

UN-

For this negative prefix, it might be the most commonly used among above examples, and it is used to demonstrate antonyms of rooted words of course. These are words like:

Finished — unfinished
Done — undone
Stoppable — unstoppable

  What is done cannot be undone.
  Сделанного не воротишь.

To summarize, the rules here very simple and they can be used very easily for those who would like to beautify their language by making it richer in vocabulary, the examples above are for demonstration; and of course, there are plenty of other negative prefixes that you might find very useful in the next steps of developing your language skills as an ESL (English as a Second Language) learner. The most important point is that English is a living language that runs dynamically and smoothly.

It is quite reasonable to give the examples to these affixes and the definitions of these words given in the dictionary.

atypical: not typical; different from what is usual: Her reaction to the drug was atypical.

antiaircraft: directed against enemy aircraft: antiaircraft missiles

contraindication: a physical sign or condition that makes it inadvisable to take or continue taking a medicine: High blood pressure is a contraindication for this drug.

destabilize: to make less firm or steady, especially politically: a deliberate attempt to destabilize the economy of a rival country

disclaim: to state that one does not have or accept; to deny: He disclaimed all responsibility for the accident.

illiterate: who has nor learnt to read or write: (fig.) an illiterate note.

immodest: showing or tending to express a high opinion of oneself and oneself’s abilities, perhaps higher than is really deserved; not modest: immodest behaviour.

inaction: lack of action or activity; quality or state of doing nothing

irrational: not using reason; against reasonable behaviour: After taking the drug she became quite irrational.

miscount: to count wrongly: The teacher miscounted the number of boys.

nonresident: a person not living in a certain place: Are nonresidents entitled to vote?

unannounced: having given no sign of being present; appear unexpectedly: He burst into doctor’s room quite unannounced and started shouting at her.

countless: very many; too many to be counted: countless reasons against it. [6]

Since we have even more examples of words with the negative affixes, it is more possible to apply the definitions of the affixes to the definitions of the words with these affixes. It is becoming clear then that the meanings of the affixes given in the dictionary are quite general. It was stated above, that affix has no independent meaning, so only when attached to words, affixes acquire a more specific meaning in each case. The reason for it is that affix is not an independent unit; therefore its meaning taken separately can be stated only generally.

To make the analysis more complete we should consult at least one other dictionary. So if it is Oxford Advanced Lerner’s Dictionary of Current English, the result will be the following.

a-: (in nouns, adjectives and adverbs) not; without: amoral (=not moral): atheists

anti-: 1 apposed to; against: anti-tank weapons 2 the opposite of: an anti-hero

contra-: (in nouns, verbs and adjectives) against; opposite : contraflow

de-: (in verbs and related nouns, adjectives and adverbs): the opposite of: decentralization

dis-: (in adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs): not; the opposite of: dishonest

il-suffix=in

im-=in

in-: (also il- im- ir-)(in adjectives, adverbs and nouns): not; the opposite of: infinite

ir-=in

mal-: (in nouns, verbs and adjectives): bad or badly; not correct or correctly: malpractice

mis-: (in verbs and nouns) bad or wrong; badly or wrongly

non-: (in nouns, adjectives and adverbs): not: nonsense

un-: 1(in adjectives, adverbs and nouns): not; the opposite of: unable 2 (in verbs that describe the opposite of a process): unlock

less-: (in adjectives): 1without: treeless 2 not doing; not affected by: tireless [7]

Such affixes like mys- and nega-, which are present in the list of negative affixes, are not present in both Longman and Oxford dictionaries, as well as words with them, so we can make a suggestion that they are not productive nowadays, that is no words are built with it. But there are found some words beginning with dys-, like dysfunctional (=not working in a satisfactory or successful way), or dyslexia (=a slight disorder of the brain that causes difficulty in reading and spelling, for example, but does not affect intelligence). Therefore, it should be included in the list of negative affixes to make it more complete. It is obvious, that the prefix dys- really exists and has approximately the same meaning as the prefix dis-.

Analyzing the meanings given by both dictionaries we can make a conclusion that they just slightly differ in meanings in different dictionaries (for example, contra- in Longman Dictionary means “opposite”, while Oxford Dictionary gives a wider definition – “against; opposite”, and like), and according to the examples the meanings given there reflect the additional meaning, which they bring to the derivative word. All the negative affixes posses the meaning of either opposition or lack of something that also carries the idea of negation. The Oxford dictionary marks the word class of the word the affix belongs to, what is not always done in Longman dictionary. It is very useful for our further classificatrional analysis.

But it is known that some words can acquire several negative affixes and new words can seem semantically similar to language learners. It is a rude mistake to misuse the affixes. So on this stage of analysis appears a question, why some words are attached with a certain negative affix and others are attached with others. And it is also very important to find out how not to mix up some affixes with very similar meanings. The Longman dictionary contains an article comparing prefixes un-, in- and non-, which look very much alike at the first sight. “The difference between them is the degree to which they suggest the idea of the opposite rather than negative. Non- is usually just negative (for example, nonalcoholic drinks contain no alcohol), but un- is often used to suggest an opposite quality. Compare: He is applied for a nonscientific job (=not connected with science) in the Civil Service. | It was very unscientific (=showing too little attention to scientific principles) not to measure your results. Of the three prefixes (un-, in-, non-), in- tends most often to suggest opposite qualities. Compare: their inhuman (=very cruel) treatment of political prisoners | The archeologists discovered both human and non-human bones”. This explanation is a great help for language learners and also for the practical purposes of our work. [6]

3. The place of affixes in classifications of morphemes. The classifications of negative affixes

It has already been said that English grammarians usually point out two main criteria for the general classification of morphemes: the positional criterion and the semantic (or functional) criterion. And according to them there are root-morphemes and affixal morphemes, roots and affixes [4, 58]. For example, in the word miscast “cast” is a root and “mis-” is an affix. The semantic difference between them is obvious: root morphemes have the concrete, “material” meaning, while affixes just specify the main meaning, or transform the meaning of the root. In the given example “cast” means “to to choose actors to plat the different parts in the film/movie, play etc.”, while “mis-” means “badly or wrongly” [7]. So the complete meaning of the word is compound from these two meaning, but the first is the main, as it is independent, and the second is additive.

There is also another division of morphemes in Descriptive Linguistics. Morphemes can be free or bound. Free morphemes can build up words by themselves, for example, home. Bound morphemes are used only as parts of words, like dis- in disregard [4, 58]. So, as all the affixes are attached to some root (as affixes do), they are all can be referred to the class of bound morphemes.

Morphemes also can be divided into overt and covert. The latter shows the meaningful absence of a morpheme distinguished in the opposition of grammatical forms in paradigms [4, 59]. For example in the paradigm of noun in the word hand –s is a covert morpheme. As suffixes can be either present or absent in the word structure they can be of both kinds in different contexts.

Full or meaningful morphemes are opposed to empty morphemes. The later ones have no meaning like the full ones, for example, in the word ‘children’ child- is the root of the word, bearing the core of the meaning, -en is the suffix of the plural, while -r- is an empty morpheme. In this case it is clear that suffixes can also be of both kinds, but usually, as it was already mentioned, they have a certain meaning [4, 59].

Segmental morphemes consist of phonemes, while supra-segmental leave the phonemic content of the word unchanged, but the meaning of the word is specified with the help of various supra-segmental lingual units, like in `convert (a noun) — con`vert (a verb). As suffixes refer to the segmental level, they are all segmental morphemes [4, 60].

Additive morphemes, which are freely combined in a word, e.g.: look+ed, small+er, are opposed to replacive morphemes, or root morphemes, which replace each other in paradigms, e.g.: sing -sang – sung [4, 60]. Within this classification affixes are sure to refer to additive morphemes.

And one more division is to continuous and discontinuous morphemes. Continuous ones are combined with each other in the same word, like in worked, while discontinuous consist of two components, used to form analytical forms, for example, is running [4, 60]. As affixes can not consist of several parts, so they are continuous.

The specification of affixes themselves can be of two kinds: lexical and grammatical. And according to this criterion there are lexical, or word-building, or derivational affixes and grammatical, or word changing affixes. The latest group expresses different morphological categories, such as number, case, tense and others. Grammar study is primarily concerned with grammatical affixes, because they change the word according to its grammatical categories and serve to insert the word into an utterance. Lexical affixes serve to build new words, grammatical – to change the form of the word, for example, go – goes [4, 56]. Regarding this classification we can come to a conclusion that negative affixes, which we are interested in, refer to the group of lexical affixes, as they change the lexical meaning of the word, not its form. For example, smoker – a person who smokes; non-smoker – a person who does not smokes. Prefixes in English are only lexical, they do not transform a word into another part of speech (understand-misunderstand). Suffixes can be both lexical and grammatical. For example, home-homeless, but go-goes. Grammatical suffixes are also called inflexions (inflections, inflectional endings) [4, 56].

Grammatical suffixes form word-changing, or morphological paradigms of words, which is typical for inflexional languages, but they can be observed in English too (boy-boys). Lexical affixes are the subject of lexicology, because they change the meaning of the word. In grammar they are regarded as formal indicators of belonging of the word to one or another part of speech. They form lexical (word-building, or derivational) paradigms of words united by a common root, for example, to decide — decision — decisive – decisively [4, 56].

Affixes can also be divided according to their position. They are divided into prefixes (before the root) and suffixes (after the root) [5, 136]. There are other types of affixes in different languages, but prefixes and suffixes are the most typical for English. As we have seen, the negative affixes tend to come mostly from prefixes.

One more meaningful parameter in classification of affixes is their semantic impact, due to which they are united in semantic groups of a type:

—affixes with meaning of similarity (-al, -ial, -ed, -esque, -ful, -ic, -ical, -ish, -like, -ly, -ous, -some, -y, crypto-, neo- etc.);

—affixes with meaning of denying (a-, dis-, in-, non-, un-, -less), and it is the group of our particular interest, as they also can de called negative;

—diminutive affixes (-ette, -ie/-y, -ikin, -let, -ling);

—affixes with meaningof the person (-an, -ian, -arian, -ant, -ard, -by, her(it), -een, -eer, -er, -ess, -ette, -ician, -ie, -ing, -ist, -ister, -kin, -ing, -ster, -ton);

—affixes with meaning of number (bi-, demi-, di-, mono-, multi-, pan-, poly-, semi-, tri-, twi-, uni-);

and many others. It is impossible to speak about one complete classification of this type, because many affixes are polysemantic and different lexicologist refer them to different groups [5, 148].

Prefixes and suffixes form various subgroups depending on what from all variety of properties, that they inherit, is selected as classification parameter. That can become, for example their origin, on the basis of which there is a division into native affixes and borrowed [5, 145]. As an example of borrowed affix we can take anti-, as in anticyclone, and as native – less, as in motionless.

There is also one more very important classification of affixes. It is known that affixes are attached to stems of different parts of speech. And according to this they are called:

—substantive (like anti-, non-, dis-, -less);

—adjectival (like dis-, un-, in-)

—verbal (like dis-, de-, mis-);

—adverbial (like un-, anti-, re-, non-) [5, 146].

4.76
A prefix such as ‘un-‘ or ‘dis-‘ can be added to the beginning of
some words to give them the opposite meaning. Words with prefixes can
be looked up in any good dictionary. The suffix ‘-less. is added to
the end of words to give them a negative meaning.

She
asked us to her house which was very small and untidy.

At
last Janet sat down, as she was breathless.

Here
is a list of common negative prefixes:

a- anti- counter-

de- dis- ex-

il- im- in-

ir- mal- mis-

non- un-

‘un-‘
4.77
The most common of these prefixes is ‘un-‘. It can be added to many
adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.

They
were unhappy
with the way things were going.

They
described what they saw, sometimes truthfully and at other times
untruthfully.

She
unpacked
straightaway.

‘Un-‘
can also be added to some nouns.

She
wanted to save her sister from unhappiness.

‘in-‘,
‘il-‘, ‘ir-‘ 4.78 Another common prefix is ‘in-‘. It is added to some
adjectives, adverbs, and nouns instead of ‘un-‘.

The
footpath was invisible.

Some
radiation continues almost indefinitely.

There’s
enormous inefficiency in the system.

‘Il-‘
is added to some adjectives, adverbs, and nouns beginning with ‘l’.
‘Im-‘ is added to others which begin with ‘b’, ‘m’, or ‘p’, and ‘ir-‘
is added to some which begin with ‘r’.

He
was reached an illogical
conclusion.

The
windows will be almost impossible
to open.

I
was a crazy, irresponsible
adventurer.

‘dis-‘
4.79 ‘Dis-‘ is added to some verbs, adjectives, nouns, and adverbs.

I
disliked
change of any kind.

I
was becoming disconnected.

He
gave a look of disapproval.

She
just gets disagreeably
rebellious.

4.80
‘Non-‘ is added to some adjectives and nouns.

…a
peaceful, non-violent
protest.

Traffic
signals were inadequate or non-existent.

The
match was a non-event.

The
oil companies stubbornly pursued a course of non-cooperation.

4.81
The suffix ‘-less’ can be added to many nouns in order to form
negative adjectives.

They
were completely helpless.

Many
people were in tears and almost speechless.

That
was very thoughtless
of you.

…a
cold, heartless
smile.

Here
is a list of common words which have the suffix ‘-less’:

breathless careless childless countless doubtless endless

harmless heartless helpless homeless hopeless landless

lifeless limitless meaningless merciless mindless motionless

nameless needless pointless powerless relentless restless

senseless shapeless speechless thoughtless useless worthless

4.82
You can add ‘-less’ to many other nouns when it is clear from the
context that you are talking about a lack of something. This is an
example of a productive feature.

Productive
features are explained in the Introduction.

Forming negative statements: broad negatives

4.83
Another way in which you can make a statement negative is by using a
broad negative. Broad negatives are adverbs like ‘rarely’ and
‘seldom’ which are used to make a statement almost totally negative.

The
estimated sales will hardly
cover the cost of making the film.

We
were scarcely
able to move.

Kuwait
lies barely
30 mites from the Iranian coast.

Here
is a list of the most common broad negatives:

barely

hardly

rarely

scarcely

seldom

4.84
The position of a broad negative within a clause is similar to that
of ‘never’ (see paragraphs 4.60 to 4.62).

4.85
When you use a broad negative with a verb group which contains an
auxiliary verb, you put it after the first word in the verb group and
in front of the main verb.

I
could scarcely believe my eyes.

Mr
Al-Fayed is rarely photographed with his family.

His
eyes had hardly closed.

4.86
If the verb is the simple present of simple past of ‘be’, the broad
negative usually comes after the verb.

Examiners
were
seldom
unkind.

The
new pressure group is barely six months old.

The
office was hardly ever empty.

The
lagoons are rarely deep.

The
results were scarcely encouraging.

with
other verbs 4.87 If the verb is the simple present of simple past of
any verb except ‘be’, the broad negative usually comes in front of
the verb.

He
seldom
bathed.

Marsha
rarefy
felt
hungry.

John
hardly
ever spoke
to the Press.

It
is also possible to put a broad negative after the verb, but this is
less common.

They
climb
rarely
and do not have much reason to.

They
met
so seldom.

as
first word in the clause 4.88 In formal or literary English, a broad
negative is sometimes placed at the beginning of a clause for
emphasis. If you are using a verb with an auxiliary, the first word
in the verb group is placed after the broad negative, followed by the
subject and then the remainder of the verb group.

Seldom
has society offered
so wide a range of leisure time activities.

Hardly
had we recovered
from this appalling shock when he were approached by a yacht.

If
there is no auxiliary, you put the simple present or simple past of
‘do’ after the broad negative, followed by the subject, followed by
the base form of the main verb.

Seldom
did a week pass without
a request for assessment.

Rarely
do local matches live up to expectations.

Note
that ‘barely’ and ‘scarcely’ are not often used in this way.

USAGE
NOTE 4.89 If you make a tag question out of a statement that contains
a broad negative, the tag on the end of the statement is normally
positive, as it is with other negatives. Tag questions are explained
in paragraphs 10.122 to 10.130.

She’s
hardly the right person for the job, is
she?

You
seldom see that sort of thing these days, do
you?

You
can modify ‘rarely’ and ‘seldom’ by putting ‘so’, ‘very’, ‘too’, or
‘pretty’ in front of them. You can also modify ‘rarely’ by using
‘only’.

It
happens so
rarely.

Women
were very
seldom
convicted.

He
too
seldom
makes the first greeting.

Most
people go to church only
rarely.

If
you want to say there is very little of something, you can use a
broad negative with ‘any’ or with a word which begins with ‘any-‘.

The
bonds show barely any interest.

Hardly
anybody came.

In
fact, it is seldom any of these.

With
scarcely any warning, the soldiers charged.

Sometimes
two or three relatives are admitted, but rarely any friends.

‘almost’
4.90 Instead of using a broad negative, you can use ‘almost’ followed
by a negative word such as ‘no’ or ‘never’. For example, ‘There was
almost no food left’ means the same as ‘There was hardly any food
left’.

They’ve
almost
no money
for anything.

The
cars thinned out to almost
none.

They
were very private people, with almost
no
friends.

Men
almost
never
began conversations.

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