WORD BUILDING

Prefixes
In the following exercises syllables or words are to be added to the
front of other words to change or add to their meaning. Where
necessary, hyphens have been placed in the sentences.

1. co- (= with, together) re- (= again)

ex- (= former, before) inter- (= between)
Put one of the above prefixes in each of the spaces in the sentences
below.

a) The -pilot took over the plane’s controls while the

captain had a coffee and sandwich.
b) The US and the USSR can attack each other with
-continental missiles.
c) Germany and France are -operating on the design of a new
space-rocket.
d) She is divorced but she is still on good terms with her
-husband.
e) Does national sport really Improve relations between
countries?
f) The teacher told his student to write his bad
composition.
g) The local trains are slow but the -city services are
excellent.
h) Most houses need to be painted every five to seven years.
i) Men who once served in the armed forces are called
-servicemen.
j) Both boys and girls go to that school. It is -educational.
2. bi- (= two) pre- (= before)
semi- (= half) counter- (= in the opposite direction)
Instructions as above.

a) We managed to drive the enemy back, but they attacked.

b) The back wheel of a cycle bears more weight than the
front wheel.
c) Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago in historic times.
d) The pupils' desks were arranged in a circle round the
teacher.
e) His father is Greek and his mother is Italian, so he is
lingual.
f) It was a lateral agreement, signed by India and Pakistan.
g) Bibby is three. She goes to a -school playgroup every
morning.
h) The espionage department has caught three foreign spies.
i) Houses in Britain are often built in pairs. They are called
-detached.
j) He was only -conscious when the ambulance arrived and
he died in hospital.

3. post- (= after) mono- (= one)

anti- (= against) non- (= not)
In the following exercises syllables or words are to be added to the
front of other words to change or add to their meaning. Where
necessary, hyphens have been placed in the sentences.

a) He got his university degree last year. Now he’s doing graduate
studies.
b) Some flights go from London to the Middle East -stop.
c) The words ‘fat’, ‘help’ and ‘come’ are all syllables.
d) That’s sense! You don’t know what you’re talking about.
e) The principal -war problem was to rebuild the destroyed
cities.
f) Maybe future trains will run on just a single rail. This system is
called a rail.
g) To prevent petrol from freezing, put freeze in the tank.
h) I’m not -marriage. I think it’s a very good custom.
i) I’m afraid the club is not open to -members.

4. multi- (= many) trans- (= across)

super- (= above, more than) de- (= acting against)
Instructions as above.

a) The countryside is becoming forested so quickly.

b) He works in London and in NYC so he’s a regular atlantic
air passenger.
c) The train became railed and 60 miles per hour but no one
was seriously hurt.
d) He was so powerful that he sometimes seemed almost
human.
e) It is now possible to plant a heart from a dead person to a
living one.
f) Britain has people from all over the world. It’s a racial
society.
g) The villages are becoming populated as more and more
people move to the cities.
h) He believes in ghosts and magic and other natural things.
i) Concorde is a sonic plane. It flies faster than sound.
j) He’s incredibly rich. He’s certainly a -millionaire.