Arsenio’s ESL Podcast: Season 3 – Episode 23 – Vocabulary – Prefixes with Negative Meanings – Part II

Welcome back, everyone! I’ve finally made a debut of this after a long time (last episode was Season 2, Episode 8) and I’m bringing to you more negative prefixes to enhance your vocabulary! I was recently teaching prefixes in one of my classes here in Thailand, and I just love doing them because it helps my students vary their words.

If you guys don’t know, a prefix is a group of letters added to the beginning of a work.  When added, can change the entire meaning of the word.  It can change the base word from positive, or negative.

Prefix                             Meaning                            Example

anti-                                           freeze                                      antifreeze

counter-                                       act                                         counteract

dis-                                             appear                                     disappear

im-                                              polite                                         impolite

mis-                                       understood                             misunderstood

non-                                         essential                                 nonessential

un-                                             reliable                                    unreliable

in-                                          supportable                             insupportable

 

Task – Add a prefix to each root (answers in the podcast)

1 _________________possible

2 _________________paid

3 _________________nonsense

4 _________________placed

5 _________________rational

6 _________________regard

7 _________________clockwise

8 _________________social

 

Task II – Complete the sentences down below with the negative form of the word in the (parentheses).

1. Many people were ____________(sure) if I can teach because of my background, but I surely proved them wrong.
2. Most people in Thailand ______________(conceive) about America in terms of it being the most diverse nation in the world.
3. There are many ________________(profit) organizations in the world, so I decided to start my own — The Arsenio Buck Foundation.
4. Some people are _______________(regular) because they have their own agenda.
5. You have to be ______________(selfish) if you want to work with children or the elderly.

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