Prefixes in English Grammar

• Affixes are word elements attached to a root or stem that modify its meaning or create a new word
• Prefixes are added to the beginning of a word
• Suffixes are added to the end of a word
• Affixes are a type of morpheme

Prefixes

• Prefixes are affixes added to the beginning of a word, altering the word's meaning
• Relationships indicated by prefixes include negation, location, time, and manner
• "un-" (as in "unhappy"), "re-" (as in "rewrite"), and "pre-" (as in "prehistoric") are examples of prefixes
• Prefixes do not change the part of speech of the root word
• Common English prefixes:
  • un-: (not) examples include unhappy, undone
  • re-: (again) examples include rewrite, revisit
  • pre-: (before) examples include predate, pretest
  • dis-: (not, opposite of) examples include disagree, disloyal
  • in-/im-/il-/ir-: (not) examples include incorrect, impossible, illegal, irregular
  • mis-: (wrongly) examples include misunderstand, misbehave
  • de-: (down, away) examples include descend, depart
  • anti-: (against) examples include antivirus, anti-inflammatory
  • sub-: (under) examples include submarine, subsoil
  • trans-: (across) examples include transatlantic, transport
  • super-: (above, beyond) examples include superhuman, superstar
  • semi-: (half, partly) examples include semicircle, semifinal
  • inter-: (between, among) examples include international, interact
  • over-: (too much, above) examples include overcook, overpass
  • ex-: (out of, former) examples include exit, ex-president

Suffixes

• Suffixes are affixes added to the end of a word, changing the meaning or grammatical function
• Suffixes modify a word's part of speech or add specific grammatical information (like plural markers)
• Examples include "-ness" (as in "happiness"), "-ing" (as in "walking"), and "-ly" (as in "quickly")
• Common English suffixes:
  • -s/-es: (plural) examples include books, boxes
  • -ed: (past tense) examples include walked, played
  • -ing: (present participle/gerund) examples include walking, swimming
  • -ly: (adverb) examples include quickly, happily
  • -er/-or: (noun, person who) examples include teacher, actor
  • -ion/-tion/-ation/-ition: (noun, state/action) examples include completion, relation, invitation, addition
  • -ism: (noun, doctrine/belief) examples include capitalism, socialism
  • -ist: (noun, person who believes/practices) examples include capitalist, socialist
  • -ness: (noun, state of being) examples include happiness, sadness
  • -ment: (noun, result/action) examples include agreement, movement
  • -ful: (adjective, full of) examples include beautiful, helpful
  • -less: (adjective, without) examples include careless, hopeless
  • -able/-ible: (adjective, capable of) examples include capable, visible
  • -ous/-ious/-eous: (adjective) examples include famous, cautious, courageous
  • -ize/-ise: (verb, to make) examples include modernize, realize
  • -en: (verb, to become) examples include strengthen, weaken

Function

• Prefixes mainly modify a word's meaning, adding nuances like negation, repetition, or location
• Suffixes can change a word's meaning and grammatical function or part of speech
• Adding "-ly" to an adjective usually creates an adverb

Impact on Spelling

• The base word's spelling usually remains unchanged when adding prefixes
• When adding suffixes, the base word's spelling may change, particularly if it ends in a silent "e," a "y," or a single consonant preceded by a single vowel
• Examples of spelling changes:
  • hope + -ing = hoping (silent "e" is dropped when adding a vowel suffix)
  • happy + -ness = happiness ("y" changes to "i" when adding a suffix)
  • run + -ing = running (double the final consonant)

Derivational vs. Inflectional Affixes

• Derivational affixes create new words, frequently changing the part of speech or adding a significant change in meaning
  • "create" (verb) + "-ion" = "creation" (noun)
• Inflectional affixes modify a word to indicate grammatical information such as tense, number, or possession without changing the core meaning or part of speech
  • "walk" (verb) + "-ed" = "walked" (past tense verb)

Cumulative Affixation

• Words can have multiple prefixes and suffixes
• Understanding how these affixes interact helps in deciphering the meaning of complex words
• Example: "un-pre-dict-able" (not able to be predicted beforehand)