Communication Skills
Unit - 2
Question Bank
- What are the various types of prefixes? Explain with examples.
The fixes that are added before the base form are called prefixes. A prefix is a syllable or syllables placed at the beginning of a word to qualify its meaning and form a new word. It has its origin from Greek, Latin and Native English.
The prefixes are classified as follows:
- Negative Prefixes
- Reversative Prefixes
- Pejorative Prefixes
- Prefixes of Degree or size
- Prefixes of Attitude
- Locative Prefixes
- Prefixes of time and order
- Number Prefixes
- Other prefixes
- Conversion prefixes
Negative Prefixes:
a) The negative prefix'- 'in' is used-with words of Latin origin –‘Un’ is found in English Unfortunate, injustice.
b) The exact opposite meaning is brought by the prefix – dislike, disloyal.
c) Latin and French non-meaning not is used Non-violence, non-committal.
d) A-means lacking, a moral, asymmetry.
Reversative Prefixes:
a) Un - means to 'reverse action. Added to verbs (Reverse of Action) untie, unseat, unload.
b) de - means to reverse action added to abstract noun defrost, deforestation.
c) dis - to deprive of' is added to verbs, participles and nouns. Disconnect, discoloured, discontent.
Pejorative Prefixes:
Depreciatory means diminish in value.
a) mis– wrongly
misinform, misconduct, misleading
b) mal - means 'badly
mal treat, mal function, mal formed, malodorous
c) Pseudo means false
Pseudopodia, pseudo-intellectual
Prefixes of Degree or size:
a) Arch - highest, chief
Archbishop
b) Super - means above, more than, better
superman, super market, supernatural
c) Out - means to do something, faster, longer
Out run, out live
d) Sur - means over and above
surtax
e) Sub - means lower than, less than
sub human, sub standard, subordinate
f) Over -too much
over real, over dressed, over confident
g) under - means too little
undertook
h) Ultra - means extremely
ultraviolet, ultra modern
i) Mini - means small or little
miniskirt
Prefixes of Attitude:
a) co - with or joint
co-operative, co pilot
b) Counter - means in opposition to
countuant, counter-revolution
c) Anti means against
Antisocial, anticlockwise, antimissile.
d) Pro- means of the side of
Pro-communist
Locative Prefixes:
Super –Over - super structure
Sub -means beneath - subway subconscious
Inter means between - international interaction
Trans - means across - transplant, translation
Prefixes of time and order:
Fore - -means before - fore tell
Post - means after - post-war Ex-means former
Pre - means before - pre-war, pre-planned
Ex – means former - ex-minister
Re - means again - rebuild, resettlement, rewrite
Number Prefixes:
Uni, mono means one - unilateral, monotheism
Bi, di means two - bi lingual, dipole
Tri means three - tripartite
Poly, multi means many - multi racial, poly syllabic
Other Prefixes:
Semi means half - Semi circle
Vice means deputy - Vice president
Auto means self - Auto biography
Neo means new - neo-gothic
Pan means world wide - Pan-American
Proto means first - prototype.
Conversion Prefixes:
Be, en and a
Be spectated (Participle adjective)
Bewitch (transitive verb)
Enslave (verb) afloat (adjective)
2. What are suffixes? What are their types?
The affixes that are added after the base-form are called suffixes. A suffix is a syllable or syllables placed at the end of a word which qualify its meaning and form a new word. Derivational suffixes are used to derive new words from the base form. Inflectional suffixes merely modify a word as in the book - books etc.
Below are the various types of suffixes:
Occupational suffixes:
Ster - person engaged in - gangster
EER - an occupation - engineer
ER - in habitat - Londoner.
Diminutive or Feminine:
Let means small - booklet, piglet
ETTE means small - Kitchenette
Compact - Statuette
Imitation- Flannelette
Female - Usherette
Ess means female - Waitress, hostess, etc
y, - means daddy, auntie
Status, Domain:
HOOD means status - boyhood, childhood
SHIP means status- friendship
DOM means domain - kingdom, stardom
OCR means system of Government - democracy
EYR means behaviour Abode – slavery,
Abode - nunnery
Collectivity – machinery
Noun/Adjective:
ITE means faction - Israelite, socialite
AN means pertaining to-Indonesian, republican
ESE means nationality - Chinese
IST means occupation-Violinist, Organist
ISM means attitude - idealism Political movement-communism
Noun Suffixes:
ER, OR means instrumental - driver, actor
ANT means agentive- inhabitant
EE means passive - employee
ATION means institution - organization
MENT means action - amazement
AL means action – refusal
ING means activity– driving
AGE means result of activity - drainage
NESS means quality - happiness
ITY means quality – sanity
Verb Suffixes:
IFY means causative - simplify
IZE means causative- popularize
EN means become X – eaten
Adjective suffixes:
FUL - ful means having - useful
LESS - means without - childless
LY means quality- cowardly
LIKE means quality – childlike
Y means covered with- hairy
ISH means belonging to - Turkish
IAN means in tradition - Darwinian
ABLE means 'worthy to - readable
Ed means having – balconied
Adverb suffixes:
LY means in a…….. Manner, aimlessly, lovingly
CE once, twice, thrice - ST amidst, amongst.
LONG - headlong, sidelong
THER -hither, thither, whither
WARDS- backward, upward, (means direction)
WISE - in the manner of, lengthwise, weatherise
3. How can words in a sentence be divided into various parts of speech?
Depending upon the way they are used in a sentence, words can function in different ways when used in a sentence. All words can be classified into eight fundamental parts that are required to construct a complete sentence: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. These parts of speech determine how a word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence.
The use of the words defines their place and meaning in a sentence.
- Noun
Nouns, also called naming words, refer to any person, place, animal, thing or idea. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract. There are two types of nouns:
- Proper noun- These nouns start with capital letters and refer to the name of a particular place or thing. Ex – Barack Obama, Himalaya mountains.
- Common noun- These nouns start with lower case letter and refer to the names of general places or things. Ex – man, teacher, letter
2. Pronoun
A pronoun is a word used in place of the noun.
A pronoun which substituted in place of a specific noun is called an antecedent. Pronouns can be further defined by their various types: personal pronouns describe specific persons or things; possessive pronouns imply ownership; relative pronouns introduce a subordinate clause; and demonstrative pronouns identify, point to, or refer to nouns.
Ex - Me, she, her, mine, theirs.
3. Adjective
An adjective is a word that describes the quality or quantity possessed by a noun. It answers the questions like which one, what kind or how many. It is a word used to modify or describe the noun or a pronoun.
Ex - Young boy, Pretty girl, Huge elephant, One thousand sea shells.
4. Adverb
An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but never a noun. When, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree are the types of questions that are answered by an adverb. Adverbs often end in -ly.
Ex- Very long letter, quickly disappear out of sight.
5. Preposition
Prepositions are words placed before a noun or a pronoun in order to modify the meaning of other words in a sentence. The prepositional phrase almost functions as an adjective or an adverb.
Ex- The boy received a number of sweets from the teacher.
6. Verb
A verb is a word that expresses the state of being or work being done by the subject. There are main verbs and there are also helping verbs known as auxiliary verbs. Verbs can also be used to express tense.
Ex – She vanished in the darkness.
7. Conjunction
A conjunction is a word that joins words, phrases or clauses and establishes a relationship between them. And, but, or, nor, for, so, yet are some examples of conjunctions.
8. Interjection
An interjection is a word which is used to express emotion. They are usually followed by exclamation points.
Ex. Oh dear! Wow! Oh my God!
4. How are syllables important in understanding the use of prefixes and suffixes?
Words are the second smallest unit used during the construction of a sentence after the alphabets. They are the building blocks of any grammatical construction. Words are different combinations and sounds but unlike alphabets, each word carries meaning in itself.
Each word consists of two parts – the alphabet (A-Z) and the syllable. A syllable can be defined as a single or unbroken sound of a written or spoken word. It is a unit of uninterrupted speech which must contain a vowel sound a diphthong or a syllabic consonant. They are also known as beats of a spoken language.
Syllables often contain a vowel with a singular or multiple consonant but that does not mean that there are no syllables without vowels. Some syllables contain only consonants but they do have a verbal sound in them.
A word can be monosyllabic as well as polysyllabic. Monosyllabic meaning it will consist only one syllable for example the words dog, bat, try, shy, kill, heel etc. While polysyllabic words might contain two or more than two syllables, for example, computer (comp-u-ter), relax (re-lax), independent (in-de-pen-dent), extra (ex-tra), document (do-cu-ment).
Syllabus are not to be confused with phonemes as phonemes represent the smallest unit of sound whereas syllables represent and unbroken sound within the word. For example the word chat is made up of three phonemes /ch/ /a/ and /t/, however it contains only one syllable – chat.
There are a few basic rules to determine the number of syllables in a word, they are as follows –
- Prefixes and suffixes must always be separated from root words.
Examples: Pre-view, End-less, Il-literate
2. If there are two or more consonants next to each other there is always a division between the first and second consonant.
Examples: Buf-fet, Des-sert, Ob-ject.
However if the two consonants produce a single sound they are not to be divided.
Examples: th, sh, ph, ch, sc.
3. If a consonant is surrounded on either sides buy a vowel –
- If the volume has a long sound it has to be divided before the consonant.
Examples: Ba-by. Re-sult, Fro-zen
b. If the Vowel has a short sound, it has to be divided after the consonant.
Examples: Mo-del, Ra-vage, Me-tal
4. Words that end with ‘ckle’ have to be divided right before the ‘le’
Examples: Freck-le, Tick-le, Buck-le
5. Word that end with ‘le’ without the ‘ck’ –
- If the letter before ‘le’ is a consonant it has to be divided one letter before ‘le’.
Examples: Ap-ple, Fa-ble, Ta-ble
b. If the letter before ‘le’ is a vowel, it should be considered as a single syllable.
Understanding the use of syllables is very essential to understand word formation with prefixes and suffixes. Syllabic structure in spoken English is quite flexible, for example a single vowel can be considered a whole syllabus like in the word Unequal (Un-e-qual).
5. What are antonyms? Give ample examples.
Antonyms are words that carry the opposite meaning to another word. They can be used to show contrast between two things or emphasize a point. Antonyms can be totally different words from their counterparts or can also be formed by adding prefixes to some words.
Below are some examples of antonyms that are commonly used in the English language:
Antonyms formed by changing entire words
Love – hate
Beginning – ending
Ugly – beautiful
Wild – tame
Extrovert – introvert
Antonyms formed by adding prefix –un
Acceptable - unacceptable
Able - unable
Do - undo
Certain – uncertain
Seen – Unseen
Antonyms formed by adding the prefix –in
Decent – indecent
Tolerant – intolerant
Human – inhuman
Curable – incurable
Expressible – inexpressible
Antonyms formed by adding the prefix –non
Sense – nonsense
Essential – nonessential
Flammable – non-flammable
Renewable – non-renewable
Entity – nonentity
Other prefixes used to form antonyms of words are –anti (Thesis - Antithesis), -ill (Literate – Illiterate), -mis (Informed – Misinformed), -dis (Assemble – Disassemble) etc.
6. Give some examples of antonyms according to different parts of speech.
Short list of antonyms in English, listed by the part of speech:
Nouns
- Day / night
- East / west
- The enemy / friend
- Failure / success
- Guest / host
- Health / disease
- Question / answer
- Speaker / listener
- Summer / winter
- Top / bottom/ up / down
Verbs
- Agree / disagree/accept
- Arrive / leave/ come / go
- Begin / end/ start
- Fall asleep / wakefulness/sleep
- Find / lose/ gain
- Lend / borrowing
- Love / hate
- Open / close/turn on /turn off
- Remember / forget
- Start / stop
Adjectives
- Is asleep / awake
- Beautiful / ugly /good/ bad
- Big / small
- Black / white
- Cheap / expensive
- Dead / alive
- It is dry / wet
- Easy / difficult
- Full / empty
- Good / bad
- Hot / cold
- Intelligent / stupid/you are smart
- Sad / happy/ exciting
- Sick / living healthy
- Thin / fat
Adverbs
- Always / never
- With anger / happily/ excitement
- Fast / slowly
- Here / there
- Inside / outside/ indoors/ outdoors
- Likely / unlikely/possible/ impossible
- Near / far
- Partly / fully
- Seemingly / actually/ visually
- Yesterday / tomorrow
Prepositions
- Above / below
- Against / for / because
- Before / after
- In / out/ indoors/ outdoors
- Like / unlike/ love / contrast
- On / off
- Plus / minus
- To / from
- Towards / away/remote
- With / without
Conjunctions
- And / or
- Therefore / nevertheless /or so
Interjections
- Bravo / boo
- Hello / goodbye
- Holy cow / duh
- Phew / oops
- Thanks / no thanks
- Yes / no
- Yippee / oh my/ oh
7. What are synonyms? Give examples.
Synonyms are words that carry a similar or same meaning to another word. Sometimes even though the synonym of a word has an identical meaning the word and the synonym may not be interchangeable. For example, "blow up" and "explode" have the same meaning, but "blow up" is informal (used more in speech) and "explode" is more formal (used more in writing and careful speech). Synonyms also provide variety to speech and writing.
Many words in the English language contain more than one synonym. Some examples of Synonyms:
Shallow - superficial
Stop – cease
Spontaneous - capricious
Gloomy – sad - unhappy
House - home - abode
Evil - bad - wicked
Garbage - trash - junk - waste
Present – gift – reward – award
Sniff – smell – inhale
Little – small – tiny
Under – below – beneath
8. Give some examples of synonyms according to different parts of speech.
Short list of synonyms in English, listed by the part of speech:
Nouns:
- Belly / stomach
- Children / kids
- Disaster / catastrophe
- Earth / soil
- Father / dad
- Happiness / joy
- Instinct / intuition/ understanding
- Mother / mom
- Present / gift
- Sunrise / dawn
Verbs:
- Answer / reply
- Beat / defeat
- Behave / act
- Begin / start
- Close / shut/ turn on/turn off
- Leave / exit
- Provide / supply/ distribution
- Select / choose
- Shout / yell
- Speak / talk
Adjectives:
- Big / large
- Complete / total/number
- Correct / right
- Crazy / mad
- Foolish / silly /fool/ stupid
- Happy / glad
- Hard / difficult
- Ill / sick
- Last / final
- Near / close
- Sad / unhappy
- Stable / steady/ strong
Adverbs:
- Abroad / overseas
- Almost / nearly/ about / approx.
- Bad / poorly
- Fast / quickly
- Intentionally / purposefully
- Out / outside
- Rarely / seldom/ not common
- Sometimes / occasionally/ periodically
- Surely / for sure/ definitely
- Very / highly / extremely/too much
Prepositions:
- Above / over/ more
- About / regarding / concerning
- Against / versus
- Below / beneath / under
- By / via
- Despite / in spite of
- In / into/ to
- Off / away
- Until / till
- With / including
Conjunctions:
- And / plus
- Because / since
- But / yet/for now
- If / provided
- Once / as soon as possible/ and
Interjections:
- Hello / hi
- Gee / gosh
- Goodness / goodness me / my goodness
- No / nope
- Oh Lord / oh good Lord
- Thanks / thank you
- Whoopee / yahoo / hooray
- Yes / yeah
9. What is word formation? How can new words be formed by using prefixes and suffixes? Give examples.
Word formation simply means creation of a new word by changing its meaning or by changing its form.
There are two ways by which new words can be formed, first by adding a prefix to the root of the word which generally changes the meaning of the word completely, sometimes by emphasis and other times by creating antonyms, whereas suffixes usually alter the form of a word, changing its behaviour in a sentence.
Prefixes are a group of letters that are added at the beginning of a word and suffixes are a group of letters that are added at the end of a word
Below are examples of some commonly used prefixes with their meanings:
Prefix | Meaning | Examples |
Un- | Not | Unhappy, unsuccessful, unable |
Re- | Again | Redo, return, reappear |
Dis- | Not, undo | Disappear, disgrace , discontinue |
Inter- | Between | International, internet, intermission |
Non- | Not | Nonsense, nonfiction, nonviolent |
Pre- | Before | Predawn, prefix, precaution |
Post- | After | Postpone, postscript, postwar |
Poly- | Many | Polygamy, polyester, polyglot |
Sub- | Under | Subterranean, submarine, subordinate |
c o- | Together | Cooperate, collaborate, coordinate
|
Below are some examples of the most commonly used suffixes with the change in forms of words:
Form | Suffix | Meaning | Examples |
Noun | -age | Action or process | Marriage, voyage, pilgrimage |
-ence | State or quality of | Violence, absence, reticence | |
-ant | One who | Servant, immigrant, assistant | |
-arium | Pla ce for | Aquarium, planetarium, auditorium | |
-tion | State or quality of | Starvation, inspiration, tension | |
-cy | State or quality of | Accuracy, bankruptcy, conspiracy | |
-dom | State or quality of | Freedom, boredom, wisdom | |
-eer | Person | Engineer, puppeteer, auctioneer | |
-ectomy | Surgical removal of | Tonsillectomy, appendectomy |
| -ent | One who | Superintendent, resident, regent |
-eur | One who | Chauffeur, masseur | |
-hood | State or quality of | Childhood, falsehood, neighborhood | |
-i | Plural | Alumni, foci, syllabi | |
-ism | Doctrine of | Capitalism, socialism, patriotism | |
-wright | One who works with | Playwright, shipwright | |
-ology | Study of | Biology, etymology, psychology | |
Adjective | -able | Is, can be | Comfortable, durable, perishable |
-acious | Inclined to be | Audacious, loquacious, spacious | |
-ant | Inclined to be | Vigilant, pleasant, defiant | |
-ative | Inclined to be | Demonstrative, talkative, pejorative | |
-ic | Characteristic of | Comic, poetic, historic | |
-y | Characteristic of | Fruity, sunny, chewy | |
Verb | -ble | Repeated action | Stumble, squabble, mumble |
-ed | Past tense | Wanted, hated, looted | |
-en | Made of | Strengthen, fasten, frighten | |
-ify | To make | Terrify, falsify, vilify | |
-ize | To make | Standardize, computerize, pulverize | |
Adverb | -ly | Resembling | Slowly, kindly, seriously |
-ward | Direction | Forward, backward, onward | |
-ways | Manner | Sideways, crossways |
Communication Skills
Unit - 2
Question Bank
- What are the various types of prefixes? Explain with examples.
The fixes that are added before the base form are called prefixes. A prefix is a syllable or syllables placed at the beginning of a word to qualify its meaning and form a new word. It has its origin from Greek, Latin and Native English.
The prefixes are classified as follows:
- Negative Prefixes
- Reversative Prefixes
- Pejorative Prefixes
- Prefixes of Degree or size
- Prefixes of Attitude
- Locative Prefixes
- Prefixes of time and order
- Number Prefixes
- Other prefixes
- Conversion prefixes
Negative Prefixes:
a) The negative prefix'- 'in' is used-with words of Latin origin –‘Un’ is found in English Unfortunate, injustice.
b) The exact opposite meaning is brought by the prefix – dislike, disloyal.
c) Latin and French non-meaning not is used Non-violence, non-committal.
d) A-means lacking, a moral, asymmetry.
Reversative Prefixes:
a) Un - means to 'reverse action. Added to verbs (Reverse of Action) untie, unseat, unload.
b) de - means to reverse action added to abstract noun defrost, deforestation.
c) dis - to deprive of' is added to verbs, participles and nouns. Disconnect, discoloured, discontent.
Pejorative Prefixes:
Depreciatory means diminish in value.
a) mis– wrongly
misinform, misconduct, misleading
b) mal - means 'badly
mal treat, mal function, mal formed, malodorous
c) Pseudo means false
Pseudopodia, pseudo-intellectual
Prefixes of Degree or size:
a) Arch - highest, chief
Archbishop
b) Super - means above, more than, better
superman, super market, supernatural
c) Out - means to do something, faster, longer
Out run, out live
d) Sur - means over and above
surtax
e) Sub - means lower than, less than
sub human, sub standard, subordinate
f) Over -too much
over real, over dressed, over confident
g) under - means too little
undertook
h) Ultra - means extremely
ultraviolet, ultra modern
i) Mini - means small or little
miniskirt
Prefixes of Attitude:
a) co - with or joint
co-operative, co pilot
b) Counter - means in opposition to
countuant, counter-revolution
c) Anti means against
Antisocial, anticlockwise, antimissile.
d) Pro- means of the side of
Pro-communist
Locative Prefixes:
Super –Over - super structure
Sub -means beneath - subway subconscious
Inter means between - international interaction
Trans - means across - transplant, translation
Prefixes of time and order:
Fore - -means before - fore tell
Post - means after - post-war Ex-means former
Pre - means before - pre-war, pre-planned
Ex – means former - ex-minister
Re - means again - rebuild, resettlement, rewrite
Number Prefixes:
Uni, mono means one - unilateral, monotheism
Bi, di means two - bi lingual, dipole
Tri means three - tripartite
Poly, multi means many - multi racial, poly syllabic
Other Prefixes:
Semi means half - Semi circle
Vice means deputy - Vice president
Auto means self - Auto biography
Neo means new - neo-gothic
Pan means world wide - Pan-American
Proto means first - prototype.
Conversion Prefixes:
Be, en and a
Be spectated (Participle adjective)
Bewitch (transitive verb)
Enslave (verb) afloat (adjective)
2. What are suffixes? What are their types?
The affixes that are added after the base-form are called suffixes. A suffix is a syllable or syllables placed at the end of a word which qualify its meaning and form a new word. Derivational suffixes are used to derive new words from the base form. Inflectional suffixes merely modify a word as in the book - books etc.
Below are the various types of suffixes:
Occupational suffixes:
Ster - person engaged in - gangster
EER - an occupation - engineer
ER - in habitat - Londoner.
Diminutive or Feminine:
Let means small - booklet, piglet
ETTE means small - Kitchenette
Compact - Statuette
Imitation- Flannelette
Female - Usherette
Ess means female - Waitress, hostess, etc
y, - means daddy, auntie
Status, Domain:
HOOD means status - boyhood, childhood
SHIP means status- friendship
DOM means domain - kingdom, stardom
OCR means system of Government - democracy
EYR means behaviour Abode – slavery,
Abode - nunnery
Collectivity – machinery
Noun/Adjective:
ITE means faction - Israelite, socialite
AN means pertaining to-Indonesian, republican
ESE means nationality - Chinese
IST means occupation-Violinist, Organist
ISM means attitude - idealism Political movement-communism
Noun Suffixes:
ER, OR means instrumental - driver, actor
ANT means agentive- inhabitant
EE means passive - employee
ATION means institution - organization
MENT means action - amazement
AL means action – refusal
ING means activity– driving
AGE means result of activity - drainage
NESS means quality - happiness
ITY means quality – sanity
Verb Suffixes:
IFY means causative - simplify
IZE means causative- popularize
EN means become X – eaten
Adjective suffixes:
FUL - ful means having - useful
LESS - means without - childless
LY means quality- cowardly
LIKE means quality – childlike
Y means covered with- hairy
ISH means belonging to - Turkish
IAN means in tradition - Darwinian
ABLE means 'worthy to - readable
Ed means having – balconied
Adverb suffixes:
LY means in a…….. Manner, aimlessly, lovingly
CE once, twice, thrice - ST amidst, amongst.
LONG - headlong, sidelong
THER -hither, thither, whither
WARDS- backward, upward, (means direction)
WISE - in the manner of, lengthwise, weatherise
3. How can words in a sentence be divided into various parts of speech?
Depending upon the way they are used in a sentence, words can function in different ways when used in a sentence. All words can be classified into eight fundamental parts that are required to construct a complete sentence: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. These parts of speech determine how a word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence.
The use of the words defines their place and meaning in a sentence.
- Noun
Nouns, also called naming words, refer to any person, place, animal, thing or idea. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract. There are two types of nouns:
- Proper noun- These nouns start with capital letters and refer to the name of a particular place or thing. Ex – Barack Obama, Himalaya mountains.
- Common noun- These nouns start with lower case letter and refer to the names of general places or things. Ex – man, teacher, letter
2. Pronoun
A pronoun is a word used in place of the noun.
A pronoun which substituted in place of a specific noun is called an antecedent. Pronouns can be further defined by their various types: personal pronouns describe specific persons or things; possessive pronouns imply ownership; relative pronouns introduce a subordinate clause; and demonstrative pronouns identify, point to, or refer to nouns.
Ex - Me, she, her, mine, theirs.
3. Adjective
An adjective is a word that describes the quality or quantity possessed by a noun. It answers the questions like which one, what kind or how many. It is a word used to modify or describe the noun or a pronoun.
Ex - Young boy, Pretty girl, Huge elephant, One thousand sea shells.
4. Adverb
An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but never a noun. When, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree are the types of questions that are answered by an adverb. Adverbs often end in -ly.
Ex- Very long letter, quickly disappear out of sight.
5. Preposition
Prepositions are words placed before a noun or a pronoun in order to modify the meaning of other words in a sentence. The prepositional phrase almost functions as an adjective or an adverb.
Ex- The boy received a number of sweets from the teacher.
6. Verb
A verb is a word that expresses the state of being or work being done by the subject. There are main verbs and there are also helping verbs known as auxiliary verbs. Verbs can also be used to express tense.
Ex – She vanished in the darkness.
7. Conjunction
A conjunction is a word that joins words, phrases or clauses and establishes a relationship between them. And, but, or, nor, for, so, yet are some examples of conjunctions.
8. Interjection
An interjection is a word which is used to express emotion. They are usually followed by exclamation points.
Ex. Oh dear! Wow! Oh my God!
4. How are syllables important in understanding the use of prefixes and suffixes?
Words are the second smallest unit used during the construction of a sentence after the alphabets. They are the building blocks of any grammatical construction. Words are different combinations and sounds but unlike alphabets, each word carries meaning in itself.
Each word consists of two parts – the alphabet (A-Z) and the syllable. A syllable can be defined as a single or unbroken sound of a written or spoken word. It is a unit of uninterrupted speech which must contain a vowel sound a diphthong or a syllabic consonant. They are also known as beats of a spoken language.
Syllables often contain a vowel with a singular or multiple consonant but that does not mean that there are no syllables without vowels. Some syllables contain only consonants but they do have a verbal sound in them.
A word can be monosyllabic as well as polysyllabic. Monosyllabic meaning it will consist only one syllable for example the words dog, bat, try, shy, kill, heel etc. While polysyllabic words might contain two or more than two syllables, for example, computer (comp-u-ter), relax (re-lax), independent (in-de-pen-dent), extra (ex-tra), document (do-cu-ment).
Syllabus are not to be confused with phonemes as phonemes represent the smallest unit of sound whereas syllables represent and unbroken sound within the word. For example the word chat is made up of three phonemes /ch/ /a/ and /t/, however it contains only one syllable – chat.
There are a few basic rules to determine the number of syllables in a word, they are as follows –
- Prefixes and suffixes must always be separated from root words.
Examples: Pre-view, End-less, Il-literate
2. If there are two or more consonants next to each other there is always a division between the first and second consonant.
Examples: Buf-fet, Des-sert, Ob-ject.
However if the two consonants produce a single sound they are not to be divided.
Examples: th, sh, ph, ch, sc.
3. If a consonant is surrounded on either sides buy a vowel –
- If the volume has a long sound it has to be divided before the consonant.
Examples: Ba-by. Re-sult, Fro-zen
b. If the Vowel has a short sound, it has to be divided after the consonant.
Examples: Mo-del, Ra-vage, Me-tal
4. Words that end with ‘ckle’ have to be divided right before the ‘le’
Examples: Freck-le, Tick-le, Buck-le
5. Word that end with ‘le’ without the ‘ck’ –
- If the letter before ‘le’ is a consonant it has to be divided one letter before ‘le’.
Examples: Ap-ple, Fa-ble, Ta-ble
b. If the letter before ‘le’ is a vowel, it should be considered as a single syllable.
Understanding the use of syllables is very essential to understand word formation with prefixes and suffixes. Syllabic structure in spoken English is quite flexible, for example a single vowel can be considered a whole syllabus like in the word Unequal (Un-e-qual).
5. What are antonyms? Give ample examples.
Antonyms are words that carry the opposite meaning to another word. They can be used to show contrast between two things or emphasize a point. Antonyms can be totally different words from their counterparts or can also be formed by adding prefixes to some words.
Below are some examples of antonyms that are commonly used in the English language:
Antonyms formed by changing entire words
Love – hate
Beginning – ending
Ugly – beautiful
Wild – tame
Extrovert – introvert
Antonyms formed by adding prefix –un
Acceptable - unacceptable
Able - unable
Do - undo
Certain – uncertain
Seen – Unseen
Antonyms formed by adding the prefix –in
Decent – indecent
Tolerant – intolerant
Human – inhuman
Curable – incurable
Expressible – inexpressible
Antonyms formed by adding the prefix –non
Sense – nonsense
Essential – nonessential
Flammable – non-flammable
Renewable – non-renewable
Entity – nonentity
Other prefixes used to form antonyms of words are –anti (Thesis - Antithesis), -ill (Literate – Illiterate), -mis (Informed – Misinformed), -dis (Assemble – Disassemble) etc.
6. Give some examples of antonyms according to different parts of speech.
Short list of antonyms in English, listed by the part of speech:
Nouns
- Day / night
- East / west
- The enemy / friend
- Failure / success
- Guest / host
- Health / disease
- Question / answer
- Speaker / listener
- Summer / winter
- Top / bottom/ up / down
Verbs
- Agree / disagree/accept
- Arrive / leave/ come / go
- Begin / end/ start
- Fall asleep / wakefulness/sleep
- Find / lose/ gain
- Lend / borrowing
- Love / hate
- Open / close/turn on /turn off
- Remember / forget
- Start / stop
Adjectives
- Is asleep / awake
- Beautiful / ugly /good/ bad
- Big / small
- Black / white
- Cheap / expensive
- Dead / alive
- It is dry / wet
- Easy / difficult
- Full / empty
- Good / bad
- Hot / cold
- Intelligent / stupid/you are smart
- Sad / happy/ exciting
- Sick / living healthy
- Thin / fat
Adverbs
- Always / never
- With anger / happily/ excitement
- Fast / slowly
- Here / there
- Inside / outside/ indoors/ outdoors
- Likely / unlikely/possible/ impossible
- Near / far
- Partly / fully
- Seemingly / actually/ visually
- Yesterday / tomorrow
Prepositions
- Above / below
- Against / for / because
- Before / after
- In / out/ indoors/ outdoors
- Like / unlike/ love / contrast
- On / off
- Plus / minus
- To / from
- Towards / away/remote
- With / without
Conjunctions
- And / or
- Therefore / nevertheless /or so
Interjections
- Bravo / boo
- Hello / goodbye
- Holy cow / duh
- Phew / oops
- Thanks / no thanks
- Yes / no
- Yippee / oh my/ oh
7. What are synonyms? Give examples.
Synonyms are words that carry a similar or same meaning to another word. Sometimes even though the synonym of a word has an identical meaning the word and the synonym may not be interchangeable. For example, "blow up" and "explode" have the same meaning, but "blow up" is informal (used more in speech) and "explode" is more formal (used more in writing and careful speech). Synonyms also provide variety to speech and writing.
Many words in the English language contain more than one synonym. Some examples of Synonyms:
Shallow - superficial
Stop – cease
Spontaneous - capricious
Gloomy – sad - unhappy
House - home - abode
Evil - bad - wicked
Garbage - trash - junk - waste
Present – gift – reward – award
Sniff – smell – inhale
Little – small – tiny
Under – below – beneath
8. Give some examples of synonyms according to different parts of speech.
Short list of synonyms in English, listed by the part of speech:
Nouns:
- Belly / stomach
- Children / kids
- Disaster / catastrophe
- Earth / soil
- Father / dad
- Happiness / joy
- Instinct / intuition/ understanding
- Mother / mom
- Present / gift
- Sunrise / dawn
Verbs:
- Answer / reply
- Beat / defeat
- Behave / act
- Begin / start
- Close / shut/ turn on/turn off
- Leave / exit
- Provide / supply/ distribution
- Select / choose
- Shout / yell
- Speak / talk
Adjectives:
- Big / large
- Complete / total/number
- Correct / right
- Crazy / mad
- Foolish / silly /fool/ stupid
- Happy / glad
- Hard / difficult
- Ill / sick
- Last / final
- Near / close
- Sad / unhappy
- Stable / steady/ strong
Adverbs:
- Abroad / overseas
- Almost / nearly/ about / approx.
- Bad / poorly
- Fast / quickly
- Intentionally / purposefully
- Out / outside
- Rarely / seldom/ not common
- Sometimes / occasionally/ periodically
- Surely / for sure/ definitely
- Very / highly / extremely/too much
Prepositions:
- Above / over/ more
- About / regarding / concerning
- Against / versus
- Below / beneath / under
- By / via
- Despite / in spite of
- In / into/ to
- Off / away
- Until / till
- With / including
Conjunctions:
- And / plus
- Because / since
- But / yet/for now
- If / provided
- Once / as soon as possible/ and
Interjections:
- Hello / hi
- Gee / gosh
- Goodness / goodness me / my goodness
- No / nope
- Oh Lord / oh good Lord
- Thanks / thank you
- Whoopee / yahoo / hooray
- Yes / yeah
9. What is word formation? How can new words be formed by using prefixes and suffixes? Give examples.
Word formation simply means creation of a new word by changing its meaning or by changing its form.
There are two ways by which new words can be formed, first by adding a prefix to the root of the word which generally changes the meaning of the word completely, sometimes by emphasis and other times by creating antonyms, whereas suffixes usually alter the form of a word, changing its behaviour in a sentence.
Prefixes are a group of letters that are added at the beginning of a word and suffixes are a group of letters that are added at the end of a word
Below are examples of some commonly used prefixes with their meanings:
Prefix | Meaning | Examples |
Un- | Not | Unhappy, unsuccessful, unable |
Re- | Again | Redo, return, reappear |
Dis- | Not, undo | Disappear, disgrace , discontinue |
Inter- | Between | International, internet, intermission |
Non- | Not | Nonsense, nonfiction, nonviolent |
Pre- | Before | Predawn, prefix, precaution |
Post- | After | Postpone, postscript, postwar |
Poly- | Many | Polygamy, polyester, polyglot |
Sub- | Under | Subterranean, submarine, subordinate |
c o- | Together | Cooperate, collaborate, coordinate
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Below are some examples of the most commonly used suffixes with the change in forms of words:
Form | Suffix | Meaning | Examples |
Noun | -age | Action or process | Marriage, voyage, pilgrimage |
-ence | State or quality of | Violence, absence, reticence | |
-ant | One who | Servant, immigrant, assistant | |
-arium | Pla ce for | Aquarium, planetarium, auditorium | |
-tion | State or quality of | Starvation, inspiration, tension | |
-cy | State or quality of | Accuracy, bankruptcy, conspiracy | |
-dom | State or quality of | Freedom, boredom, wisdom | |
-eer | Person | Engineer, puppeteer, auctioneer | |
-ectomy | Surgical removal of | Tonsillectomy, appendectomy |
| -ent | One who | Superintendent, resident, regent |
-eur | One who | Chauffeur, masseur | |
-hood | State or quality of | Childhood, falsehood, neighborhood | |
-i | Plural | Alumni, foci, syllabi | |
-ism | Doctrine of | Capitalism, socialism, patriotism | |
-wright | One who works with | Playwright, shipwright | |
-ology | Study of | Biology, etymology, psychology | |
Adjective | -able | Is, can be | Comfortable, durable, perishable |
-acious | Inclined to be | Audacious, loquacious, spacious | |
-ant | Inclined to be | Vigilant, pleasant, defiant | |
-ative | Inclined to be | Demonstrative, talkative, pejorative | |
-ic | Characteristic of | Comic, poetic, historic | |
-y | Characteristic of | Fruity, sunny, chewy | |
Verb | -ble | Repeated action | Stumble, squabble, mumble |
-ed | Past tense | Wanted, hated, looted | |
-en | Made of | Strengthen, fasten, frighten | |
-ify | To make | Terrify, falsify, vilify | |
-ize | To make | Standardize, computerize, pulverize | |
Adverb | -ly | Resembling | Slowly, kindly, seriously |
-ward | Direction | Forward, backward, onward | |
-ways | Manner | Sideways, crossways |
