“PREFIX AND SUFFIX”

Morphology / Syntax
Lecture: Sugeng Riyadi, M.Pd.
Created by : Group 1

Name: NPM:
Mita Ariyani 1611040337
Nita Ardiyanti 1611040295
Nurul Kesuma Putri 1611040327
Pungki Ayundari 1611040303
Regita Rina Pramesti 1611040305
Septi Amelia Rosa 1611040320

Major/Semester/Class : PBI/5/F

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY RADEN INTAN LAMPUNG

TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING FACULTY ENGLISH
EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
TAHUN 2018
 CHAPTER I
THEORY

1. Background

What are Affixes?. An Affix is added to the root of a word to change its meaning.
An affix added to the front of a word is known as a prefix. One added to the back
is known as a suffix. Sometimes, prefix are hypenated. So, prefix and suffix are
included in affix.

1. PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

Prefixes and suffixes are both kinds of affixes. They are word parts that attach
to the beginning or end of a word or word base (a word stripped down to its
simplest form) to produce a related word or an inflectional form of a word.
Example are in- informal and both re- and -ing in reporting. Prefixes and suffixes
are sets of letters that are added to the beginning or and of another word. They are
not words in their own right and cannot stand on their own in a sentence: if they
are printed on their own they have a hyphen before or after them.

A. Prefixes

Prefixes a group of letters that come at the beginning of a word. Prefixes are
added to the beginning of an existing word in order to create a new word with a
different meaning. Prefixes, like other affixes, can be either inflectional, creating a
new form of the word with the same basic meaning and same lexical category (but
playing a different role in the sentence), or derivational, creating a new word with
a new semantic meaning and sometimes also a different lexical category. Prefixes,
like all other affixes, are usually bound morphemes. A prefix is a group of letters
placed before the root of a word. For example, the word “unhappy” consists of the
prefix “un-” [which means “not”] combined with the root (or stem) word “happy”;
the word “unhappy” means “not happy.”1

In English, there are no inflectional prefixes; English uses suffixes instead for
the purpose. The word prefix is itself made up to the stem fix (meaning “attach, in
1 Liana. B. Omish. 2010. Vocabulary Packets Prefixes and Suffixes. New York, USA. Page 14.
the case), and the prefix pre- (meaning “before”), both of which are derived from
Latin roots.

For example:

Word Prefix New word

Happy Un Unhappy
Cultural Multi Multicultural
Work Over Overwork
Space Cyber Cyberspace
Market Super Supermarket

In English, a fairly comprehensive list, although not exhaustive, is the

following. Depending on precisely how on defines a derivational prefix, some of
the neoclassical combining forms may or may not qualify for inclusion in such a
list. This list takes the broad view that acro- and auto- count as English
derivational prefixes because they function the same way that prefixes such as
over- and self- do.2

Some of Examples and the meaning of the prefix words.

Prefi Meaning Examples

x
de- from, down, away, reverse, decode, decrease
opposite
dis- not, opposite, reverse, away disagree, disappear
ex- out of, away from, lacking, exhale, explosion
former
il- Not illegal, illogical
im- Not, Without impossible, improper
in- Not, Without inaction, invisible
mis- Bad, Wrong mislead, misplace
non- Not nonfiction, nonsense
pre- Before prefix, prehistory
pro- For, Forward, Before proactive, profess,
program
re- Again, Back react, reappear
un- Against, Not, Opposite undo, unequal, unusual

2 www. Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com. 2002. Colombia, USA.

 a. When to Hyphenate Prefixes

Do you hyphenate prefixes? At times, you will want to add a hyphen in between
your prefix and word.

 Proper nouns: when adding a prefix to a proper noun, you must add a hyphen:

 Not liking apple pie may be seen as un-American.3

 Same vowel: If the last letter of your prefix is the same as the first letter in the
word, you need to add a hyphen:

 In order to be allowed re-entry to the amusement park, patrons must obtain

a stamped ticket.

 Special prefixes: Always use a hyphen when you use ex- and self-.

 Lisa was self-conscious about her body after having a baby.

 The ex-student body president trained the current officer on how to

organize prom.

Clarification: Use a hyphen when a word may cause confusion or look odd in the
sentence.

 The mother reminder the children to re-cover the sandbox after they were
done playing.

We need the hyphen, so that readers don’t confuse re-cover with the word recover,
which means to reinstate health or regain a lost possession.4

B. Suffixes

3 www. Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com. 2002. Colombia, USA.

4 http://www.osymigrant.org/ROMBeginningMiddleandEnd.pdf
 Suffixes is a letter or group of letters added at the end of a word which makes
a new word. The new word is most often a different word class from the original
word. In the table above, the suffix-full has changed verbs to adjectives, -ment,
and –ion have changed verbs to nouns. 5If you see a word ending in –ment, for
example: it is likely to be a noun (commitment, contentment). A suffix is a group
of letters placed after the root of a word. For example, the word flavorless consists
of the root word “flavor” combined with the suffix “-less” [which means
“without”]; the word “flavorless” means “having no flavor.”

For example:

Word Suffix New word

Child -ish Childish
Work -er Worker
Taste -less Tasteless
Idol -ize Idolize
Like -able Likeable

A short list of suffixes:

Suffi Meaning Examples

x
-able able to, having the quality of comfortable,
portable
-al relating to annual comical
-er Comparative bigger, stronger
-est Superlative strongest, tiniest
-ful full of beautiful, grateful
-ible forming an adjective reversible, terrible
-ily forming an adverb eerily, happily, lazily
-ing denoting an action, a material, or a gerund acting, showing
-less without, not affected by friendless, tireless
-ly forming an adjective clearly, hourly
5 Liana. B. Omish. 2010. Vocabulary Packets Prefixes and Suffixes. New York, USA. Page 24.
 -ness denoting a state or condition kindness, wilderness
-y full of, denoting a condition, or a glory, messy, victory
diminutive

Do you hyphenate suffixes? We rarely hyphenate suffixes, but here are some
instances in which you may add one.

 Cumbersome words: an optional hyphen can be used when a word seems

lengthy without one.

 community-wide

 Exception words: -like, -type, -elect,

 scholarly-like

 When last letter is same as first letter:

 graffiti-ism, past-tense

Suffixes: spelling. Often, the suffix causes a spelling change to the original
word. 6In the table above, the –e ending of complete and create disappears when
the –ion suffix is added. Other example of spelling changes include:

1. Heavy, ready+ -ness= heaviness, readiness (-y changes to i)

2. Permit, omit+ -ion=permission, omission (-t changes to ss)

An inflectional suffix is sometimes called a dissidence or grammatical suffix

or ending. Inflection changes the grammatical properties of a word within its:
syntactic category. Derivational suffixes can be divided into two categories: class-
changing derivation and class-maintaining derivation.

Inflectional changes the grammatical properties of a word within its syntactic

category. In the example:

- I was hoping the cloth wouldn’t fade, but it has faded quite a bit.

6 Liana. B. Omish. 2010. Vocabulary Packets Prefixes and Suffixes. New York, USA. Page 25.
 The suffix –ed inlects the root –word fade to indicate past participle.

Inflectional suffixes do not change the word class of the word after the
inflection. Inflectional suffix in Modern English include:

 -s third person singular present

 -ed past tense
 -t past tense
 -ing progressive/continous
 -en past participle
 -s plural
 -en plural (irregular)
 -er (comparative)
 -est superlative

Derivational suffixes can be divided into two categories: class-changing

derivation and class-maintaining derivation. In English, the include

 -ise/-ize (usually changes nouns into verbs)

 -fy (usually changes noun into verbs)
 -ly (usually changes adjective into adverb)
 -ful (usually changes verbs into adjective)
 -hood (usually class-maintaining, with the word class remaining a
noun)
 -ness (usually changes adjective into nouns)
 -al (usually changes nouns into adjectives)

Summary of Prefix and Suffix.

Define prefix: the definition of prefix is an element placed at the

beginning of a word to alter or qualify its meaning.

Define suffix: the definition of suffix is a particle placed at the end of a

word to alter its meaning or adjust its grammatical sense.

In summary,

 Prefixes and suffixes are added to words to change them.

 Prefixes are added to change the meaning of the root word.

  Suffixes are added so that the word will make grammatical sense in a
sentence.7

Here are a couple of final examples of how we use prefixes and suffixes.

 Many science fiction books include an intergalactic war.

o Prefix = inter = between

 The employee rushed to his car after work on Friday.

o Suffix = ed = past-tense verb

REFERENCES

https://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/prefixsuffix/index.shtml

http://www.osymigrant.org/ROMBeginningMiddleandEnd.pdf

Liana. B. Omish. 2010. Vocabulary Packets Prefixes and Suffixes. New York,
USA.

www. Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com. 2002. Colombia, USA.

7 https://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/prefixsuffix/index.shtml