Where do big words come from, and where do they go when they die?
Well, the second question is almost a philosophical challenge, but the first one I might help you with.
The answer is actually very straightforward: Big words come from small words.
But ask, teacher, what do you mean? And I will tell you that usually, big words are nothing more than a few small words wrapped up together, and that if you have any question to their meaning, you can break them down like an equation.
Stem is the root word, the one we add prefixes and suffixes to.
First of all it’s important to state clear that there are many prefixes for negative ideas, they are as follows:
UN-, IM-, IL-, IN- and IR-, note that DIS- may also be used as a negative prefix such as in Disagree, but is not necessarily a negative suffix.
Other prefixes include
DIS-, Away, apart. E.g.: Disarm
MIS-, Wrong or Badly. E.g.: Misfortune
UNDER-, Below, beneath. E.g.: Underground
OVER-, Superior, outer or excessive. E.g.: Overkill
RE-, Again. E.g.: Replay
TRANS-, Across, through. E.g.: Transatlantic
INTER-, Among, between, together. E.g.: Intermission
SUPER-, In excess, beyond. E.g.: Supersonic
ANTI-, In opposition to, against. E.g.: Anticlockwise
ANTE-, Before. E.g.: Antenatal
POST-, After. E.g.: Postpone
Usually, when you add a prefix to a word both maintain their spelling. But for the prefix ALL, one of the L’s is dropped, like in altogether.
It’s worth noticing also that more than one prefix may be added to a word to achieve the required effect likerediscover, and a prefix (or two) may be added to a word already containing a suffix (but those are for later).
I hope this helps you for now, and for parts 2 and 3, I will focus on suffixes, which are of great interest when one wants to change the morphological class of a word.
Remember, break words down if you don’t know what they mean, and you are likely to find their meanings.
For more information and practice exercises on prefixes, log on to http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/wordbuilding/prefixes/index.shtml and check out the fact sheets and quizzes.
Have a nice week. (=
