WORD FORMATION FOR Cae [PDF]

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WORD  FORMATION  FOR  FCE     WORD  FORMATION     Word  formation  is  a  great  resource  of  English  language.  It  encompasses  different   mechanisms  through  which  lexical  units  can  be  created:     - Compounding:  A  combination  of  words  or  parts  of  them.   - Affixation:  Adding  affixes  or  suffixes  to  the  base.   - Conversion:   Linguistic  elements  changing  their  grammatical  category,  e.g.   the  use  of  verbs  as  nouns  and  vice  versa,  etc.       COMPOUNDING   Units   forming   compounds   can   be   solid   (“trademark”),   hyphenated   (“shop-­‐lifting”)   and  open  (“sales  manager”).     Compounding  involves  all  the  grammar  categories:  nouns,  adverbs,  adjectives,  etc.   - -­‐noun+noun:  “jobhunter”;  “wineglass”  (hyponym  of  “glass”),  “skinhead”;     - -­‐noun+verb:  “windfall”,  “sunshine”;     - -­‐noun+adverb:  “environment-­‐friendly”,  “consumer-­‐friendly”;     - -­‐noun+adjective:  “cost-­‐efficient”;  “fat-­‐free”;     - -­‐verb+  noun:  “pass-­‐book”,  “pickpocket”;     - -­‐verb+verb:  “make-­‐believe”;   - -­‐preposition+noun:  “afternoon”;  “after-­‐hour”;   - -­‐adjective+noun:  “redskin”,  “fast-­‐food”,  “software”.       AFFIXATION   New  words  can  be  created  through  the  use  of  prefixes  (which  are  placed  before  the   base)   and   suffixes   (which   follow   the   base,   thus   changing   the   grammatical   category   of  a  word,  e.g.  from  noun  to  adjective:  nation  >  national).     CONVERSION   Convertion  implies  no  variation  in  the  form  (the  morphology  remains  the  same,   i.e.  the  change  is  transparent).     E.g.  WALK  (noun)  >  TO  WALK  (verb)     Noun  to  Verb   Brake   >   to   brake,   mail   >   to   mail,   taste   >   to   taste.   In   these   cases,   the   passage   is   transparent.  Exception:  table  >  to  table,  book  >  to  book     Adjective  to  Verb   Dirty  >  to  dirty,  empty  >  to  empty,  e-­‐mail  >  to  e-­‐mail  s.o.     Verb  to  Noun   To  call  >  a  call,  to  command  >  a  command,  to  spy  >  a  spy     Adjective  to  Noun   Daily  newspaper:  a  daily;  creative:  a  creative;  fool:  a  fool      

Sometimes,   in   the   passage,   some   phonological   (e.g.   Rebel   >   to   rebel)   or   morphological  (practice:  to  practise)  changes  may  occur.   Below  are  some  basic  rules  of  word  building.   We  can  make  VERBS  by  adding  these  suffixes  to  nouns  or  adjectives:   -­‐ate,  -­‐en,  -­‐ise/-­‐ize   We  can  make  NOUNS  by  adding  these  suffixes  to  verbs  or  adjectives:   -­‐ence,  -­‐ion,  -­‐ity,  -­‐ism,  -­‐ility,  -­‐ness,  -­‐ment   We  can  make  ADJECTIVES  by  adding  these  suffixes  to  verbs  or  nouns:   -­‐able,  -­‐ive,  -­‐al,  -­‐ic,  -­‐ed,  -­‐ing,  -­‐ible   We  can  make  ADVERBS  by  adding  -­‐ly  or  -­‐ally  to  adjectives.       A)  NEGATIVES  /  OPPOSITES     For   the   FCE   exam,   there's   nearly   always   at   least   one   negative   in   the   word   formation   paper.   There   are   lots   of   prefixes   and   suffixes   we   can   use   to   make   negatives.   1 Negative   prefixes   can   be   used   with   nouns,   verbs,   adjective   and   adverbs.   For   example  disapproval,  disapprove,  disapproving,  disapprovingly.   2 Usually  im  +  p  (impatient)  but  not  always  (unpleasant).   3 Often  il  +  l  (illegal)  but  not  always  (unlikely).   4 Often  ir  +  r  (irregular)  but  not  always  (unresponsive).   5 Usually  -­‐ful  changes  to  -­‐less  (harmful/less)  but  not  always  (endless).   6 If  you  can't  remember,  choose  un  -­‐  it's  the  most  common  negative  prefix.     un-­‐   in   dis-­‐   im-­‐   unexpected   inaccurate   improbable   disapprove   unaware   inappropriate   impossible   dislike  disagree   unbelievable   inefficient   impolite   disbelief   unknown   incapable   imperfect   dishonest   unable   ineffective   impatient   il-­‐   ir-­‐   mis-­‐   -­‐less   illegal   irregular   misbehave   careless   illiterate   irresponsible   misunderstand   harmless   illogical   irrational   misspell   helpless   illegible   irregular   misuse   endless     B)  VERBS     There  are  four  main  prefixes/suffixes  used  when  making  verbs.       en-­‐   -­‐ify   -­‐ise   -­‐en   enlarge     beautify     televise     widen     enable     clarify     advise     lengthen     entrust     specify     organise     deepen     enrage     identify     specialise     shorten     ensure     terrify     prioritise     tighten     endanger   purify   criminalise     brighten    

apologise  

darken     weaken     strengthen  

    C)  NOUNS     C1)  NOUNS  WITH  –ION     One  of  the  most  common  ways  to  change  a  verb  to  a  noun  is  with  -­‐ion  (e.g.  act  to   action)   and   -­‐ation   (e.g.   observe   to   observation).   Sometimes   we   also   change   the   verb   stem   as   well   when   we   make   the   noun   like   this   (e.g.   explain   to   explanation).   The   table   below   shows   common   nouns   in   which   the   spelling   of   the   stem   also   changes.       Noun   Verb   Adjective   application   apply   applicable   permission   permit   permissable   solution   solve   unsolved   description   describe   descriptive   intention   intend   unintended   competition   compete   competitive   decision   decide   decisive   explanation   explain   unexplained   production   produce   productive   repetition   repeat   repetitive   consumption   comsume   consumable   qualification   qualify   qualified     C2)  NOUNS  WITH  –ENCE  AND  –ANCE     Two  common  noun  endings  are  -­‐ance  and  -­‐ence.  Usually,  their  adjectives  are  made   with  -­‐ant  and  -­‐ent.  Here  are  some  common  examples  which  might  help  you  in  the   FCE  exam.       Noun  (-­‐ence)   Adjective   Verb   evidence   evident   -­‐   existence   existing   to  exist   (in)dependence   (in)dependent   to  depend   difference   different   to  differ   intelligence   intelligent   -­‐   (dis)obedience   (dis)obedient   to  (dis)obey   excellence   excellent   to  excel   silence   silent   to  silence   violence   violent   to  violate  

innocence   innocent   -­‐   occurrence   -­‐   to  occur   (im)patience   (im)patient   -­‐     Noun  (-­‐ance)   Adjective   Verb   attendance   -­‐   to  attend   attendant  (person)   assistance   -­‐   to  assist   assistant  (person)   (dis)appearance   apparent   to  (dis)appear   distance   distant   -­‐   (un)importance   (un)important   -­‐   acceptance   accepting   accept   reassurance   reassured   to  reassure   (ir)relevance   (ir)relevant   -­‐   (in)significance   (in)significant   to  signify     Note:  I  have  only  given  the  more  common  words  here.  There  are  other  forms  (for   example,   it   is   possible   to   use   "to   evidence   something"   as   a   verb)   but   these   are   less   common.     C3)  NOUNS  FROM  VERB  +  MENT  /  ADJ  +  NESS       Many  verbs  can  form  nouns  with  the  suffix  -­‐ment.  And  many  adjectives  can  form   their  nouns  with  the  suffix  -­‐ness.       Verb   Noun   achieve   achievement   amuse   amusement   argue   argument   develop   development   encourage   encouragement   excite   excitement   improve   improvement   involve   involvement   judge   judgement   measure   measurement     Adjective   Noun   aware   awareness   dark   darkness   forgetful   forgetfulness   happy   happiness   homeless   homelessness   lazy   laziness   lonely   loneliness  

rude   rudeness   tidy   tidiness   weak   weakness       C4  )  IRREGULAR  NOUNS     There  are  lots  of  standard  noun  suffixes  (e.g  -­‐ment,  -­‐tion)  or  verb  suffixes  (see  my   verb   word   formation   pages).  But  many  nouns  and  verbs  have  irregular  suffixes   which  you'll  need  to  know  for  the  FCE  exam.     Noun   Verb   Adjective   Adverb   (dis)belief   (dis)believe   (un)believable   (un)believably   a  choice   choose   chosen   -­‐   a  defense   defend   defensive   defensively   a  death   die   dead/deadly   deadly   a  gift   give   -­‐   -­‐   a  loss   lose   lost   -­‐   a  marriage   marry   (un)married   -­‐   practice   practise   practising   -­‐   pretense   pretend   -­‐   -­‐   proof   (dis)prove   (un)proven   -­‐   safety   save   (un)safe   safely   a  sight   see   unseen   -­‐   a  speech   speak   (un)spoken   -­‐   a  success   succeed   (un)successful   (un)successfully   a  thought   think   thoughtful/less   thoughtfully/lessly     D)  ADJECTIVES     Most   adjectives   which   end   in   -­‐ful   make   the   negative   with   -­‐less.   But,   not   all.   Note   also   that   we   can   make   adverbs   from   these   adjectives   with   -­‐fully   or   -­‐lessly.   For   example,  carefully  and  carelessly.  This  is  a  list  of  key  words  which  might  appear  in   the  FCE  exam.     The  words  in  this  table  all  use  -­‐ful  and  -­‐less  to  make  the  adjectives.   Noun   Verb   Adjective   care   care   careful/careless   harm   harm   harmful/harmless   help   help   (un)helpful/helpless   hope   hope   hopeful/hopeless   pain   pain   painful/painless   power   power   powerful/powerless   use   use   useful/useless   thought   think   thoughtful/thoughtless   taste   taste   tasteful/tasteless    

The  adjectives  in  this  table  take  -­‐ful  or  -­‐less,  but  not  both.   Noun   Verb   Adjective   count   count   countless/countable   end   end   endless   home   -­‐   homeless   peace   -­‐   peaceful   play   play   playful   price   price   priceless   success   succeed   (un)successful   truth   -­‐   (un)truthful/(un)true   worth   worth   worthless       E)  OTHERS     The  word  formation  part  of  the  FCE  use  of  English  exam  often  tests  adjectives  such   as   'short',   'wide',   'dark'   and   their   nouns   and   verbs.   Here   is   a   list   of   some   of   the   more  common  adjectives  and  their  forms.     Adjective   Noun   Verb   deep   depth   deepen   high   height   heighten   -­‐   weight   weigh   wide   width   widen   long   length   lengthen   shortage  (=  not  enough)   short   shorten   shortness  (=  not  tall)   large   enlargement   enlarge   low   -­‐   lower   tight   tightness   tighten   loose   looseness   loosen   strong   strength   strengthen   weak   weakness   weaken   darkness   dark   darken   dark   bright   brightness   brighten         Bibliographical  references:   BAUER,   Laurie   1983.   English   Word   Formation.   Cambridge:   Cambridge   University   Press   http://www.tinyteflteacher.co.uk/learning-­‐english