Using word parts (suffixes) and word association (synonym and antonym)

countable noun

A suffix 

            a suffix is a letter or group of letters, for example '-ly' or '-ness,' which is added to the end of a word in order to form a different word, often of a different word class. For example, the suffix '-ly' is added to 'quick' to form 'quickly.' Compare affix and , prefix. Suffixes are added to the end of root or base words. When you add a suffix to a base word, you change the word’s meaning.

Some common suffixes and their the meanings: Able-can be done                    est-most                                               er-more ful-full of                                less-without                                         er-one who

                                   

            A suffix is a letter or a group of letters attached to the end of a word to form a new word or to change the grammatical function (or part of speech) of the original word. For example, the verb read is made into the noun reader by adding the suffix -er. Similarly, read is made into the adjective readable by adding the suffix -able.

Understanding the meanings of the common suffixes can help you figure out the meanings of new words you encounter.

But as you work on building your vocabulary, you should keep a few points in mind:

•  In some cases, the spelling of a root or base word changes when a suffix is added. For example, in words ending in y preceded by a consonant (such as the noun beauty and the adjective ugly), the y may change to an i when a suffix is added (as in the adjective beautiful and the noun ugliness). Also, in words ending in silent -e (such as use and adore), the final -e may be dropped before a suffix that begins with a vowel (as in usable and adorable). As with all spelling rules, there are exceptions of course. 
•  Not all suffixes can be added to all roots. For example, the adjective beautiful is formed by adding the suffix -ful to the noun beauty, and the noun ugliness is formed by adding the suffix -ness  to the adjective ugly. But you won't find *ugliful in your dictionary—or in standard English. (Throughout this website, an asterisk in front of a construction shows that it's considered nonstandardor ungrammatical.) 

•  A suffix may have more than one meaning. With adjectives and adverbs, for instance, the -er suffix usually conveys the comparative meaning of "more" (as in the adjectives kinder and longer). But in some cases the -er ending can also refer to someone who performs a particular action (such as a dancer or builder) or to someone who lives in a particular

Don't be put off by these variations, qualifications, and exceptions. Just think of these common suffixes as clues to the meanings of words. As in a detective story, sometimes the clues are clear and fairly obvious. Other times they can be puzzling or misleading. In any case, keep in mind that the meanings of words are best determined by studying the contexts in which they are used as well as the parts of the words themselves. 

The table below defines and illustrates 26 common suffixes.place (such as a New Yorker or a Dubliner).

COMMON SUFFIXES IN ENGLISH
 

Noun Suffixes
Suffix	Meaning	Example
-acy	state or quality	privacy, fallacy, delicacy
-al	act or process of	refusal, recital, rebuttal
-ance, -ence	state or quality of	maintenance, eminence, assurance
-dom	place or state of being	freedom, kingdom, boredom
-er, -or	one who	trainer, protector, narrator
-ism	doctrine, belief	communism, narcissism, scepticism
-ist	one who	chemist, narcissist, plagiarist
-ity, -ty	quality of	inactivity, veracity, parity, serenity
-ment	condition of	argument, endorsement, punishment
-ness	state of being	heaviness, sadness, rudeness, testiness
-ship	position held	fellowship, ownership, kinship, internship
-sion, -tion	state of being	concession, transition, abbreviation
Verb Suffixes
-ate	Become	regulate, eradicate, enunciate, repudiate
-en	Become	enlighten, awaken, strengthen
-ify, -fy	make or become	terrify, satisfy, rectify, exemplify
-ize, -ise*	Become	civilize, humanize, socialize, valorize
Adjective Suffixes
-able, -ible	capable of being	edible, presentable, abominable, credible
-al	pertaining to	regional, grammatical, emotional, coastal
-esque	reminiscent of	picturesque, statuesque, burlesque
-ful	notable for	fanciful, resentful, woeful, doubtful
-ic, -ical	pertaining to	musical, mythic, domestic, chiastic
-ious, -ous	characterized by	nutritious, portentous, studious
-ish	having the quality of	fiendish, childish, snobbish
-ive	having the nature of	creative, punitive, divisive, decisive
-less	Without	endless, ageless, lawless, effortless
-y	characterized by	sleazy, hasty, greasy, nerdy, smelly

"Many verbs that end in -ize can also end in -ise (such as finalize/ finalise or realize/ realise); both endings are acceptable, although -ise is more common in British English."

Exercise 1

Directions: Draw a box around the suffix in each problem. Underline the root or base word in each problem. Examples: Smallest

1.      Joyful                                                                         (10)

2.       Youngest                                                                    (10)

3.      Worthless                                                                    (10)

4.      Careful                                                                        (10)

5.      slower                                                                          (10)

6.      loudest                                                                         (10)

7.      careless                                                                        (10)

8.      Readable                                                                       (10)

9.      Fearless                                                                         (10)

10.  doable                                                                            (10)

Prefixes

            Prefixes are added to the beginning of root or base words. When you add a prefix to a base word. You change the word’s meaning.

Some common prefixes and their meanings: re-again, back                                                    dis- not                                                                Pre- before un-not, opposite                                              mis-wrong                                          under-below

 

Antonym and Synonym

            Antonym are words that have opposite meanings. Synonym are words that have the same or a similar meaning.

Examples of Antonym

            An antonym is the opposite of another word. Antonym can be used  to help show contrast between two things or give  clues to exactly what is meant. Below are some examples of antonyms:

·         Achieve – Fall                                    

·         Idle – Active

·         Afraid-Confident

·         Arrogant – Humble

·         Crazy – sane

Examples of synonym

Synonym can provide you with variety in speech or writing. There are endless examples of synonyms, making it easy for you to avoid overusing the same word and sounding repetitive. Some examples of synonyms include the following:

·         Amazing, astounding, surprising, stunning

·         Benefit, profit, revenue, yield

·         Cunning, keen, sharp, slick

·         Hungry, ravenous, empty

·         look, glance, see, gaze, stare

·         old, elderly, aged, senior

organize, develop, revise, and edit during essay exams

Organizing an Essay

            There are many elements that must come together to create a good essay. The topic should be clear and interesting. The author’s voice should come through, but not be a distraction. There should be no errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or capitalization. Organization is one of the most important elements of an essay that is often overlooked. An organized essay is clear, focused, logical and effective.

Organization makes it easier to understand the thesis. To illustrate, imagine putting together a bike. Having all of the necessary tools, parts, and directions will make the job easier to complete than if the parts are spread across the room and the tools are located all over the house. The same logic applies to writing an essay. When all the parts of an essay are in some sort of order, it is both easier for the writer to put the essay together and for the reader to understand the main ideas presented in the essay.

Although organization makes tasks easier to complete, there is not just one way of organizing. For example, there are hundreds of ways to organize a kitchen. The glasses can go in the cupboard to the right of the sink or to the left of it. The silverware can be placed in any number of drawers. Pots and pans can be hung on hooks over the island in the center of the kitchen or hidden in cupboard space beneath the counter. It does not matter as much where these items are placed, but that they are organized in a logical manner. Essays, like kitchens, can also be organized in different ways. There are three common strategies; however, it is important to note that these are broad categories. Variations of these strategies can be used, and they may be combined with one another. 

Strategy 1. Reverse Outlining

If your paper is about Huckleberry Finn, a working thesis might be: "In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore." However, you might feel uncertain if your paper really follows through on the thesis as promised.

This paper may benefit from reverse outlining. Your aim is to create an outline of what you've already written, as opposed to the kind of outline that you make before you begin to write. The reverse outline will help you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both your organization and your argument.

Read the draft and take notes 
Read your draft over, and as you do so, make very brief notes in the margin about what each paragraph is trying to accomplish.

Outline the Draft 
After you've read through the entire draft, transfer the brief notes to a fresh sheet of paper, listing them in the order in which they appear. The outline might look like this:

• Paragraph 1: Intro
• Paragraph 2: Background on Huck Finn
• Paragraph 3: River for Huck and Jim
• Paragraph 4: Shore and laws for Huck and Jim
• Paragraph 5: Shore and family, school
• Paragraph 6: River and freedom, democracy
• Paragraph 7: River and shore similarities
• Paragraph 8: Conclusion

Examine the Outline 
Look for repetition and other organizational problems. In the reverse outline above, there's a problem somewhere in Paragraphs 3-7, where the potential for repetition is high because you keep moving back and forth between river and shore.

Re-examine the Thesis, the Outline, and the Draft Together 
Look closely at the outline and see how well it supports the argument in your thesis statement. You should be able to see which paragraphs need rewriting, reordering or rejecting. You may find some paragraphs are tangential or irrelevant or that some paragraphs have more than one idea and need to be separated.

Strategy 2. Talk It Out

If your paper is about President Roosevelt's New Deal, and your working thesis is: "The New Deal was actually a conservative defense of American capitalism." This strategy forces to explain your thinking to someone else.

Find a Friend, your T.A., your Professor, a relative, a Writing Center tutor, or any sympathetic and intelligent listener. 
People are more accustomed to talking than writing, so it might be beneficial to explain your thinking out loud to someone before organizing the essay. Talking to someone about your ideas may also relieve pressure and anxiety about your topic.

Explain What Your Paper Is About 
Pay attention to how you explain your argument verbally. It is likely that the order in which you present your ideas and evidence to your listener is a logical way to arrange them in your paper. Let's say that you begin (as you did above) with the working thesis. As you continue to explain, you realize that even though your draft doesn't mention "private enterprise" until the last two paragraphs, you begin to talk about it right away. This fact should tell you that you probably need to discuss private enterprise near the beginning.

Take Notes 
You and your listener should keep track of the way you explain your paper. If you don't, you probably won't remember what you've talked about. Compare the structure of the argument in the notes to the structure of the draft you've written.

Get Your Listener to Ask Questions 
As the writer, it is in your interest to receive constructive criticism so that your draft will become stronger. You want your listener to say things like, "Would you mind explaining that point about being both conservative and liberal again? I wasn't sure I followed" or "What kind of economic principle is government relief? Do you consider it a good or bad thing?" Questions you can't answer may signal an unnecessary tangent or an area needing further development in the draft. Questions you need to think about will probably make you realize that you need to explain more your paper. In short, you want to know if your listener fully understands you; if not, chances are your readers won't, either. ²

Back to top

Strategy 3. Paragraphs

Readers need paragraph breaks in order to organize their reading. Writers need paragraph breaks to organize their writing. A paragraph break indicates a change in focus, topic, specificity, point of view, or rhetorical strategy. The paragraph should have one main idea; the topic sentence expresses this idea. The paragraph should be organized either spatially, chronologically, or logically. The movement may be from general to specific, specific to general, or general to specific to general. All paragraphs must contain developed ideas: comparisons, examples, explanations, definitions, causes, effects, processes, or descriptions. There are several concluding strategies which may be combined or used singly, depending on the assignment’s length and purpose:

• a summary of the main points
• a hook and return to the introductory “attention-getter” to frame the essay
• a web conclusion which relates the topic to a larger context of a greater significance
• a proposal calling for action or further examination of the topic
• a question which provokes the reader
• a quote
• a vivid image or compelling narrative 
•  

Put Paragraphs into Sections 
You should be able to group your paragraphs so that they make a particular point or argument that supports your thesis. If any paragraph, besides the introduction or conclusion, cannot fit into any section, you may have to ask yourself whether it belongs in the essay.

Re-examine each Section 
Assuming you have more than one paragraph under each section, try to distinguish between them. Perhaps you have two arguments in favor of that can be distinguished from each other by author, logic, ethical principles invoked, etc. Write down the distinctions -- they will help you formulate clear topic sentences.

Re-examine the Entire Argument 
Which section do you want to appear first? Why? Which Second? Why? In what order should the paragraphs appear in each section? Look for an order that makes the strongest possible argument. ⁴

Sources

1. Organizing an Essay
2. Reorganizing Your Draft
3. Parts of an Essay

            This Study Guide tackles the topic of revision for exams. Many of the ideas it contains are from discussions with students who have come for study consultations provided by Learning Development.

Revision is a personal, individual process

Revision must be one of the most individualised processes within academic life. Students begin it with:

·                 different sets of knowledge and understandings;

·                 different responses to the stress of the revision and exam period;

·                 different preferred revision techniques; and

·                 different psychological and life contexts into which to fit the revision.

While it is possible to get ideas from others and from books, about how to revise, you also need to get to know what your own personal strengths and weaknesses are. How much do you already know? How do you revise? What are the factors that usually cause problems for you in managing your revision?

“Revision is a thinking process that occurs anytime you are working on a writing project. It means you look at your writing with a “fresh eye”—that is, reseeing your writing in ways that will enable you to make more effective choices throughout your essay. Revision often entails rethinking what you have written and asking yourself questions about its effectiveness.