SHARPEN YOUR VOCABULARY SKILLS.

SHARPEN YOUR VOCABULARY SKILLS.
Many English words are made up of several word parts called prefixes, roots, and suffixes. You can increase you vocabulary by learning about the structure of words and how they are formed in English. Fr example, the word unfriendly has three parts. The main part of the word, friend, is called the root. The prefix, (un) and the suffix –ly make friend into the word unfriendly.


Prefixes
A prefix is a word part that is added to the beginning of a word. A prefix changes the meaning of a word. For example, dishonest means “not honest”. (my ex-husband is a dishonest man).


NEGATIVE PREFIXES
Some prefixes change a word into its opposite. English has several prefixes that mean no or not.

Prefix Meaning Example
Anti- against antisocial
Dis- not disobey
il- not illegal
im- not impossible
in- not incorrect
ir- not irregular
mis- wrongly misuse
non- not nonsense
un- not unable




OTHER PREFIXES

Not all prefixes change a word to its opposite, but all prefixes change the word in some way.

Prefix Meaning Example
Bi- two, twice bilingual, biannual
Ex- no longer being or doing ex-wife, ex-football player
Multi- many multicultural, multicolored
Post- after, following, later postgraduate, postwar
Pre- before prewar, preview
Re- again, back rewrite, redo, rewind
Semi- half, partly semicircle, semiprecious
Sub- under, below, more powerful substandard, subway
Super- larger, greater, more powerful superhuman, supermarket
Trans- between two things transatlantic, transportation