ROOT WORDS,
PREFIXES AND
SUFFIXES
Root Words
■ A root word stands on its own as a word
■ You can make new words from it by adding beginnings (prefixes)
and endings (suffixes)
■ Example: ‘comfort’
-By adding the prefix ‘dis’ or the suffix ‘able’ you can make new
words such as ‘discomfort’ and ‘comfortable’
■ Example: Unemployment
-Has a beginning (prefix) and middle (root) and an ending (suffix)
Unemployment
Root Words
The root word is the basic word and by adding prefixes and
suffixes, we can change its meaning
If we take the root word ‘friend’ and add a prefixes we can
make another word such as ‘unfriendly’
And we can add other suffixes to make other words such as
‘friendship’, friendless, friendly
What are prefixes?
■ A prefix is a group of letters we add to the front of the
root word
■ Prefixes change the meaning or purpose of the word
■ Eg: The prefix ‘un’ mean ‘not’
-The root word ‘clear’ mean ‘bright’, ‘free from difficulty’
-So un + clear= unclear, meaning ‘not clear’ or ‘dim’,
‘difficult to see or understand’
Prefixes
■ There are no rules to help you remember which prefix you should
use, although knowing the meaning of the prefix can help you.
■ Hear are some examples of prefixes and their meanings
Prefixes
■ Hear are some examples of prefixes and their meanings
What are suffixes?
■ A suffix is a group of letters that you can add to the end
of the root word to change the meaning of the word
■ Adding a suffix to words can change or add to their
meaning, but most importantly they show how a word will
be used in a sentence and what part of speech (e.g.
noun, verb, adjective) the word belongs to
■ Example: paint+ ing = painting
suffixes
■ Example: If you want to use the root word ‘talk’ in
the following sentence:
I was (talk) to Samina
You need to add the suffix ‘ing’ so that the word ‘talk’
makes better sense grammatically:
“I was talking to Samina”
Here are some suffixes
Meanings of suffixes
Meanings of prefixes and suffixes
CLASS WORK
Complete Exercises on Pg. 27: 1a-d and on pg. 82: 4-5