Word Building
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Word families: building possibilities...
Words often come in families. You can expand your vocabulary by becoming familiar with these word families and this can also enable you to become a more fluent speaker and writer of English. If you know all the possible words within a word family, you can express yourself in a wider range of ways. For example, if you know the verb and the noun forms related to the adjective boring, you can say: • The lesson was boring. • The lesson bored me. • That lesson was such a bore. An extra reason for paying attention to word families is that for some exams you have to know them. In the list below, the words printed in bold are words which are very common and important to learn. The other words in the same row are words in the same family, often formed with prefixes and suffixes. Sometimes they are just a different part of speech (e.g. anger, which is a noun and a verb). All the words in this list have entries in the dictionary except for some beginning with un-, im-, in- or ir-, or ending with -ly or -ily, where the meaning is always regular. Sometimes words in a word family can have meanings which are quite different from others in the group, so you should always check in the dictionary if you are not sure of the meaning.
Nouns
ability, disability, inability acceptance accident accuracy, inaccuracy accusation, the accused, accuser achievement, achiever act, action, inaction, interaction, reaction, transaction activity, inactivity addition admiration, admirer advantage, disadvantage advertisement, advertiser, advertising advice, adviser agreement, disagreement aim amazement anger announcement, announcer appearance, disappearance, reappearance applicant, application appreciation approval, disapproval approximation argument arrangement art, artist, artistry shame attachment attack, counter-attack, attacker attention attraction, attractiveness
Adjectives able, unable, disabled acceptable, unacceptable, accepted accidental
Word families: building possibilities...
Words often come in families. You can expand your vocabulary by becoming familiar with these word families and this can also enable you to become a more fluent speaker and writer of English. If you know all the possible words within a word family, you can express yourself in a wider range of ways. For example, if you know the verb and the noun forms related to the adjective boring, you can say: • The lesson was boring. • The lesson bored me. • That lesson was such a bore. An extra reason for paying attention to word families is that for some exams you have to know them. In the list below, the words printed in bold are words which are very common and important to learn. The other words in the same row are words in the same family, often formed with prefixes and suffixes. Sometimes they are just a different part of speech (e.g. anger, which is a noun and a verb). All the words in this list have entries in the dictionary except for some beginning with un-, im-, in- or ir-, or ending with -ly or -ily, where the meaning is always regular. Sometimes words in a word family can have meanings which are quite different from others in the group, so you should always check in the dictionary if you are not sure of the meaning.
Nouns
ability, disability, inability acceptance accident accuracy, inaccuracy accusation, the accused, accuser achievement, achiever act, action, inaction, interaction, reaction, transaction activity, inactivity addition admiration, admirer advantage, disadvantage advertisement, advertiser, advertising advice, adviser agreement, disagreement aim amazement anger announcement, announcer appearance, disappearance, reappearance applicant, application appreciation approval, disapproval approximation argument arrangement art, artist, artistry shame attachment attack, counter-attack, attacker attention attraction, attractiveness
Adjectives able, unable, disabled acceptable, unacceptable, accepted accidental