Read the diagram below out loud with your tutor.

DIALOGUE

Practice by reading the dialogue with your tutor. After you are done, switch roles and do it again.

• Kevin: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? There are more impolite people than polite people.
• Dorothy: In my opinion, some people are unkind and impolite, but most people are pleasant and respectful.
• Kevin: That’s an interesting view. Sometimes I meet unfriendly, impolite people who make me disagree with that idea.
• Dorothy: Oh, that’s a shame. It’s unfair to let a few bad eggs to ruin your impression of everyone else!

 

 

NEW SKILLS

Using prefixes

 

Read the diagram below out loud with your tutor.

 

 

Here’s a more complete list of prefixes. Review them out loud with your tutor. Try to come up with more examples of prefixed words as you go along.

prefix	meaning	examples
anti-	against/opposed to	anti-government, anti-racist, anti-war
auto-	self	autobiography, automobile
de-	reverse or change	de-classify, decontaminate, demotivate
dis-	reverse or remove	disagree, displeasure, disqualify
down-	reduce or lower	downgrade, downhearted
extra-	beyond	extraordinary, extraterrestrial
hyper-	extreme	hyperactive, hypertension
il-, im-, in-, ir-	not	illegal, impossible, insecure, irregular
inter-	between	interactive, international
mega-	very big, important	megabyte, mega-deal, megaton
mid-	middle	midday, midnight, mid-October
mis-	incorrectly, badly	misaligned, mislead, misspelled
non-	not	non-payment, non-smoking
over-	too much	overcook, overcharge, overrate
out-	go beyond	outdo, out-perform, outrun
post-	after	post-election, post-war
pre-	before	prehistoric, pre-war
pro-	in favor of	pro-communist, pro-democracy
re-	again	reconsider, redo, rewrite
semi-	half	semicircle, semi-retired
sub-	under, below	submarine, sub-Saharan
super-	above, beyond	super-hero, supermodel
tele-	at a distance	television, telepathic
trans-	across	transatlantic, transfer
ultra-	extremely	ultra-compact, ultrasound
un-	remove, reverse, not	undo, unpack, unhappy
under-	less than, beneath	undercook, underestimate
up-	make or move higher	upgrade, uphill

 

 

EXERCISE

Identify the 5 words with prefixes in the following paragraph.

I need to buy a new bicycle because my current one constantly needs repairs. The other day, I saw that the local bike shop is having a presale on bikes. They are advertising 10% off on the new models coming out soon. I went inside to ask the salesperson if the ad misrepresented the discount. She said it was true and that I could prepay and pick the bike up at a later date. Unfortunately, I was short on cash at the time, but the sale will continue until next week.

(1) bicycle

(2) _____________

(3) _____________

(4) _____________

(5) _____________

 

 

Fill the blanks in with one of the following words: undercooked, uphill, outperform, non-stop, multicultural

• After my car accident, I had an uphill battle to a full recovery.
• A lot of big cities are (6) _________________ because more people are moving from different countries.
• You need to (7) ______________ your previous IELTS exam if you want to improve your chance of success.
• It has been raining (8) _______________ for the past three days.
• Eating (9) _____________ meat could cause food poisoning.

 

 

 

Write a sentence using the word with a prefix.

• improper –  It’s improper to wear shorts and a t-shirt for a job interview.
• midnight – ________________________________________________.
• reconsider – _______________________________________________.
• unpack – __________________________________________________.
• discourage – _______________________________________________.

 

 

Discussion Questions

1. Who is your favorite superhero? What is his/her superpower?
2. What’s worse: impolite or impractical people? Why?
3. Do you prefer understated fashion or overstated fashion? Why?

 

 

 

(Sources: 1. http://www.treetopdisplays.co.uk/writing_and_grammar1.php, 2. http://www.slideshare.net/met4457/prefixes-and-suffixes-macu. 3. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/word-formation/prefixes, 4. http://englishgrammarviii.blogspot.com/2015/07/prefixes.html)

 

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Answer Key:

(1) bicycle

(2) presale

(3) misrepresented

(4) prepay

(5) Unfortunately

(6) multi-cultural

(7) outperform

(8) non-stop

(9) undercooked