1. Escuela de Educación Continua
Repaso para la Prueba de Evaluación
y Admisión Universitaria
(College Board)
INGLÉS
Reading Comprehension
Prefixes and Suffixes
Preparado por
Prof. Carmen Cembalest, Enero 1994
Revisado por
Prof. Thelvenitsie Hernández, Junio 2006

2. Este manual es propiedad del Campus Virtual de la Escuela de
Educación Continua de la Universidad Metropolitana. El mismo
no puede ser reproducido parcial ni totalmente sin la autorización
expresa del Decano Asociado del Campus Virtual de la Escuela
de Educación Continua de la Universidad Metropolitana.
Escuela de Educación Continua de UMET, enero 2012

3. Reading Comprehension:
The explanation and exercises that follow are geared to test your ability to read
and understand a passage. When you read a paragraph or an essay, you must
follow certain guidelines that will help you understand and analyze the ideas
brought up by the writer.
a. Context Clues – These are words (that you know the meaning of) around the
words you are reading, that help you determine the meaning of the new word.
b. Synonyms – Words with the same or nearly the same meaning.
c. Antonyms – Words with opposite
d. Cognates – Words that are spelled alike or almost alike, sound alike and have
the same meaning in English and Spanish. False cognate, then, are words that
sound alike, but do not have the same meaning.
e. Inference – You draw conclusions or deduct from the information given.
f. Transitional devices – Establish a bridge between two ideas. They also help the
reader to find out the kinds of developmental paragraphs in an essay.
g. Prefixes and suffixes –
 A prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a base word or word
root. Ex. discover (prefix)
 A suffix is a word part added to the end of a base word or word root. Ex.
speechless (suffix)
h. Analogies – expresses an agreement of likeness between things in some
circumstances. This relationship is between the meaning and or the usage of
English words, and is usually offered as a sentence written in an abbreviated
form.

4. Practice Exercise1:
Choose the correct prefix to complete the sentence.
1. Joe did not behave well in school. He ____________ so much that the teacher sent a
notice to his parents.
a. unbehaved
b. disbehaved
c. misbehaved
2. I cannot read your handwriting. It is completely _______________________.
a. nonlegible
b. illegible
c. mislegible
3. He did not see the car. It was almost as if it was _____________________.
a. invisible
b. unvisible
c. imvisible
4. Miss Ramos explained the directions so that no one would _________________ them.
a. uninterpret
b. misinterpret
c. disinterpret
5. No one could ____________ whether the experiment would succeed.
a. pretell
b. retell
c. foretell
6. The campers could not drink the river water because it was ____________________.
a. impure
b. unpure
c. inpure
7. The directions said to ________________ the oven while mixing the butter.
a. unheat
b. nonheat
c. preheat
8. It is very _______________ to talk while somebody is speaking.
a. inproper
b. improper
c. nonproper

5. 9. Where did you put my keys? I think you _______________ then.
a. misplaced
b. implaced
c. displaced
10. My husband never agrees with my arguments. He is extremely ________________.
a. disrational
b. inrational
c. irrational
11. We took a _________________ flight to New Orleans.
a. mistop
b. nonstop
c. instop
12. The man did not want to wait at the bus station. He was very _________________.
a. impatient
b. inpatient
c. dispatient
13. The new employee looked very _______________ on her first day of work.
a. unsecure
b. insecure
c. nonsecure
14. You do not help me at all. You always _____________ me when I have a new idea.
a. encourage
b. disencourage
c. discourage
15. He got a ticket because he _______________ the traffic laws.
a. misobeyed
b. disobeyed
c. nonobeyed

6. Practice Exercise 2
Suffixes: Choose the word that completes the sentence.
1. The letter was very _____________________________.
a. cheerless
b. cheerful
c. cheerfuler
d. cheerfully
2. No _______________ face was visible in the crowd.
a. friendly
b. friendness
c. friendliness
d. friendful
3. There was a lot of __________________ in the last election.
a. uncertainly
b. uncertainless
c. uncertainness
d. uncertainty
4. The ground seemed to shake _________________ beneath our feet.
a. wildful
b. wildless
c. wildly
d. wildness
5. The event was a __________________ occasion.
a. momentous
b. momentum
c. momentation
d. momentary
6. They received your ______________________.
a. recommendable
b. recommend
c. recommendably
d. recommendation
7. Who is the guest ____________________ this evening?
a. speaker
b. speak
c. speaking
d. speakerly

7. 8. His new behavior made a ______________________.
a. different
b. differently
c. difference
d. differ
9. Vera’s __________________ bothers everyone.
a. coldfulness
b. coldly
c. coldness
d. coldless
10. My friend is a __________________ person.
a. dependably
b. dependable
c. dependent
d. dependentful
11. Sonya made a ________________ in the announcement.
a. correction
b. correctly
c. correctness
d. correct
12. The event closed in a __________________ silence.
a. peaceless
b. peacement
c. peaceful
d. peacely
13. Helen awaited my reaction ______________________.
a. eagerly
b. eagerless
c. eagerful
d. eager
14. I trust the ___________________ of his eyes.
a. quickment
b. quickly
c. quickness
d. quickless

8. ROOTS
ROOT WORD MEANING
1. ann, enn year
2. aud, audit to hear
3. auto self
4. capit head
5. chron time
6. cred, credit to believe
7. dic, dict to say, to speak
8. duc, duct to lead
9. fac, fact to make
10. gen, gene race, birth
11. graph to write
12. homo same
13. jac, ject to throw
14. log, logo word, study
15. luc light
16. mit, miss to send
17. phil, philo to love
18. phon sound
19. photo light
20. port to carry
21. scrib, script to write
22. sens, sent to feel
23. spec, spect to look at
24. tele distant
25. tend, tens to stretch
26. therm heat
27. ven, vent to come
28. vid, vis to see
29. viv, vit to live, life
30. voc, vocat to call
PREFIXES
PREFIX MEANING
1. a, an not, without
2. ante before
3. anti against

9. 4. contra, counter against
5. de away, down
6. dis not, without
7. dis apart
8. e, ex out, away from
9. in (im, il, ir) not
10. in (im) inside, into
11. intra inside, within
12. hyper above
13. hypo under
14. non not
15. post after
16. pre before
17. pro for, in favor of
18. sub under
19. super above
20. un not
SUFFIXES
SUFFIX PARTS OF SPEECH MEANING
1. ac, al, an, ant, ent adj. having the nature of
2. able, ible adj. able to be
3. an, ian, n. one who
4. ance, ence n. state quality of
5. ant, ent n. one who
6. ar, ic, ish adj. having the nature of
7. ary, ory n. a place of
8. ate v. to make, cause to be
9. ed, t v. past participle
10. ee n. one who receives an action
11. en v. to make, cause to be
12. er, ar, or n. one who, a thing which
13. er adj. comparative (of two)
14. est adj. super. (or more than two)
15. fy, ify v. to make, cause to be
16. ful adj. full of
17. ing v. present participle
18. ion, tion, sion n. state of, quality of
19. ism n. state of doctrine
20. ist n. one who
21. ive, ative adj. having the nature of
22. ize v. to make, cause to be
23. less adj. without, free of

10. 24. ly adv. in a certain manner
25. ment n. state of, quality of
26. ness, hood n. state of, quality of
27. ose, ous, tious, cious adj. having the nature of
28. s v. third person singular
present tense
29. s,es n. plural of noun
30. ship n. state of, quality of
31. tude, lude n. state of, quality of
32. ty, ity n. state of, quality of
33. y, ly adj. having the nature of