Vocabulary and Word Formation

A strong vocabulary is the foundation of every other skill in English. It lets you understand a reading passage, choose the exact word in writing, and answer the word-study questions that appear across the Grade 12 paper. Grade 12 tests vocabulary more actively than Grade 11: alongside dictionary skills and word formation, you meet idioms and phrases, phrasal verbs, one-word substitution, contextual and figurative meaning, register, and the fine distinctions between confusable words. These marks are among the most dependable on the paper because the answers are exact rather than a matter of opinion. This chapter covers each skill in turn and shows the method for it.

Using a Dictionary

A dictionary does far more than give meanings. Each entry begins with the headword, followed by its pronunciation in phonetic symbols, its part of speech (noun, verb, adjective and so on), and one or more meanings, numbered when there are several. Entries use short abbreviations: n for noun, v for verb, adj for adjective, adv for adverb, C for countable, U for uncountable, pl for plural, sth for something, sb for somebody, OPP for opposite and syn for synonym. Because a single word can carry several meanings, when a sentence is given you must choose the meaning that fits that context. Good dictionaries also show the collocations a word keeps (the words it naturally goes with, such as make a decision, not do a decision), and paying attention to these lifts the accuracy of your own writing.

Word Formation: Prefixes, Suffixes and Conversion

Word formation is the skill of building a new word from an existing one, and Grade 12 tests it directly with tasks such as "form the noun from this verb" or "change these words into adjectives". There are three main processes. A prefix is added at the front and changes meaning but usually not the part of speech. A suffix is added at the end and usually changes the part of speech. Conversion changes a word's part of speech with no change of form at all, as when the noun water becomes the verb to water, or the noun google becomes the verb to google.

Common prefixes reverse or change meaning: un- (happy to unhappy), dis- (agree to disagree), in-, im-, ir-, il- (possible to impossible, regular to irregular, legal to illegal), re- (do again, as write to rewrite), mis- (understand to misunderstand), pre- (before, as view to preview), over- (too much, as work to overwork) and under- (too little, as pay to underpay).

Common suffixes build the parts of speech. Nouns are formed with -ment (govern to government), -tion (educate to education), -ness (kind to kindness), -ity (able to ability) and -ance (perform to performance). Adjectives are formed with -ful (care to careful), -less (care to careless), -ous (danger to dangerous), -al (nature to natural), -ic (hero to heroic), -able (comfort to comfortable) and -ive (act to active). Verbs are formed with en- (rich to enrich) and -ise or -ize (modern to modernise). Most adverbs of manner add -ly to an adjective (careful to carefully), changing y to i after a consonant (happy to happily), dropping the e after -le (gentle to gently), and adding -ally after -ic (basic to basically).