FCE (First Certificate)
Word Formation: Negatives
For the FCE exam, there's nearly always at least one negative in the word formation paper. There are lots of prefixes and suffixes we can use to make negatives.
- 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 (endless).
- If you can't remember, choose un - it's the most common negative prefix.
Look at the information in the table for 1 minute 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 dislike disagree disbelief dishonest | improbable impossible impolite imperfect impatient |
| il- | ir- | mis- | -less |
| illegal illiterate illogical illegible | irregular irresponsible irrational irregular | misbehave misunderstand misspell misuse | careless harmless helpless endless |
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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/disbelief, unlikely/dislike, unable/disabled).