|
 Prefixes and Suffixes
Prefixes
A
prefix is a group of letters placed at the start of
a root word to change its meaning. Some complicated
words
are less difficult to spell if you are familiar with
prefixes.
Here are some common examples in the following list:
| Prefix |
Meaning |
Examples |
| anti- |
against
or opposite to |
anticlockwise,
antibiotic |
| auto- |
self |
autobiography,
automat |
| dis- |
not,
or away |
dissimilar,
disconnect |
| in- |
not |
insane,
inhuman |
| il- |
not |
illogical,
illegal |
| im- |
not |
immature,
improbable |
| ir- |
not |
irrelevant,
irregular |
| inter- |
between |
international,
intermarry |
| mis- |
wrong |
misunderstand,
misspell |
| post- |
after |
postnatal,
postscript |
| pre- |
before |
prenatal,
prehistoric |
| pro- |
for,
or forward |
propose,
pro-British |
| re- |
again,
or back |
rewrite,
reconsider |
| sub- |
under |
submarine,
substandard |
| super- |
above |
supervisor,
superhuman |
| trans- |
across |
transport,
transplant |
| un- |
not,
or in reverse |
unfinished,
unarmed |
Suffixes
If
you can handle suffixes then you're well on the way
to becoming a capable speller. A suffix is simply
an ending that's added to a base word to form a new
word. Let's
look at some examples:
| Base
word |
Suffix |
New
Word |
| interest |
-ing |
interesting |
| noise |
-y |
noisy |
| breath |
-less |
breathless |
| popular |
-ity |
popularity |
| drop |
-let |
droplet |
A
key thing to know about a suffix is whether it starts
with a consonant or a vowel. Here are
some suffixes you'll meet quite often:
| Consonant
Suffixes |
Examples |
Vowel
Suffixes |
Examples |
| -ful |
hopeful,
plentiful |
-er,
-or |
farmer,
collector |
| -less |
useless,
tasteless |
-en |
mistaken,
hidden |
| -ly |
bravely,
frankly |
-ish |
foolish,
thinnish |
| -ment |
movement,
agreement |
-ation |
limitation,
reservation |
| -ness |
darkness,
happiness |
-ing |
firing,
sitting |
Did
you notice that sometimes the base word changes when
you add a suffix?
For example, fire becomes firing (dropping the e)
and sit becomes sitting (doubling the letter t)
source:
http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/
|
caribbeanedu.com
