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FCE (First Certificate) Word Formation: Verbs There are four main prefixes/suffixes used when making verbs, which you should revise for the FCE exam.
en-
-ify
enlarge enable entrust enrage ensure endanger
beautify clarify specify identify terrify purify
-ise televise advise organise specialise prioritise criminalise apologise
-en widen lengthen deepen shorten tighten brighten darken weaken strengthen
FCE (First Certificate) Word Formation: Negatives 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.
ununexpected unaware unbelievable unknown unable ilillegal illiterate illogical illegible
in inaccurate inappropriate inefficient incapable ineffective irirregular irresponsible irrational irregular
disdisapprove dislike disagree disbelief dishonest mismisbehave misunderstand misspell misuse
imimprobable impossible impolite imperfect impatient -less careless harmless helpless endless
FCE (First Certificate) Word Formation: 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 application permission solution description intention competition decision explanation production repetition consumption qualification
Verb apply permit solve describe intend compete decide explain produce repeat comsume qualify
Adjective applicable permissable unsolved descriptive unintended competitive decisive unexplained productive repetitive consumable qualified
FCE (First Certificate) Word Formation: 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) evidence existence (in)dependence difference intelligence (dis)obedience excellence silence violence innocence occurrence (im)patience
Adjective evident existing (in)dependent different intelligent (dis)obedient excellent silent violent innocent (im)patient
Verb to exist to depend to differ to (dis)obey to excel to silence to violate to occur -
Noun (-ance) attendance attendant (person) assistance assistant (person) (dis)appearance distance (un)importance acceptance reassurance (ir)relevance (in)significance
Adjective
Verb
-
to attend
-
to assist
apparent distant (un)important accepting reassured (ir)relevant (in)significant
to (dis)appear accept to reassure to signify
Note: You are 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.
FCE (First Certificate) Word Formation Verb + ment / adjective + ness Many verbs can form nouns with the suffix -ment. And many adjectives can form their nouns with the suffix -ness.
Verb achieve amuse argue develop encourage excite improve involve judge measure
Noun achievement amusement argument development encouragement excitement improvement involvement judgement measurement
Adjective aware dark forgetful happy homeless lazy lonely rude tidy weak
Noun awareness darkness forgetfulness happiness homelessness laziness loneliness rudeness tidiness weakness
FCE (First Certificate) Word Formation: Irregular Nouns There are lots of standard noun suffixes (e.g -ment, -tion) or verb suffixes. But many nouns and verbs have irregular suffixes which you'll need to know for the FCE exam.
Noun (dis)belief a choice a defense a death a gift a loss a marriage practice pretense proof safety a sight a speech a success a thought
Verb (dis)believe choose defend die give lose marry practise pretend (dis)prove save see speak succeed think
Adjective (un)believable chosen defensive dead/deadly lost (un)married practising (un)proven (un)safe unseen (un)spoken (un)successful thoughtful/less
Adverb (un)believably defensively deadly safely (un)successfully thoughtfully/lessly
FCE (First Certificate) Word Formation: Adjectives with -ful/-less 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 care harm help hope pain power use thought taste
Verb care harm help hope pain power use think taste
Adjective careful/careless harmful/harmless (un)helpful/helpless hopeful/hopeless painful/painless powerful/powerless useful/useless thoughtful/thoughtless tasteful/tasteless
The adjectives in this table take -ful or -less, but not both.
Noun count end home peace play price success truth worth
Verb count end play price succeed worth
Adjective countless/countable endless homeless peaceful playful priceless (un)successful (un)truthful/(un)true worthless
FCE (First Certificate) Word Formation: height, width... 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 del High wide long short large low tight loose strong weak dark bright
Noun death High weight width length shortage (= not enough) shortness (= not tall) enlargement tightness looseness strength weakness darkness dark brightness
Verb decepen heighten weigh widen lengthen shorten enlarge lower tighten loosen strengthen weaken darken brighten