First: word formation (negatives)
For the B2 First exam, there's nearly always at least one negative in the word formation part of the use of English. There are lots of prefixes and suffixes we can use to make negatives. Here is some useful general advice:
- Negative prefixes can be used with nouns, verbs, adjective and adverbs. For example disapproval, disapprove, disapproving, disapprovingly.
- Usually im + p (impatient) but not always (unpleasant).
- Often il + l (illegal) but not always (unlikely).
- Often ir + r (irregular) but not always (unresponsive).
- Usually -ful changes to -less (harmful/less) but not always (endful / endless).
- If you can't remember, choose un - it's the most common negative prefix.
All the words in the table below are adjectives (unless stated in brackets afterwards - do you notice anything interesting about dis- and mis-?). Look at the information in the table for a few minutes and try to remember the words. Then click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.
| un- | in | dis- | im- |
|---|---|---|---|
| unexpected unaware unbelievable unknown unable | inaccurate inappropriate inefficient incapable ineffective | disapprove (verb) dislike (verb) disagree (verb) disbelieve (verb) dishonest (adjective) | improbable impossible impolite imperfect impatient |
| il- | ir- | mis- | -less |
| illegal illiterate illogical illegible | irregular irresponsible irrational irrelevant | misbehave (verb) misunderstand (verb) misspell (verb) misuse (verb) | careless harmless helpless endless |
Practice 1: word formation (use of English part 3)
Write the correct NEGATIVE form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences. Be very careful: some words have different negative forms (e.g. unbelievable/disbelieve, unlikely/dislike, unable/disabled) and you may have to make other changes (e.g. verb to noun or past simple).
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