Page 25 - English Vocabulary In Use upper intermediet and advance

Prefixes

Prefixes are often used to give adjectives a negative meaning. The opposite of 'comfortable'
is 'uncomfortable', the opposite of 'convenient' is 'inconvenient' and the opposite of 'similar'
is 'dissimilar'. Other examples are 'unjust', 'inedible', 'disloyal'. Unfortunately, there is no
easy way of knowing which prefix any adjective will use to form its opposite. When you
learn a new adjective note down whether it has an opposite formed with a prefix and, if so,
what it is.
Note:
in- becomes im- before a root beginning with 'm' or 'p', e.g. immature, impatient,
impartial, improbable. Similarly in- becomes ir- before a word beginning with 'r', and il-
before a word beginning with 'l', e.g. irreplaceable, irreversible, illegal, illegible, illiterate.
The prefix in- does not always have a negative meaning - often it gives the idea of inside
or into, e.g. internal, import, insert, income.

Although it is mainly adjectives which are made negative by prefixes, un- and dis- car1 also
form the opposites of verbs too, e.g. appear disappear. The prefix is used here to reverse the
action of the verb. Here are some more examples: disagree, disapprove, disbelieve,
disconnect, discredit, dislike, dismount, disprove, disqualify, unbend, undo, undress, unfold,
unload, unlock, unveil, unwrap, unzip.

Many other prefixes are used in English. Here is a list of prefixes which are useful in helping
you to understand unfamiliar words. Some of these words are used with a hyphen. Check in
. .
a dictionary if you're not sure.
prefix meaning examples
anti against anti-war antisocial antibiotic
auto of or by oneself autograph auto-pilot autobiography
bi two, twice bicycle bi-monthly biannual bilingual
ex former ex-wife ex-student ex-president
ex out of extract exhale excommunicate
micro small micro-computer microwave microscopic
mis badlylwrongly misunderstand mistranslate misinform
mono onelsingle monotonous monologue monogamous
multi many multi-national multi-purpose multi-racial
over too much overdo overtired oversleep overeat
post after postwar postgraduate post-revolutionary
Pro in favour of pro-government pro-revolutionary
pseudo false pseudo-scientific pseudo-intellectual
re again or back retype reread replace rewind
semi half semicircular semi-final semi-detached
sub under subway submarine subdivision
under not enough underworked underused undercooked

18 English Vocabulary in Use