WORD FAMILIES

Exercise 1

Look at all the word lists (examples) of each part of speech under the given words. 

1. Employee 

Noun - employee, employment, employer 

Verb - employ

Adjective - employed, employable 

Negative prefix + adjective - unemployed, unemployable 

2. Possibility 

Noun - possibility 

Verb - no verb. We use to be possible 

Adjective - possible

Negative prefix + adjective - impossible 

3. Dependant 

Noun - dependant

Verb - depend

Adjective - dependent, dependable 

Negative prefix + adjective - independent 

4. Economy 

Noun - economy, economics 

Verb - economise

Adjective - economic(al)

Negative prefix + adjective - uneconomic(al)

5. Record 

Noun - record (note, the stress is on the first syllable.)

Verb - record (note, the stress is on the second syllable.)

Adjective - recordable, recorded, record

Negative prefix + adjective - non-recordable, unrecorded 

     Look again at the above Exercise. These lists of words are called word families. They are the parts of speech formed from a single root word or base word. For example, employment (noun), employed (adjective) and employable (adjective) are all part of the word family formed from the root word employ.

Exercise 2

Write word families for the words below. Use a dictionary if necessary. 

1. Believe 

Noun - believer, belief 

Verb - believe 

Adjective - believable 

Negative prefix + adjective - unbelievable 

2. Create

Noun - creation, creator 

Verb - create 

Adjective - creative 

Negative prefix + adjective - uncreative