EN 1106: Vocabulary Development I
Word formation in English
· Adding prefixes and suffixes
- Suffixes: can change the word class and the meaning of the word
Noun suffixes: -er. writer, -ee, employee, -tion. Pollution, -ism. Buddhism, -ist. typist, -ness. Goodness
Adjectives: -able. Readable
Verbs: -ize. Modernize
Other suffixes: excitement, flexibility, childhood, membership, active, useless, forgetful, delicious
Activity: Form nouns / adjectives / verbs / using the given suffixes, as in the examples. Use the dictionary to find the meanings.
- Prefixes: often used to give adjectives a negative or an opposite meaning; uncomfortable, inconvenient, dissimilar
Activity: List words with other prefixes, e.g. anti-, auto-, bi-, ex-
Identifying word families
· Focus: How word families are developed from a single root
e.g. part, particle, partition, partly, partner, participant, particular
· Note the stress in each word. Practice saying the words with correct stress.
e.g. photograph, photography, photographic
Brainstorm round a word / an idea (word networks)
· Focus: enhancing the vocabulary
· Procedure: place a word, e.g. tree in the centre and think of words connected with it and write them down. Can use a prefix, a verb, or a noun as a stimulus, e.g. write the adjectives that go with the noun; river’
Words with more than one meaning
· Focus: find the right word in context
· Types of tasks: discuss different meanings of these words. Make two sentences which give two different meanings.
e.g. book: I bought a story book.
Book a ticket in advance in the intercity train.
Homonyms: homographs and homophones
· Homographs: words written in the same way, but have different meanings and may be pronounced differently.
e.g. I live in Kandy.
Your favourite star is performing live on TV to night (write the two words in phonetic script and show the difference in pronunciation)
· Homophones: words with the same pronunciation but with a different spelling and pronunciation
e.g. Read this aloud.
I allowed him to go out.
Come here, I can’t hear you.
· Activities:
· write the homophones of these words and use them in sentences
There, red, been, sail, by, etc.
Write the words according to the vowel sound. e.g. ‘u’ = two
Word collocation
· Focus: the way words combine in English to produce natural-sounding speech and writing.
e.g. adjective+ noun: strong / bright light
Verb+ noun: give / provide / shed light
Preposition + noun: by the light of the moon
· Types of activities:
- Matching items- adjectives and nouns, etc.
- Choose the items which collocate with each verb. There can be more than one item.
e.g. To appeal - the slow student
Against the judge’s decision
To encourage - him to learn from his mistakes
To my friend for help
