WORD

 FORMATION  FOR  FCE  

 
WORD  FORMATION  
 
Word  formation  is  a  great  resource  of  English  language.  It  encompasses  different  
mechanisms  through  which  lexical  units  can  be  created:  
 
- Compounding:  A  combination  of  words  or  parts  of  them.  
- Affixation:  Adding  affixes  or  suffixes  to  the  base.  
- Conversion:   Linguistic  elements  changing  their  grammatical  category,  e.g.  
the  use  of  verbs  as  nouns  and  vice  versa,  etc.    
 
COMPOUNDING  
Units   forming   compounds   can   be   solid   (“trademark”),   hyphenated   (“shop-­‐lifting”)  
and  open  (“sales  manager”).    
Compounding  involves  all  the  grammar  categories:  nouns,  adverbs,  adjectives,  etc.  
- -­‐noun+noun:  “jobhunter”;  “wineglass”  (hyponym  of  “glass”),  “skinhead”;    
- -­‐noun+verb:  “windfall”,  “sunshine”;    
- -­‐noun+adverb:  “environment-­‐friendly”,  “consumer-­‐friendly”;    
- -­‐noun+adjective:  “cost-­‐efficient”;  “fat-­‐free”;    
- -­‐verb+  noun:  “pass-­‐book”,  “pickpocket”;    
- -­‐verb+verb:  “make-­‐believe”;  
- -­‐preposition+noun:  “afternoon”;  “after-­‐hour”;  
- -­‐adjective+noun:  “redskin”,  “fast-­‐food”,  “software”.    
 
AFFIXATION  
New  words  can  be  created  through  the  use  of  prefixes  (which  are  placed  before  the  
base)   and   suffixes   (which   follow   the   base,   thus   changing   the   grammatical   category  
of  a  word,  e.g.  from  noun  to  adjective:  nation  >  national).  
 
CONVERSION  
Convertion  implies  no  variation  in  the  form  (the  morphology  remains  the  same,  
i.e.  the  change  is  transparent).    
E.g.  WALK  (noun)  >  TO  WALK  (verb)  
 
Noun  to  Verb  
Brake   >   to   brake,   mail   >   to   mail,   taste   >   to   taste.   In   these   cases,   the   passage   is  
transparent.  Exception:  table  >  to  table,  book  >  to  book  
 
Adjective  to  Verb  
Dirty  >  to  dirty,  empty  >  to  empty,  e-­‐mail  >  to  e-­‐mail  s.o.  
 
Verb  to  Noun  
To  call  >  a  call,  to  command  >  a  command,  to  spy  >  a  spy  
 
Adjective  to  Noun  
Daily  newspaper:  a  daily;  creative:  a  creative;  fool:  a  fool    
 
Sometimes,   in   the   passage,   some   phonological   (e.g.   Rebel   >   to   rebel)   or  
morphological  (practice:  to  practise)  changes  may  occur.  
Below  are  some  basic  rules  of  word  building.  
We  can  make  VERBS  by  adding  these  suffixes  to  nouns  or  adjectives:  
-­‐ate,  -­‐en,  -­‐ise/-­‐ize  
We  can  make  NOUNS  by  adding  these  suffixes  to  verbs  or  adjectives:  
-­‐ence,  -­‐ion,  -­‐ity,  -­‐ism,  -­‐ility,  -­‐ness,  -­‐ment  
We  can  make  ADJECTIVES  by  adding  these  suffixes  to  verbs  or  nouns:  
-­‐able,  -­‐ive,  -­‐al,  -­‐ic,  -­‐ed,  -­‐ing,  -­‐ible  
We  can  make  ADVERBS  by  adding  -­‐ly  or  -­‐ally  to  adjectives.  
 
 
A)  NEGATIVES  /  OPPOSITES  
 
For   the   FCE   exam,   there's   nearly   always   at   least   one   negative   in   the   word  
formation   paper.   There   are   lots   of   prefixes   and   suffixes   we   can   use   to   make  
negatives.  
1 Negative   prefixes   can   be   used   with   nouns,   verbs,   adjective   and   adverbs.   For  
example  disapproval,  disapprove,  disapproving,  disapprovingly.  
2 Usually  im  +  p  (impatient)  but  not  always  (unpleasant).  
3 Often  il  +  l  (illegal)  but  not  always  (unlikely).  
4 Often  ir  +  r  (irregular)  but  not  always  (unresponsive).  
5 Usually  -­‐ful  changes  to  -­‐less  (harmful/less)  but  not  always  (endless).  
6 If  you  can't  remember,  choose  un  -­‐  it's  the  most  common  negative  prefix.  
 
un-­‐   in   dis-­‐   im-­‐  
unexpected   inaccurate   improbable  
disapprove  
unaware   inappropriate   impossible  
dislike  disagree  
unbelievable   inefficient   impolite  
disbelief  
unknown   incapable   imperfect  
dishonest  
unable   ineffective   impatient  
il-­‐   ir-­‐   mis-­‐   -­‐less  
illegal   irregular   misbehave   careless  
illiterate   irresponsible   misunderstand   harmless  
illogical   irrational   misspell   helpless  
illegible   irregular   misuse   endless  
 
B)  VERBS  
 
There  are  four  main  prefixes/suffixes  used  when  making  verbs.  
 
 
en-­‐   -­‐ify   -­‐ise   -­‐en  
enlarge     beautify     televise     widen    
enable     clarify     advise     lengthen    
entrust     specify     organise     deepen    
enrage     identify     specialise     shorten    
ensure     terrify     prioritise     tighten    
endanger   purify   criminalise     brighten    
 apologise   darken    
weaken    
strengthen  
 
 
C)  NOUNS  
 
C1)  NOUNS  WITH  –ION  
 
One  of  the  most  common  ways  to  change  a  verb  to  a  noun  is  with  -­‐ion  (e.g.  act  to  
action)   and   -­‐ation   (e.g.   observe   to   observation).   Sometimes   we   also   change   the  
verb   stem   as   well   when   we   make   the   noun   like   this   (e.g.   explain   to   explanation).  
The   table   below   shows   common   nouns   in   which   the   spelling   of   the   stem   also  
changes.  
 
 
Noun   Verb   Adjective  
application   apply   applicable  
permission   permit   permissable  
solution   solve   unsolved  
description   describe   descriptive  
intention   intend   unintended  
competition   compete   competitive  
decision   decide   decisive  
explanation   explain   unexplained  
production   produce   productive  
repetition   repeat   repetitive  
consumption   comsume   consumable  
qualification   qualify   qualified  
 
C2)  NOUNS  WITH  –ENCE  AND  –ANCE  
 
Two  common  noun  endings  are  -­‐ance  and  -­‐ence.  Usually,  their  adjectives  are  made  
with  -­‐ant  and  -­‐ent.  Here  are  some  common  examples  which  might  help  you  in  the  
FCE  exam.  
 
 
Noun  (-­‐ence)   Adjective   Verb  
evidence   evident   -­‐  
existence   existing   to  exist  
(in)dependence   (in)dependent   to  depend  
difference   different   to  differ  
intelligence   intelligent   -­‐  
(dis)obedience   (dis)obedient   to  (dis)obey  
excellence   excellent   to  excel  
silence   silent   to  silence  
violence   violent   to  violate  
innocence   innocent   -­‐  
occurrence   -­‐   to  occur  
(im)patience   (im)patient   -­‐  
 
Noun  (-­‐ance)   Adjective   Verb  
attendance  
-­‐   to  attend  
attendant  (person)  
assistance  
-­‐   to  assist  
assistant  (person)  
(dis)appearance   apparent   to  (dis)appear  
distance   distant   -­‐  
(un)importance   (un)important   -­‐  
acceptance   accepting   accept  
reassurance   reassured   to  reassure  
(ir)relevance   (ir)relevant   -­‐  
(in)significance   (in)significant   to  signify  
 
Note:  I  have  only  given  the  more  common  words  here.  There  are  other  forms  (for  
example,   it   is   possible   to   use   "to   evidence   something"   as   a   verb)   but   these   are   less  
common.  
 
C3)  NOUNS  FROM  VERB  +  MENT  /  ADJ  +  NESS    
 
Many  verbs  can  form  nouns  with  the  suffix  -­‐ment.  And  many  adjectives  can  form  
their  nouns  with  the  suffix  -­‐ness.  
 
 
Verb   Noun  
achieve   achievement  
amuse   amusement  
argue   argument  
develop   development  
encourage   encouragement  
excite   excitement  
improve   improvement  
involve   involvement  
judge   judgement  
measure   measurement  
 
Adjective   Noun  
aware   awareness  
dark   darkness  
forgetful   forgetfulness  
happy   happiness  
homeless   homelessness  
lazy   laziness  
lonely   loneliness  
rude   rudeness  
tidy   tidiness  
weak   weakness  
 
 
C4  )  IRREGULAR  NOUNS  
 
There  are  lots  of  standard  noun  suffixes  (e.g  -­‐ment,  -­‐tion)  or  verb  suffixes  (see  my  
verb   word   formation   pages).  But  many  nouns  and  verbs  have  irregular  suffixes  
which  you'll  need  to  know  for  the  FCE  exam.  
 
Noun   Verb   Adjective   Adverb  
(dis)belief   (dis)believe   (un)believable   (un)believably  
a  choice   choose   chosen   -­‐  
a  defense   defend   defensive   defensively  
a  death   die   dead/deadly   deadly  
a  gift   give   -­‐   -­‐  
a  loss   lose   lost   -­‐  
a  marriage   marry   (un)married   -­‐  
practice   practise   practising   -­‐  
pretense   pretend   -­‐   -­‐  
proof   (dis)prove   (un)proven   -­‐  
safety   save   (un)safe   safely  
a  sight   see   unseen   -­‐  
a  speech   speak   (un)spoken   -­‐  
a  success   succeed   (un)successful   (un)successfully  
a  thought   think   thoughtful/less   thoughtfully/lessly  
 
D)  ADJECTIVES  
 
Most   adjectives   which   end   in   -­‐ful   make   the   negative   with   -­‐less.   But,   not   all.   Note  
also   that   we   can   make   adverbs   from   these   adjectives   with   -­‐fully   or   -­‐lessly.   For  
example,  carefully  and  carelessly.  This  is  a  list  of  key  words  which  might  appear  in  
the  FCE  exam.  
 
The  words  in  this  table  all  use  -­‐ful  and  -­‐less  to  make  the  adjectives.  
Noun   Verb   Adjective  
care   care   careful/careless  
harm   harm   harmful/harmless  
help   help   (un)helpful/helpless  
hope   hope   hopeful/hopeless  
pain   pain   painful/painless  
power   power   powerful/powerless  
use   use   useful/useless  
thought   think   thoughtful/thoughtless  
taste   taste   tasteful/tasteless  
 
The  adjectives  in  this  table  take  -­‐ful  or  -­‐less,  but  not  both.  
Noun   Verb   Adjective  
count   count   countless/countable  
end   end   endless  
home   -­‐   homeless  
peace   -­‐   peaceful  
play   play   playful  
price   price   priceless  
success   succeed   (un)successful  
truth   -­‐   (un)truthful/(un)true  
worth   worth   worthless  
 
 
E)  OTHERS  
 
The  word  formation  part  of  the  FCE  use  of  English  exam  often  tests  adjectives  such  
as   'short',   'wide',   'dark'   and   their   nouns   and   verbs.   Here   is   a   list   of   some   of   the  
more  common  adjectives  and  their  forms.  
 
Adjective   Noun   Verb  
deep   depth   deepen  
high   height   heighten  
-­‐   weight   weigh  
wide   width   widen  
long   length   lengthen  
shortage  (=  not  enough)  
short   shorten  
shortness  (=  not  tall)  
large   enlargement   enlarge  
low   -­‐   lower  
tight   tightness   tighten  
loose   looseness   loosen  
strong   strength   strengthen  
weak   weakness   weaken  
darkness  
dark   darken  
dark  
bright   brightness   brighten  
 
 
 
Bibliographical  references:  
BAUER,   Laurie   1983.   English   Word   Formation.   Cambridge:   Cambridge   University  
Press  
http://www.tinyteflteacher.co.uk/learning-­‐english