14. Opposites 2 CHECK YOUR ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR FCE

CHECK YOUR ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR FCE

14. Opposites 2

A lot of adjectives can be made into their opposite form by the addition of a prefix (e.g., un,- in-, dis-, il-) to the beginning of the word. The most common prefix is un-. Adjectives which end with -ful (thoughtful, useful, etc) are an exception: they are made into opposites by replacing -ful with the suffix -less (thoughtless, useless, etc) Note that some adjectives can be made into opposites by the addition of a prefix or by the use of another word (e.g., correct = incorrect or wrong).

Task1. Decide which of the prefixes from the first box can be used to make opposites of the adjectives in the second box.

dis

il-

im-

in-

ir-

un-

acceptable	accurate	adequate	advantages	agreeable	attractive
avoidable	believable	certain	comfortable	competent	complete
conscious	contented	convincing	correct	curable	even
fair	fashionable	honest	inclined	legal	limited
literate	logical	married	mature	moral	mortal
obedient	patient	perfect	personal	possible	proper
pure	qualified	rational	regular	relevant	replaceable
resistible	resolute	responsible	satisfied	welcome

Task 2. Complete these sentences by adding the most suitable adjective to the prefixes given.

1	Your behaviour was completely ir________! You're eighteen years old, not eight!
2	Life can be quite difficult for un________ mothers, or 'single parents' as they are usually called.
3	I'll help you in a minute. Don't be so im________!
4	She never learnt to read or write; she was completely il________.
5	I'm afraid you answer is in________. Try again.
6	He's a very dis________ man; bad-tempered, selfish, ,jealous and bigoted.
7	Flared trousers and a purple corduroy jacket? That's very un________, you know.
8	Using the 'broadband' system means that you get un________ Internet access at any time of the day or night.
9	Dis________ children - those from poor families - have to work harder than others to succeed in life.
10	I did all the work and she got all the credit for it. That is so un________!
11	The people who run our national rail network are lazy and in_____; they're so bad at their job.
12	You paid £12 for a hamburger? That's un________! You must be joking!
13	After I was hit on the head, I must have been un________ for about ten minutes.
14	Your homework is in________. You've only answered half of the questions.
15	He's rather im________ for a sixteen-year-old. He behaves more like a child of ten.
16	You've broken my favourite cup. It's ir________! I'll never find another one.

ANSWER KEY