What are affixes?

Definition

It is an additional element placed at the beginning or end of a root, stem, or word, or in the body of a word, to modify its meaning.

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Root: the elemental part of a word.​

Examples

They can be used at the end, known as suffixes

danger -> dangerous

poison -> poisonous​

reason -> reasonable

afford -> affordable

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adventure -> adventurous

help -> helpful​

use -> useful

afford -> affordable

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They can be used before the word, known as prefixes

patient -> impatient

moral -> immoral

experienced -> inexperienced

tolerant -> intolerant

regular -> irregular

relevant -> irrelevant

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satisfied -> dissatisfied

obedient -> disobedient

lucky -> unlucky

reliable -> unreliable

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Verbs into nouns

winner

boxer

listener

organizer

player

runner​

spectator

competitor

participant

rider

contestant

flyer​

Making the opposite:

​unlucky

​unconcerned

​incompetent

illegal​

​immodest

imperfect

​irrelevant

​irresponsible

dishonest

disobedient

Adding information to the root:

​undercook

​microelectronics

​overeat

misspell

prehistoric

postgraduate

rewrite

ex-wife

hypermarket

extraterrestrial

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Exam relevance:

The use of affixes can define a word, its meaning and how a whole sentence/ paragraph can be understood. Besides it can be found in the Word formation part.

Time to work!

For the following sentences consider:

• The word required to complete the sentence.

• How is that word connecting with the rest of the sentence. (Which word is modified or affected by it)

• The meaning and coherence of the sentence (affirmative, negative, etc.)

• The tense required (past, present particle, etc.)