The Grammar Business
Part Three
4. Common spelling errors:
prefixes and suffixes
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
A prefix is
• A group of letters that goes in front of a
‘root’ word and changes its meaning.
• For example: in the word ‘prefix’, ‘fix’ is
the root and ‘pre’ is the prefix
• Or in the word ‘restore’, ‘store’ is the
root and ‘re’ is the prefix.
2
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Recognising prefixes and roots
can help with correct spelling
•
•
•
•
•
•
Some common
prefixes are 
3
inter
pre
re
non
anti
mis
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Some common roots are
• view
• play
• take
• make
• pose
• lead
4
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Try matching some prefixes and
some roots to make words
Prefixes
– inter
– pre
– re
– dis
– under
– mis
– over
Roots
– play
– view
– take
– make
– pose
– lead
– spell
5
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
You should have come up with
words like
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
interview
preplay
retake
dispose
undertake
mistake
overtake
6
replay
preview
repose
interpose
display
mislead
misspell
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
When you make a new word
•
•
•
•
•
If the prefix ends in ‘s’
And if the root begins with ‘s’
The word will have a double ‘s’
Like misspell
This is worth remembering!
7
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
And
•
•
•
•
•
If the prefix ends in ‘n’
And if the root begins with ‘p’
The ‘n’ will become ‘m’
So ‘in-possible’ becomes ‘impossible’
And in-portant becomes important.
8
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
And
•
•
•
•
•
•
If the prefix ends in ‘n’
And if the root begins with ‘l’
The ‘n’ will become ‘l’
So in-logical becomes illogical
And in-literate becomes illiterate
These changes have been made over time,
simply because it makes the word easier to
pronounce.
9
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Prefixes also help you understand
the meaning of the new word
• inter means between
• non, un, in, dis, in, il or im will make
the meaning negative
• anti means opposite or against
• mis adds a sense of wrongness
• re adds the sense of repeat or doing
something later
10
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
And more
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
sub means under
super means over or on top of
con means with or against
ex means out or from or previous
pro means forward or in favour or in front
epi and extra mean outside
post means afterwards
11
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
And more!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
de means undo or reverse (depose, demote)
dia means across, or between
mono means one and stereo means two
pre adds the sense of in front of, or first
poly means multiple or several
counter and con mean against
solo means one
12
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Having a rough idea what the prefix
might mean
• can help you guess the meaning of a word
you’re not familiar with
• Look for the root. If you know that, or can
guess what it means, you’re in with a chance.
13
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
For example
• If the root is ‘logue’ - which means word or
speech.
• Prologue = words at the beginning
• Epilogue = words at the end, or outside
• Dialogue = words travelling between people
• Monologue = words from one speaker
14
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
So what about suffixes?
• Suffixes are added to the end of a root
word
• They change its meaning
• Many of them are very familiar to you
15
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
For example
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ous (famous, infamous)
ing (going, being, seeing)
less (tireless, penniless)
ful (grateful, beautiful)
ship (friendship, kinship)
er/or (lecturer, computer, tutor, instructor)
able (loveable, agreeable, manageable)
ness (kindness, deepness, shallowness)
16
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Some words are made of prefix +
root and suffix
•
•
•
•
•
understanding
everlasting
nonconformist
unnoticeable
unchangeable
17
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Suffixes
• cause more spelling problems than
prefixes
• but there are rules
• and some of them are very useful to
know
18
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
For example
• if you add the suffix ‘ful’ to a word it will
ALWAYS have only one L
• The word ‘full’ has two Ls
• The suffix ‘ful’ has only ONE.
• E.g. careful, bountiful, grateful, pitiful.
19
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Other suffix spelling rules
• require you to know the difference
between
– a vowel
– and
– a consonant
20
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Vowels
•
•
•
•
•
Are letters whose
sounds are made
with your mouth
open 
21
a
e
i
o
u
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Consonants
• Are all the rest!
• B,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,q,v,w,x,y,z
• [Y is actually a bit of an odd one out. It is a
consonant, but it can function as a vowel too.]
22
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
If you add a suffix beginning with a
consonant,to a root ending in Y
• like pity, happy, busy, silly
• the y always changes to i
• For example: pitiful, happiness,
business, silliness
23
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
But if the suffix is ‘ing’
• you keep the Y
• For example: busying, worrying,
carrying
• it’s important to remember this!
24
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Other suffix rules: when to keep
the E at the end of the root
• When the suffix
starts with a
consonant e.g. ful,
less, ment,
• you usually keep the
E at the end of the
root
25
For example:
• grate + ful = grateful
• hope + less =
hopeless
• retire + ment =
retirement
• grace + ful/ less =
graceful/ graceless
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Other suffix rules: when to drop
the E
• When the suffix
starts with a vowel
e.g. able, ation, ing
• you usually drop the
E at the end of the
root
26
For example:
•
•
•
•
•
argue + ing = arguing
cure + able = curable
make + ing = making
write + ing = writing
recite + ation =
recitation
• And - yes - there are
exceptions, but not
many
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
The one-one-one rule
• When you add a
suffix that starts with
a vowel (-ed, -ing,
-er) to a root that
ends in a
consonant, you
usually need to
double the last letter
of the root
27
• So shop becomes
shopping
• kid becomes
kidding
• quit becomes
quitter
• pot becomes
potted
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
It’s called the one-one-one
rule because
It applies to roots that have
• one syllable (drop, put, kid)
• one short vowel (drop,put, kid)
• one consonant at the end of the root (drop,
put, kid)
• if the root word has these three ‘ones’, the
spelling rule works
28
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
One last rule worth knowing
•
•
•
•
•
The L Rule
which goes
like
this
see next slide….
29
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
If you add a suffix that starts with a
vowel (-ed, -ing,) to a root that ends
with an L
• If the L follows a single vowel, it is doubled
• e.g. propel  propelling
• If the L follows a pair of vowels, it’s never
doubled
• e.g. conceal  concealing
• If the L follows a vowel + R, it’s never doubled
• e.g. whirl  whirling, curl  curling
30
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Your head is now far too full
of rules
• So try testing your spelling
• If you aren’t sure about some of the
words
• Look back at the rules on these slides
• If you can get all the words right without
looking
• No need to remember the rules!
31
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
To test yourself
• Look at Handout Three
• Have fun!
32
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College