FCE (First Certificate)

Word Formation: Negatives

For the FCE exam, there's nearly always at least one negative in the word formation
paper. There are lots of prefixes and suffixes we can use to make negatives.
1. Negative prefixes can be used with nouns, verbs, adjective and adverbs. For
example disapproval, disapprove, disapproving, disapprovingly.
2. Usually im + p (impatient) but not always (unpleasant).
3. Often il + l (illegal) but not always (unlikely).
4. Often ir + r (irregular) but not always (unresponsive).
5. Usually -ful changes to -less (harmful/less) but not always (endless).
6. If you can't remember, choose un - it's the most common negative prefix.
Look at the information in the table for 1 minute and try to remember the words. Then
click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.
un-

in
inaccurate
unexpected
inappropriate
unaware
inefficient
unbelievable
incapable
unknown unable
ineffective
ilirirregular
illegal illiterate irresponsible
illogical illegible irrational
irregular

dis-

imimprobable
disapprove dislike impossible
disagree disbelief impolite
dishonest
imperfect
impatient
mis-less
misbehave
misunderstand
misspell misuse

careless
harmless
helpless endless

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Write the correct NEGATIVE form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences.
Be very careful: some words have different negative forms (e.g. unbelievable/disbelief,
unlikely/dislike, unable/disabled).
1. The politician was accused of being
2. His story was so

I thought he was crazy. (BELIEVE)

3. She looked at him in

4. Many people are

(HONEST)

when he told her the shocking news. (BELIEVE)

of the dangers of mobile phones. (AWARE)

5. He's invited me to his party. It would be

to say no. (POLITE)

6. Too many children nowadays are growing up

7. That's not what I said! You've
8. My dog is completely

. (LITERATE)

me. (UNDERSTAND)
. I promise he won't bite. (HARM)

9. The medicine was

- he didn't recover. (EFFECT)

10. His answers were very

11. It's

so he failed the Maths exam. (ACCURATE)

that people will ever live on the moon. (LIKELY)

12. He waited
13. It's

for the train. (PATIENT)

to smoke in public places nowadays. (LEGAL)

14. I would never teach children. They always

15. The shirt he's wearing is completely
(APPROPRIATE)
16. His speech was

. (BEHAVE)
for a job interview.

. I thought he'd never stop talking. (END)

FCE (First Certificate)

Word Formation: Nouns with -ion
One of the most common ways to change a verb to a noun is with -ion (e.g. act to
action) and -ation (e.g. observe to observation). Sometimes we also change the verb
stem as well when we make the noun like this (e.g. explain to explanation). The table
below shows common nouns in which the spelling of the stem also changes.

Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words.
Then click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.
Noun
application
permission
solution
description
intention
competition
decision
explanation
production
repetition
consumption
qualification

Verb
apply
permit
solve
describe
intend
compete
decide
explain
produce
repeat
comsume
qualify

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Adjective
applicable
permissable
unsolved
descriptive
unintended
competitive
decisive
unexplained
productive
repetitive
consumable
qualified

Write the correct form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences. Some of the
answers are irregular (from the table above), but there are other regular nouns included
here. Don't forget to use an -s if necessary.

1. Please send a photograph with your CV and

2. You need to make a
3. Her

today. (DECIDE)

of the grammar was very unclear. (EXPLAIN)

4. We had a long

about our problems. (DISCUSS)

5. Students must have their parent's

to come on the trip. (PERMIT)

6. He is still in hospital, recovering from his

7. I entered a bowling

for anything I do! (APPRECIATE)

9. I can't come up with a

to this problem. (SOLVE)

of junk food has increased over the last 20 years. (CONSUME)

11. You need a lot of

for this job. (QUALIFY)

12. When I lived abroad, I found the

(SEPARATE)
13. The

. (OPERATE)

. (COMPETE)

8. My children never show

10. The

form. (APPLY)

from my family very difficult.

of the new flats is nearly finished. (CONSTRUCT)

14. We don't want a

(REPEAT)

of the violence at last year's football match.

15. The police are conducting an

16. I gave the police a
17. It wasn't my
18. We are making

into the murder. (INVESTIGATE)

of the thief. (DESCRIBE)

to offend you. (INTEND)

for the wedding. (PREPARE)

19. I've just had a very interesting

with your sister. (CONVERSE)

20. You can try our product for free, with no

to buy it. (OBLIGE)

Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words.
Then click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.
Noun (-ence)
evidence
existence
(in)dependence
difference

Adjective
evident
existing
(in)dependent
different

Verb
to exist
to depend
to differ

intelligence
(dis)obedience
excellence
silence
violence
innocence
occurrence
(im)patience
Noun (-ance)
attendance
attendant (person)
assistance
assistant (person)
(dis)appearance
distance
(un)importance
acceptance
reassurance
(ir)relevance
(in)significance

intelligent
(dis)obedient
excellent
silent
violent
innocent
(im)patient

to (dis)obey
to excel
to silence
to violate
to occur
-

Adjective

Verb

to attend

to assist

apparent
distant
(un)important
accepting
reassured
(ir)relevant
(in)significant

to (dis)appear
accept
to reassure
to signify

Note: I have only given the more common words here. There are other forms (for
example, it is possible to use "to evidence something" as a verb) but these are less
common.

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Write the correct form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences. The answer
could be a noun or an adjective. Don't forget to use an -s or a negative prefix if
necessary.

1. Unfortunately, accidents are a common

2. It's difficult to believe in the
3. The police are looking for

of aliens. (EXIST)
of the attack. (EVIDENT)

4. She thinks everyone hates her and needs

time. (REASSURE)
5. Scientist believe that the mysterious
disease. (APPEAR)

along this road. (OCCUR)

from her friends all the

of millions of bees is due to

6. What's the best punishment for a

teenager? (OBEY)

7. What he said was true, but it was completely

8. 100%

. (RELEVANCE)

is necessary to pass this course. (ATTEND)

9. I'm the only person who believes in his

guilty. (INNOCENT)
10. There are three shop
help. (ASSIST)

. Even the police think he's

over there - you should ask one of them for

11. Some people think that if you enjoy your job, the salary is
love money! (IMPORTANCE)
12. I'm excited because I've just got a letter of
University! (ACCEPT)
13. Cats are extremely
(DEPEND)
14. You need a lot of

, but I

from Cambridge

animals. They don't really need people.

if you want to work with children. (PATIENT)

Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words.
Then click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.
Noun
(dis)belief
a choice
a defense
a death
a gift
a loss
a marriage
practice
pretense
proof
safety
a sight
a speech
a success
a thought

Verb
(dis)believe
choose
defend
die
give
lose
marry
practise
pretend
(dis)prove
save
see
speak
succeed
think

Adjective
(un)believable
chosen
defensive
dead/deadly
lost
(un)married
practising
(un)proven
(un)safe
unseen
(un)spoken
(un)successful
thoughtful/less

Adverb
(un)believably
defensively
deadly
safely
(un)successfully
thoughtfully/lessly

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Write the correct form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences.

1. The flowers are

poisonous - don't eat them! (DIE)

2. You have no

- you must do it. (CHOOSE)

3. Their

was a very happy one. (MARRY)

4. You need to do some more

5. We don't have any

of this grammar. (PRACTISE)

that he committed the crime. (PROVE)

6. She's really

about her new haircut.(DEFEND)

7. The company made a

on their new product. (LOSE)

8. I stared at him in

. (BELIEVE)

9. Your parents really care about your

10. The politician's

really made me think about the issues. (SPEAK)

11. We tried to keep up the

12. I need to get a

that everything was OK. (PRETEND)

for my parents' wedding anniverary. (GIVE)

13. I'm really sorry. You were

14. He lost his

. (SAVE)

in your job application. (SUCCEED)

in the accident (SEE)

15. He's really selfish and

. (THINK)

Most adjectives which end in -ful make the negative with -less. But, not all. Note also
that we can make adverbs from these adjectives with -fully or -lessly. For example,
carefully and carelessly. This is a list of key words which might appear in the FCE
exam.

Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words.
Then click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.

The words in this table all use -ful and -less to make the adjectives.
Noun
care
harm
help
hope
pain
power
use
thought
taste

Verb
care
harm
help
hope
pain
power
use
think
taste

Adjective
careful/careless
harmful/harmless
(un)helpful/helpless
hopeful/hopeless
painful/painless
powerful/powerless
useful/useless
thoughtful/thoughtless
tasteful/tasteless

The adjectives in this table take -ful or -less, but not both.
Noun
count
end
home
peace
play
price
success
truth
worth

Verb

Adjective
countless/countable
endless
homeless
peaceful
playful
priceless
(un)successful
(un)truthful/(un)true
worthless

count
end
play
price
succeed
worth

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Write the correct adjective or adverb for each of these questions. You will need to use
-ful/-less or -fully/-lessly. Some answers will also need un-.

1. What a lovely present! That was very

2. He drives really
3. He's told me

of you. (THINK)

- one day he's going to have an accident. (CARE)

times about how good he is at football. (COUNT)

4. Because of his bad interview, he was

(SUCCEED)

in his job application.

5. "I didn't eat your chocolate," she said

(TRUE)

, hiding the empty wrapper.

6. It's

. England will never win the World Cup football again. (HOPE)

7. My best friend is a rich,

lawyer. (POWER)

8. You must remember to recharge your phone. Without its batteries, it's
(USE)
9. Cigarettes are

to your health. (HARM)

10. The sales assistant was really

11. A newborn baby is completely

and rude. (HELP)

. (HELP)

12. "Don't worry - this injection will be completely

13. Thieves broke into the museum and stole a
(PRICE)

. (PAIN)
painting by Van Gogh.

14. She's really rich, but her clothes are always very
and elegant.
(TASTE)
15. I bought some shares in the company 5 years ago, but unfortunately now they
are

. (WORTH)

16. His speech went on

. I thought he'd never stop talking. (END)

The word formation part of the FCE use of English exam often tests adjectives such as
'short', 'wide', 'dark' and their nouns and verbs. Here is a list of some of the more
common adjectives and their forms.

Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words.
Then click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.
Adjective
deep
high
wide
long
short
large
low
tight
loose
strong
weak
dark
bright

Noun
depth
height
weight
width
length
shortage (= not enough)
shortness (= not tall)
enlargement
tightness
looseness
strength
weakness
darkness
dark
brightness

Verb
deepen
heighten
weigh
widen
lengthen
shorten
enlarge
lower
tighten
loosen
strengthen
weaken
darken
brighten

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Write the correct form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences.

1. Normally I prefer tall men, but my husband's

(SHORT)
2. The news report covered the economic crisis in

isn't a problem.
. (DEEP)

3. A healthy diet will

4. If they

your life expectancy. (LONG)

this road, there would be fewer accidents. (WIDE)

5. I think I'll

this photograph. (LARGE)

6. The airport has

security at passport control. (TIGHT)

7. I do yoga to

my back. (STRONG)

8. There is a water
(SHORT)

nearly every summer in the south of England.

9. The moment I left work I

10. When I

my tie and started to relax. (LOOSE)

myself, I found out I'd lost 10kg! (WEIGHT)

11. The

of my computer screen gives me a headache. (BRIGHT)

12. I'm afraid of

so I couldn't live on the 10th floor. (HIGH)

13. The lights went out and the room was plunged into
14. I'm afraid of the

so I sleep with the lights on. (DARKEN)

15. The government are going to

16. His long illness has

. (DARK)

the legal drinking age to 18. (LOW)

him. (WEAK)

Look at the information in the table for 1 minute and try to remember the words. Then
click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.
enenlarge
enable
entrust
enrage
ensure
endanger

-ify
beautify
clarify
specify
identify
terrify
purify

-ise

-en

televise
advise
organise
specialise
prioritise
criminalise
apologise

widen
lengthen
deepen
shorten
tighten
brighten
darken
weaken
strengthen

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Write the correct form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences. Be very
careful - these are verbs. So, for example, if the word is DEEP, the verb could be
deepen, deepens, deepening or deepened.

1. I find it difficult to

my work. (PRIORITY)

2. I'm studying medicine. I want to

in genetics. (SPECIAL)

3. This photograph is too small. Can you

it for me? (LARGE)

4. I didn't understand what you just said. Could you

it? (CLEAR)

5. My electronic dictionary
words. (ABLE)

me to listen to the pronunciation of new

6. He loves insects. He can

(IDENTITY)

over 50 different types of beetle.

7. There are a lot of accidents on this road - the council should

(WIDTH)
8. The time we spent apart only
9. You didn't
(SPECIFIC)

my love for him. (STRONG)

what flavour you wanted, so I got you chocolate.

10. His speech was too long. He should have

11. He always thinks he's right. He never
12. I think the government should

15. The film "The Ring"

it. (SHORT)
for his mistakes. (APOLOGY)

alcohol. (CRIMINAL)

13. Thank you for the flowers. They really

14. The burglar

it.

up the room. (BRIGHT)

that no one was in the house before he broke in. (SURE)

me. I couldn't sleep for days. (TERROR)

16. The government's plans for the hospitals will

(DANGER)

thousands of lives.