One way to learn new words is to be aware of the way English words are formed. Many words are usually made up of three parts: a prefix, a stem and a suffix. You can use this knowledge to increase your vocabulary.

1. UNIVERSIDAD SIMON BOLIVAR
DEPARTAMENTO DE IDIOMAS
Focus on word formation

2. word formation
HOW?
WHAT?
adding affixes (prefix/suffix)
creation of new words
to the root of a word

3. word formation
WHY?
Learn…
how English words are formed
the spelling of words
new word families
Increase…
vocabulary knowledge
reading comprehension

4. word formation
root word?
central part …for example,
real word
‘comfort’
stands on its own (root word)

5. word formation
a prefix?
group of letters
add to the beginning of a root
each one has a meaning
…for example,
dis + comfort = discomfort

6. word formation
Prefix Meaning
 mis- ‘wrong’ or ‘badly’
‘misspelled’ ‘wrongly spelled’
 sub- ‘under’
‘subway’ ‘a way under the ground’
 pre- ‘before in time’
‘prepacked’ ‘packed before’
 un- ‘not
‘unhurt’ ‘not hurt’

7. word formation
a suffix?
group of letters
word ending
end of a root word
…for example,
comfort + able = comfortable

8. word formation
Suffix Example
Verb suffixes -ed walk + ed = walked
-ing say + ing = saying
Noun suffixes -ness happy + ness = happiness
-sion divide + sion = division
-ment excite + ment = excitement
-tion educate + tion = education
-cian music + cian = musician
Adjective suffixes -al accident + al = accidental
-er tall + er = taller
-able accept + able = acceptable
-ary imagine + ary = imaginary
-est large + est = largest
-ful help + ful + helpful
Adverb suffixes -ly love + ly = lovely
-fully hope + fully = hopefully

9. word formation
…some family words,
employ: employed, employee, employer,
unemployed, unemployment
use: useless, usable, used, using, user,
misuse
friend: friendly, friendship, friendless
unfriendly
faith: faithful, faithfully,
unfaithful, unfaithfully

10. word formation
…Final Tips
 There are no rules to help you remember which
prefix you should use
 Knowing the meaning of the prefix can help
 If you’re uncertain whether the prefix you’ve
used is correct, check the word in a dictionary
 There are some spelling rules to help you learn
why and when this happens

11. word formation
…Final Tips
 Adding a suffix to some root words will change
the spelling of the new word
 Adding suffixes to words can show how a word
will be used in a sentence
 Adding suffixes to words can show what part of
speech the word belongs to
(noun, verb, adjective, adverb)

12. UNIVERSIDAD SIMON BOLIVAR
DEPARTAMENTO DE IDIOMAS
Focus on word formation
Prof. Silvia Pereira