The English Cafe

30 November 2016

Word Formation

What is it?

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!
Check your answers carefully when you finish.

From
The British Council

Click here, scroll down and do the two exercises

Further exercises:

Exercise 1
Exercise 2

Dear Students,
Practise the comparison by doing the exercises below. Don't forget to look up unfamiliar words, and have your Grammar Book ready.
You can find more exercise in the table of contents. (Inhaltsverzeichnis)
Or just click on the label "Comparison".

Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4 (Look up the adjectives in the dictionary)
Exercise 5
Exercise 6

Bring a Word a Day

to except - ausschließen
necessary . notwendig
conservation - Umweltschutz
self-confidence - Selbstbewusstsein
wealth - Reichtum
to deliberate - beraten
mysterious - geheimnisvoll
accidentally - zufällig
to dissent - widersprechen
timetable - Stundenplan
sledge - Schlitten
priceless - unbezahlbar
fictional - erfunden