Word formation - up-, down-, over- and under-

There are words like overwhelming which spring to mind when thinking of word formation with up-, down-, over- and under-. These prefixes are worth getting to know for C1 Advanced. And even if they don’t turn up in your word formation task, wouldn’t it be great to throw out some of this vocab and impress the examiner in the Speaking or Writing exam? Just make sure it fits what you’re trying to say!

The materials

These materials introduce several words with our favourite prefixes through a short text about social media and advertising. There are examples with all four prefixes, plus a separate word list to give you a few more ideas.

After discussing the text and extracting the words, you can brainstorm more words before checking the list for some ideas.

Finally, there’s an exam-style word formation task for you to complete, staying on the topic of social media. There are eight gaps, as in C1 Advanced Reading and Use of English Part 3, and an answer key is included.

To follow up, get students to write their own text with some words missing, then exchange with a partner and test each other. Or use our word formation conversation questions.

TOPIC: Social media and advertising
EXAM PART: Reading and Use of English Part 3
EXAM SKILLS: Vocabulary, use of affixation in word formation
TIME: Around 30 minutes
PREPARATION: One copy of the worksheet per student; word list for reference

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C1 Advanced - up, down, over, under

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C1 Advanced - up, down, over, under - list

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The list

Here’s our list of words with up-, down-, over- and under-. We think this is a pretty solid selection, but there may be more that come up. As always with word formation, it’s pretty difficult to predict what’s going to end up in the exam on exam day.

Over- often means too much, as in overestimate, while under- often means too little, as in underestimate. That doesn’t work for every word, though: undergo means experience something, and overcome means deal successfully with a difficulty.

Don’t forget the rest of the word either. You might feel overwhelmed, find something overwhelming or get an overwhelmingly positive response. Check the whole sentence to see which form you need.

Up-

Down-

Over-

Under-