Grammar：Common prefix
【明報專訊】Dear diary,
Today marks our school's annual Sports Day, a day filled with many stories. Tim, our school's typically victorious runner, was disqualified by the Principal for misbehaving towards his peers. Jenny, a relay class representative, was replaced by another classmate due to her irresponsible absence from practice.
As for myself, a participant in the discus competition, I have broken our school's record. It's truly impossible that I have rewritten a new school record! What a day!
Best, Pat
■English highway﹕
Prefixes are letters which we add to the beginning of a word to make a new word with a different meaning. They provide context and clarity to our language. The following are four common prefixes that appeared in the above story.
1.“il-” / “ir-” / “im-” / “in-” /
˙Meaning: not
˙Example: impossible (not possible), illegal (not legal), insecure (not secure), irresponsible (not responsible)
2.“mis-”
˙Meaning: incorrectly, badly
˙Example: misunderstanding (incorrect understanding), mislead (lead in a wrong way), misbehave (behave badly)
3.“re-”
˙Meaning: again
˙Example: reconsider (consider again),rewrite (write again)
4.“dis-”
˙Meaning: reverse or remove
˙Example: disagree (opposite to agree), disqualify (opposite to qualify)
■Gear up
1. It is ____ (not legal) to drive a car that is not registered.
2. We have _______ (consider again) your application and we have decided to process it again.
3. If you think that these social issues can be solved by building more infrastructures, you completely _______ (incorrectly understand) the nature of the problem.
4. It was ______ (not possible) to sleep because of the noise.
(Answers on next text)
■Glossary
victorious(adj) 勝利的
discus(n) 鐵餅
clarity(n) 清楚
register(v) 登記
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[Smarties' Power English 第426期]
