Word-Building

Word-Building

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USE OF ENGLISH PART FIVE - WORD-BUILDING

In this part of the test you have to change a word so that it makes sense in a text.

For example : Craig was very __________ to lose his job. (fortune)

We obviously need an adjective, but there are two possibilities, ‘fortunate’ and ‘unfortunate’. It’s possible that Craig really hated his job, but the answer they are looking for here is ‘unfortunate’.

It isn’t only the addition of affixes (fortunate) and prefixes (unfortunate) which is tested, but also other word changes such as ‘long’ to ‘length’, ‘wide’ to ‘width’, ‘deep’ to ‘depth’, ‘sun’ to ‘sunlight’ or ‘sunshine’ or ‘sunray’ etc.

There are ten words to change. Ten gaps in one complete text. It’s a good idea to read the text quickly before you begin. If you have an idea of the meaning of the text, there’s a better chance of you not making the mistake of putting ‘fortunate’ instead of ‘unfortunate’ !

Ask yourself what type of word is missing. Is it a noun? A verb? An adjective? An adverb?

Ask yourself if it’s positive (fortunate), or negative (unfortunate).

Does the word have strange spelling? (length, width, depth). Spelling is important in the Use of English paper.

Try and do this text in ten minutes. Time yourself!

La Mansión del Inglés

There are many websites available on the internet, but Luis and I feel that this one is (0) unbeatable. beat

Students who study with us have informed us of steady (1), and there has also improve

been a (2) increase in their notice

(3) to use and understand English. able

A big (4) for me, is that advantage

I am not in direct touch with the students (5) . person

Of course many are contactable by email, but this is of little (6) because I enjoy the compensate

atmosphere in the classroom . However, I have come to the (7) that my time is being conclude

very well spent, and I hope that the (8) of our experience and high combine

(9) together with our desire to work motivate

(10) hard, will result in giving you an increase

even better quality of ‘on-line’ English.

Check your answers here

Studying prefixes and suffixes can help you in most parts of the exam, and especially in the word-building section.

Here’s a useful hint : -

Prefixes often change the meaning of a word.
Suffixes often change the word class.

PREFIXES COME AT THE BEGINNING OF A WORD
Sufixes come at the end of a word

Look at these examples :-

Eat (verb) + over = overeat (verb - to eat too much)
Kind (adj.) + un- = unkind (adj. - not kind)
Kind (adj.) + -ness = kindness (noun)
Perform (verb) + -ance = performance (noun)

Many nouns can be made from verbs by adding these suffixes :-

-ment improvement, enjoyment

-er owner, teacher, baker

-or actor, professor, sailor, inventor

-tion adoption, transaction, prediction, invention

-sion confusion

-ation organisation, imagination

-ition proposition

Many adjectives can be made by adding the following suffixes :-

-ive attractive, inventive

-ative talkative, imaginative

-itive sensitive

-able suitable, countable, predictable, enjoyable,

-ible convertible,

Can you add words to this list?

See also the ‘Word Families’ section for more help on grouping vocabulary.