Learning the “meaning” of various prefixes and suffixes can be very
useful in increasing the students’ vocabulary.
Adding
affixes to existing words to form new words is common in academic
English.
PREFIXES are added to the front of the word.
Ex. Like DISlike
Suffixes are added to the end of the word.
Ex. Use useLESS
Here
are some common prefixes and their meanings.
PREFIX MEANING
Re again or back
(rebuild)
dis reverses the meaning
of the verb (disappear)
over too much (oversleep)
un reverses the meaning
(unhappy)
mis wrongly or badly
(misspell)
pre before (prejudge)
co together (co-exist)
sub under or below
(subdivide)
These
are common suffixes.
SUFFIX MEANING
…ism doctrine or belief
(socialism)
…able capable of (workable)
…ful full of
(peaceful)
…less lack of (noiseless)
…er , or person who (teacher,
advisor)
A
Dictionary activity can be to list as many words as possible for each
Prefix and each Suffix listed above. ( Later they can look up other
prefixes and suffixes.)
The
students can be urged to keep these lists in their notebooks and add to
them whenever they come across a new word.
Learning Prefixes and suffixes will help your students with their
reading comprehension.
A Nice Thought
“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”