Grammar：Common prefix(图)

发布 : 2024-12-18  来源 : 明报新闻网


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【明报专讯】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

???nglish 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) 胜利的

discus(n) 铁饼

clarity(n) 清楚

register(v) 登记

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[Smarties' Power English 第426期]