Negative prefixes are possibly the juiciest of word formation affixes at any level. However, once you get to Advanced (CAE), negative prefixes are bound to pop up in Use of English Part 3 and more often than not, they won’t be commonly used words or particularly easy to remember. After teaching them to your students, use these Advanced (CAE) word formation conversation questions with negative prefixes to test their knowledge and get some good communicative practice.
The most common negative prefixes in English are un-, in-, im-, il-, ir- and dis-. However, at C1 level, less common prefixes such as mis-, non- and anti- could also come up. There’s no harm in getting students to make their own word lists or studying from the ones you can find in many course books. Without having the word somewhere to reference, it can be a shot in the dark getting the right prefix.
In the exam, at least one negative word is sure to pop up. Exam candidates need to be careful that they identify when a negative is necessary, use the correct prefix and double check their spelling. Negatives can happen in any word form, so check to see if you need a verb, adjective, noun or adverb as well.
The Materials
Whatever course you are following in preparation for the Advanced exam, there is no doubt that word formation using negative prefixes will be part of it. These materials will help practise negative prefixes in a communicative activity. After changing the word into the correct form, students ask each other the questions.
If you want to extend this activity further, get your students to create their own word formation conversation questions with negative prefixes using the word list in an exam preparation course book or the internet to brainstorm vocabulary.
For more general word formation conversation questions check here.
EXAM PART: Use of English Part 3 – Word Formation
EXAM SKILLS: Understanding word families and suffixation, negative prefixes
TIME: 30 minutes
PREPARATION: One copy of the worksheet per pair of students, cut in half
SAMPLE:
Download
