If you have ever felt stuck in your English learning progress
as an intermediate learner, well, today's one trick can help you
to dramatically change the way that you speak English forever.
Now, word formation can help you to really increase
your vocabulary and even sound more advanced when you speak.
We created this lesson because we had many requests from learners
like you to make them more on the topic.
So if you watch this lesson until the end,
you'll get a much better idea of what exactly work formation is
and how it can help you to speak English in a more advanced way.
Plus, you will never use words the same way again.
So grab your notebook
because you're going to be taking a lot of notes in today's lesson.
And before we continue, I wanted to let you know that
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you go from feeling like a lost and insecure English learner
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All right, take a look at this text.
Now what if I told you you could make this text sound
way more advanced just by applying this concept of word formation? Check it out.
Pretty cool, isn't it?
Well, in today's lesson,
you are going to learn how you can use this one trick
to sound more advanced when you speak English.
But first, let's quickly understand what word formation is.
Word formation basically has to do with the forming
of new words, with the words that you already know.
The key for you to master word formation is learning about prefixes and suffixes.
Now these change the meaning of a word.
Prefixes are added to the beginning of the word,
and suffixes are added to the end of the word.
For example, let's look at the word imperfectly.
The first thing you want to do is get to the root or base of the word.
In this case, the root is perfect.
From there, you add either prefixes or suffixes to change the original meaning.
In this example, we have the suffix ly and the prefix Im.
Also notice that we use the words differently.
For example, he's a perfect swimmer.
He swims perfectly.
Now you might be wondering,
why should I care about prefixes and suffixes and word formation anyway?
Well, let me give you three reasons.
So first of all, it helps you to reduce the work count in your sentences.
For example, instead of saying not aware, you can simply say unaware.
Instead of saying not sure, you can simply say, I'm sure
this is extremely useful because it makes you a more concise speaker.
In other words, you can communicate more ideas by using fewer words.
This is also useful if you ever take a proficiency exam
such as Cambridge, or IELTS
because these tests usually give you a word limit for you to write your essay.
So you want to be able to communicate more with less.
Second, it helps you with spelling.
Let's do a short experiment.
So grab a piece of paper and write down the word unsuccessfully.
Pause the video if you need to know.
So could you spell this word correctly? Let's check.
Now, this can be a tricky word to spell because it's full of double letters.
However, if you do the mental exercise of getting to the root first,
it becomes much easier.
If you break this fear down, you have un, success,
ful, ly. A common mistake that I've seen some learners make
is writing the word successful with double l.
Even some natives do this.
But notice that the suffix Ful only has one L.
However, the word successfully is written with double l.
Now this is because we now have the L ful four with L from ly.
See how this can be helpful when it comes to spelling?
Finally, it helps you to decode the meaning of long words.
Now, learners of any language usually panic when they see a long word.
Well, you don't need to be one of them anymore.
Understanding the basic idea that prefixes and suffixes
give to a word also helps you to decode meanings.
So, for example, spinelessness again, we have the root spine
and the two suffixes less and ness. The suffix less means without.
For example, cashless means without cash,
so spineless means without a spine.
The suffix ness means the state or condition of.
For example, kindness, which is the state of being kind.
So the word spinelessness means the state of being without a spine.
By the way, spine is the long bone that we have on our backs.
However, we call someone spineless to say that this person
doesn't have any courage.
So the best way to remember
new words and phrases when you learn them is to use them as soon as possible.
But I know for a lot of you, you say that you have the problem
that you have plenty of ways to listen to English, to read English.
But there's just not enough opportunities to speak English.
Well, don't worry, because we decided to go ahead and solve
this problem since we've heard it so much from learners like you .
We created the RealLife App, which is the only place where you can go,
press a button and connect instantly to another English speaker
in another part of the world for a fun and dynamic conversation.
You can speak about your hobbies, your passions, discover
other cultures, or even just chat about the weather if you want.
And of course, you can practice all of the new words that you're using
today, or maybe even teach someone else about this concept of word formation.
So why don't you give it a try? It's absolutely free.
Just click up here or down in the description below to give it a go now.
Or you can search for RealLife English in the Apple app or Google Play Store.
All right, now that you know why you should master prefixes
and suffixes, let's get into how to implement word formation.
All right, so the first thing
that you want to do is divide the words in English into four categories,
which I'm sure you already know nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
Then you need to learn the main prefixes and suffixes to form each word class.
For example, there are specific suffixes
to form nouns, specific suffixes to form adjectives, and so on.
Let me give you some examples.
Now you can make this easier by using word maps.
Choose a word and write it in the center.
Then look up other possible formations of the word and add them to the word map.
Notice that some words will have more than one variation for the same word class.
Also, some words might not have variations in all word classes.
For example, the words employee employer employment
and employability are all nouns.
The words employed, unemployed and employable are adjectives.
We have one verb form to employ and no adverb form.
Now, I can imagine this feels a bit overwhelming.
So many prefixes and suffixes, so many possible new words.
But don't fear the more you expose yourself to complex words.
Whether it is when you are reading a book or watching your favorite series,
the more naturally that you will be able to do this on your own.
Now, when I speak Spanish or Catalan, for example,
I often take risks to invent a word that I don't know
by adding some prefixes or suffixes. Now, it doesn't always work,
but I'd say about 80% of the time it does.
And you can tell pretty quickly when the person doesn't
understand what you mean.
So for you, the Longman dictionary is an awesome resource
to check out the different word classes in English.
And by the way, we've recently recorded a podcast episode about word formation
I'll link it down description for you to check out later.
Now, let's go back to that text from the beginning of the lesson.
All right, now, let's turn selected words into other possible formations.
For example, we can turn the adjective wise into the noun wisdom.
Then we can turn the verb, forget into the adjective forgetful.
Then we can change the adjective important into the noun importance
the adjective strong into the verb strengthen.
And finally, the adjective polite into the adverb politely.
But of course, that's not all.
Since we change the
word classes now we need to use other structures in order to make them fit.
So instead of,
And finally,
Now let's compare both texts again.
Pretty cool, isn't it?
Notice that the information in both text is exactly the same.
But if you know how to use word formation, well,
then you have more options at your disposal to express yourself.
And that is one of the differences
between intermediate speakers and advanced speakers.
Advanced speakers know other ways to say the same thing,
which gives them more flexibility to communicate.
By the way, are you enjoying this lesson and want to learn more
about word formation?
If you are them, leave us a comment down below
saying I want to deepen my knowledge of word formation.
Did you see how we use word
formation in that example? To deepen means to make more deep.
So if we get enough requests, then we will definitely
make you a lesson on this topic.
Oh yeah. All right.
So in the last part of today's lesson,
we will test your knowledge of word formation.
So there will be six exercises and they will slightly increase
in difficulty as you move from one question to the next.
Each sentence has a blank space at the end of each sentence.
You will have the word you're supposed to use in parentheses.
Why don't we take a look at an example?
Now what form the word
Forget best fits in that sentence?
If you said forgetful, you are correct.
My grandma can be forgetful at times.
Now you can pause the video if you need.
Are you ready? Let's begin.
So, how did you do? Notice that sentences five and six are slightly more difficult and advanced than sentences one and two.
Awesome job today.
In this video, you learned what word
formation is, why it is important and how it works.
The better you become at word formation, the more advanced,
sophisticated and fluent you will sound.
Now, aside from improving your vocabulary, being able to understand
fast speakers is also crucial if you want to have excellent English.
We've recently made a lesson covering five secrets to understanding fast English.
Let's watch a clip from that.
I can barely watch movies with subtitles if I turned off the subtitles.
I get so lost. Native speaks so fast.
I can understand my teacher.
But when I listen to someone else, I don't understand anything.
My listening is really bad.
I get so frustrated what I have to ask someone to repeat what they said.
How can I improve my listening?