It would be very difficult to learn all the word families in English, but knowing a few common word families can help you to learn spelling patterns and common prefix and suffix meanings.Įnglish examinations often require students to ‘transform’ words by adding the appropriate prefixes and suffixes. “Word families” are groups of words where different suffixes have been added to the same root word. Here are some common differences: American English There are some differences in spelling between British and American English. Words ending in ee, oe and ye do not drop the ‘e’ when a suffix is added. For example lov eableand lov able are both correct spellings. Some words have two alternative spellings. This same spelling pattern occurs in manag eable and chang eable. The ‘e’ is sometimes kept to help with pronunciation, for example, in the word knowledg eable. Examples include: evolv e/evolving and irritat e/irritable. Many verbs also follow this rule, for example mode lling.įor words ending in ‘-e’, the final ‘e’ is often dropped when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added. For longer words ending in ‘-l’ you should also double the consonant, e.g. See also the section below on American spelling rules.įor most short words ending in a single consonant, double the consonant when adding a suffix, e.g. The following rules apply to British English spelling. Different classes of words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) have their own common suffixes. For example, the root word ‘create’ can be modified to creat ion(noun), creat ive (adjective) and creatively (adverb). Suffixes enable root words to change in different ways in order to form different classes of word. Suffixes: common suffixes for nouns & adjectives One millionth of a unit (also means extremely small) The table below summarises the most common prefixes for metric measures, those that describe multiples of units and those indicating fractions of units. Some groups of prefixes have very specific meanings and uses. Examples formed using this type of prefix are: in active, ir regular, im possible and dishonest. Prefixes that change the word to a negative meaning include: in-, ir-, im- and dis. The most commonly-used prefixes are those that change an adjective with a positive meaning into one with a negative or opposing meaning, for example: un comfortable. Understanding how words are formed using prefixes and suffixes can help you work out the meaning of words and make sense of difficult spellings. Prefix + root word + suffix un- comfort- able Some words have both a prefix and a suffix, for example: Prefixes and suffixes are collectively known as ‘affixes’.
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