GRAMMAR LOG

Word building

Words can be given extra meaning by prefixes at the beginning or suffixes at the end. These additions can dramatically change the meaning or grammatical usage of the word.

When you know one word in English, it is often easy to make several new words from that one. For example, the word KIND, which is an adjective; (a kind person), you can also make the noun kindness, the adverb kindly, the opposite unkind, unkindly, etc.

1. When the letter or group of letters is added to the beginning of a word, we call it a prefix.
Most common ones are: mis-, pre-, semi-.
Examples:

misunderstand, preoccupied, semifinal

The prefixes ir-, im-, in-, un-, il- make the word negative
Examples:

irregular, impatient, independent, unemployed, illegal

2. When the letter or group of letters is added to the end of a word, we call it a suffix. Most common ones are: -able, -ance, -ence, ness, -ly, -ful
Examples:

portable, reliance, patience, cleanliness, easily, beautiful

3. Sometimes words change the function without changing its form.
For example, nouns that are used as verbs.

We had a long talk./They often talk for hours.

4. In English many words are formed by joining parts of two or more existing words.
Examples:

cook + book = cookbook
black + board = blackboard