Word Formation
nature
natural
WORD FORMATION
Lesson duration is: 45 minItems in this lesson
nature
natural
WORD FORMATION
Today's lesson
Practising word formation!
Outcomes:
- You can form nouns, verbs and adjectives with given root words
- You can correctly change a word to fit in given sentences
What is word formation?
Word formation is changing the form of a word
e.g. from a noun to an adjective, or from a verb to a noun.
For example:
The _____ was very nervous. (sing)
You have to complete the sentence with the person noun (singer).
Follow these steps:
Look at the word you have to change.
Which words do you know that are in the same word family?
The beginning of the word is often the same and the end of the word changes.
Follow these steps:
What form is the new word? A verb? A noun? An adjective? An adverb?
Nouns often end: -ment, -ion, -ness, -ity.
People nouns often end: -er, -or, -ist, -ian.
Follow these steps:
Adjectives often end: -able, -ible, -ive, -al, -ic, -ed, -ing.
Some verbs end: -ise, -ate, -en.
Adverbs often end: -ly.
Follow these steps:
Is the new word negative? If so, you may need a prefix, e.g. un- (unhappy), im- (impolite), in- (inexperienced), dis- (dishonest), etc.
If you don’t know the new word, guess. You may be right!
Check your answers carefully when you finish
Exercise
On the following slides you will find a couple of exercises.
Read the sentence and use the word in brackets to form a new word that fits in the sentence.
This queue hasn't moved in five minutes. I'm getting a bit ______! (patient)
If you go walking around the factory, ensure you have ______ clothing on. (protect)
Are you sure you have cleaned the kitchen? There is still a pretty _____ smell coming from it. (pleasant)
Finding a cure for cancer will be a huge _____ breakthrough for mankind. (medicine)
Have you seen my handbag John? It seems to have totally ________! (appear)
It isn't very ____ that Paula is at home, is it? She usually works at this time. (like)
I was just trying to be ___ towards him and he accused me of wanting his money! - (friend)
Time to practise!
Change the following words:
Root word - verb form - noun form - adjective form
know
produce
action
help
Poll