Use of English/Word Families

Word Family "act"

Wörter aus den selben Wortfamilien sind einfach zu behalten oder zu erschließen, da sie ja alle einen gemeinsamen Wortstamm haben.

Gerade im Englischen kann man aus Adjektiven wie "empty" und Nomen wie "bottle" Verben wie "to empty" (etw. ausleeren) und "to bottle" (etw. abfüllen) bilden.

Interessanter wird es, wennn man Verben mit Endungen wie "-y, "-ive" und "-ual" in Adjective, mit "-ion", "-or" oder "-ivist" in Nomen umwandeln kann.

Hier gibt es eine ausführliche Liste mit vielen Wörtern: Word Families/Overview

changing words with prefixes and suffixes

Negative prefixes

These are the most common negative prefixes used with adjectives:

dis-	il-	im-	in-	ir-	un-
disrespectful	illegal	impossible	intolerant	irrelevant	unreasonable
dissatisfied	illogical	impolite	inexpensive	irregular	unfortunate

The prefixes im- il- and ir- are in fact a variety of in-:

• im- is used before words beginning with m or p: impersonal, immortal.
• il- is used before words beginning with l: illegal.
• ir- is used with words beginning with r: irregular.

endings with -able, ible

Generally most adjectives are formed like this:

word + able

This means that something can be done:

Noun	Verb	Adjective
-	like	likeable
adaptation	adapt	adaptable
preferences	prefer	preferable
disposable paper cups (throwaway paper cups)	dispose	disposable
reliability	to rely on	reliable
tolerance	tolerate	tolerant intolerant
impression	impress	impressionable impressive
durability	endure	durable (long-lasting)

Words ending with -ible are always from Latin:

Noun	Verb	Adjective
responsibility first response	to respond	responsible
conversion	convert	convertible
terror	terrorize	terrible
reverse	reverse	reversible
compatibility	-	compatible
possibility	-	possible
resistance	resist	irresistible
digestion digestif	digest	digestible

endings with -ful, less

Most adjectives which end in -ful can be also formed with -less.

Some, however, can either have -ful or -less, but not both.

Noun	Verb	Adjective +	Adjective -
care	care	careful	careless
count	count	-	countless /countable
end	end	-	endless
harm	harm	harmful	harmless
help	help	(un)helpful	helpless
home	-	-	homeless
hope	hope	hopeful	hopeless
pain	pain	painful	painless
peace	-	peaceful	-
play	play	playful	-
power	power	powerful	powerless
price	price	-	priceless
success	succeed	(un)successful	-
taste	taste	tasteful	tasteless
thought	think	thoughtful	thoughtless
truth	-	(un)truthful/(un)true	-
use	use	useful	useless
worth	worth	-	worthless

Interactive exercises

You've got the choice!

Wortfamilie "choose"

Use drag and drop to find the right words of the same family!

ACTIVE		This is a fun activity ! You must look at the green words below.
CHOSE		and choose the best one. Take care and look again whether
CHOOSE		you have chosen the correct form. If you do these exercises
IMPROVEMENT		every day, you'll improve your knowledge more and more.
TO ADVISE		I think this is a good piece of advice .
PRACTICAL		An English proverb says "Practice makes perfect!"
CHOOSE		You have the choice to get better grades.

The COMPLAINT

Find words of the same family. Take care of the forms!

COMPLAIN		A common complaint() about young people says they wouldn't write letters anymore.
STUDENT		Recent studies() ,however, show that they still stay in contact with their peers.
USUALLY		Nowadays they use() personal computers and mobile phones to send electronic letters.
TEXT		If you write on your mobile you are texting() messages. Usually they don't cost anything
SIGNAL		but they can't be longer than 180 signs().

COMPLAIN		A common complaint() about young people says they wouldn't write letters anymore.
STUDENT		Recent studies() ,however, show that they still stay in contact with their peers.
USUALLY		Nowadays they use() personal computers and mobile phones to send electronic letters.
TEXT		If you write on your mobile you are texting() messages. Usually they don't cost anything
SIGNAL		but they can't be longer than 180 signs().

English literature

Find words of the same family. Take care of the forms!

WRITE		Shakespeare is one of the world's most famous writers(). He has written many plays,
POETRY		over 150 sonnets and also several poems(). In 1719 Daniel Defoe wrote the
NOVELIST		famous novel() "Robinson" where a man spends 28 years alone on a desolate island.
MOVE		The storyline has been used in hundreds of books and movies(), like Castaway (1994).
SET		In this movie Tom Hanks' plane crashes into the sea. The setting() is similar to Robinson
FRIENDLY		but instead of meeting a native he forms an unusual friendship() with a ball called "Wilson".
SUCCESS		In the end he succeeds() in building a raft and getting back to the USA. (present tense)
UNTHINKABLE		When he came home the modern Robinson thought() of writing an autobiography.

WRITE		Shakespeare is one of the world's most famous writers(). He has written many plays,
POETRY		over 150 sonnets and also several poems(). In 1719 Daniel Defoe wrote the
NOVELIST		famous novel() "Robinson" where a man spends 28 years alone on a desolate island.
MOVE		The storyline has been used in hundreds of books and movies(), like Castaway (1994).
SET		In this movie Tom Hanks' plane crashes into the sea. The setting() is similar to Robinson
FRIENDLY		but instead of meeting a native he forms an unusual friendship() with a ball called "Wilson".
SUCCESS		In the end he succeeds() in building a raft and getting back to the USA. (present tense)
UNTHINKABLE		When he came home the modern Robinson thought() of writing an autobiography.

Being ACTIVE - ACTION sports, ACTING and other ACTIVITIES

Wortfamilie "act"

ACTIVE		Have you already activated () your new facebook account?
ACTIVE		If you do so, you can take part in many activities ().
ACTIVE		Some social networks are quite dead, but this is full of action()!
ACTIVE		Most people don't react() to my posts, but I hope you do!
ACTIVE		Arnold Schwarzenegger was a famous actor() who played in many movies.

Have you already activated () your new facebook account? If you do so, you can take part in many activities (). Some social networks are quite dead, but this is full of action()! Most people don't react() to my posts, but I hope you do! Arnold Schwarzenegger was a famous actor() who played in many movies.

Prefixes and suffixes

Put in words of the same word family.

STUDY		Most of the students () want to discover Canada's wilderness.
CULTIVATE		The cultural() diversity of the First Americans is another highlight of such a tour.
NATION		Some of the animals are native () to America, others like the horse have been brought by
IMMIGRANT		the white settlers. Every spring and fall whales migrate () along the coast.
SING		People watch them and listen to their songs () .
PLEASE		So it was a great pleasure () for us to see Canada.
DANGER		Don't be afraid - it's not dangerous() there!

Put in words of the same word family

PLEASANT		It's a pleasure () to meet you.
COMPETE		The competition() was very tough.
DESCRIBE		The description () was incomplete.
ORIGINAL		His origins () lie in the USA.
LENGTH		The movie was much too long () .
SENSITIVITY		He didn't make any sense () to me.
APOLOGY		He apologised() for what he had done earlier!

Use of English

• Vocabulary
  1. Synonyms and Opposites
  2. Definitions
  3. Word Families
• Structures
  1. Error Spotting
  2. Mixed Grammar
  3. Keyword Transformation

See also / siehe auch

• Word Families/Overview (ausführliche Tabelle mit vielen Wörtern)
• Australia/Planning a Holiday
• Civil Rights Movement/Malcolm X
• Civil Rights Movement/Martin Luther King
• Shakespeare/The Globe Theatre

Weblinks

• parapal.online.co.uk
• englishcorner.vacau.com
• Englisch-hilfen.de
• 1000 word families.pdf