PIe

1. The basics of sentences
Active and passive: root words, suffixes and prefixes

2. Active sentences
In English, most verbs are ‘active’.
Bob ate the donut.
Kane kicked the football.
The dog bit the postman.
Active verbs are used in the usual pattern of ‘subject’ followed
by verb which tells us what the subject is doing.

3. Passive sentences
In English, we can also use passive verbs.
The donut was eaten.
The football was kicked.
The postman was bitten.
Passive verbs focus on what happened and can hide who did it
- or use ‘by’ to reveal who did the action:
The football was kicked by Kane.

4. Passive sentences
Passive verbs are useful when it doesn’t matter who did the
action:
The flats were built.
The test tube was heated.
It is also useful when building suspense to hide a threat:
The door was opened.
The money was stolen.

5. Root words and prefixes
Prefixes are a group of letters that can be added to the start of
a word to change its meaning.
Kind – unkind
In this case, the root word is ‘kind’. The prefix is ‘un’ and it
changes the meaning.
Happy – unhappy
Fair – unfair
Usual - unusual

6. Root words and prefixes
You can usually work out what a prefix means by collecting
words with the same prefix and thinking about their meaning:
Unacceptable
Unafraid
Unadventurous
Unaided
Unaltered
Unanswered
Unbeatable
Unavailable
Unappreciated

7. Root words and prefixes
You can usually work out what a prefix means by collecting
words with the same prefix and thinking about their meaning:
Submarine
Substandard
Subconscious
Submerge
subterranean
Antifreeze
Antidote
Antivirus
Antisocial
Antonym

8. Root words and suffixes
Suffixes are added to the end of a word to change its grammar.
Quick – quickly
Fast – faster
Jump – jumped
Happy – happiness
Cook – cooking
Wonder – wonderful
Advert – advertise