what are suffixes, prefixes, and roots?

Hi,

I think I have written the whole question in the place for the subject above.

If somebody can answer this in a bit detail, would be appreciated.
thanks,

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Ahmad

Hi,

I think I have written the whole question in the place for the subject above.

If somebody can answer this in a bit detail, would be appreciated.
thanks,

Root words are base words. They are have a meaning by themselves and can stand alone in a sentence.

A prefix is an incomplete word, one that has a meaning, but cannot stand alone. It is added at the front of a root word to modify the root word's meaning.

A suffix is like a prefix, except that it is added to the end of a root word and can be used to change the root word's part of speech, tense, person, number, or meaning.

We can build words from these building blocks.

Take the root word "hope". We can add the suffix -ful to make hopeful. Now "hope" changed into an adjective. We can add another suffix -ly to make hopefully, an adverb.

I have to run. More later. :wink:

[Tdol]

http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/prefix.html
http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/suffix.html

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Ahmad

Hi,

I think I have written the whole question in the place for the subject above.

If somebody can answer this in a bit detail, would be appreciated.
thanks,

OK. Here's more:

We can do the same things with prefixes. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that many words that we imported from Latin or Greek had their prefixes added to Latin or greek root words.

Take the root word graph. That has an English meaning, but the Greek root meant "writing".

We have:
photograph - picture writing
polygraph - multiple graphs
autograph - one's own writing
cardiograph - heart graph
pictograph - paint writing
lithograph - stone writing

etc.