Vocabulary in use vocabulary reference and practice Third Edition Elementary Michael McCarthy Felicity O’Dell

57.1
57.2
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57.4
57.5
to
at books

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122
English Vocabulary in Use Elementary
Prefixes
58
Prefixes come at the beginning of words. They can help you to understand what a new word means. 
Here are some common prefixes.
prefix
meaning
examples
ex
(+ 
noun)
was but now isn’t
ex-wife
,
 ex-boyfriend
half 
(+ 
noun or adjective)
50% of something
half-price
,
 half-hour
in
, 
im
(+ adjective)
not
informal
,
 impossible
non
(+ adjective or noun)
not
non-smoking
pre 
(+ 
noun, adjective, verb)
before
pre-school, pre-heat
re
(+ verb)
again
redo
,
 rewrite
un
(+ adjective or noun)
not
unhappy
,
 unsafe
An 
ex-wife 
is a woman who is now divorced.
An 
ex-boyfriend
is someone who is no longer your boyfriend.
Something that cost £10 yesterday and costs £5 today is 
half-price
.
A 
half-hour
journey is a journey of 30 minutes.
Informal
clothes are clothes like jeans and trainers. Formal clothes are things like a suit.
If something is 
impossible
, you can’t do it. It’s impossible to read with your eyes closed.
You must not smoke in a 
non-smoking
restaurant.
Pre-school
children are too young to go to school.
You nearly always need to 
pre-heat
the oven before you cook something.
To 
redo
something is to do it a second time, and to 
rewrite
something is to write it a second time.
Unhappy
means sad, the opposite of happy. 
Unsafe
means dangerous, the opposite of safe.
Tip
Sometimes words with prefixes have a hyphen (-), e.g. a half-hour programme, and sometimes they 
don’t, e.g. an impossible question. Use a dictionary when you are not sure if there is a hyphen or not.

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Exercises
123
English Vocabulary in Use Elementary
Choose one of the words from the opposite page to fit in these sentences.
1 This part of the restaurant is 
2 I can’t read this. Please 
your homework.
3 In 
English we often say ‘Hi’, not ‘Good morning’.
4 I liked school but my sister was very 
there.
5 I bought two T-shirts because they were 
in the sale.
6 Don’t walk on that wall – the notice says it is 
.
Write your own sentences to show what these words mean.
1 ex-wife 
2 ex-boyfirend 
3 redo
4 impossible 
5 pre-school 
What do you think these words and phrases mean? Look at the table opposite to help you.
1 an ex-husband
a man who is now divorced from his wife
2 pre-exam nerves
3 an incorrect answer
4 an unread book
5 to retell a story
6 a half-brother
7 an unfinished letter
8 a non-alcoholic drink
9 to reread a book
10 to resend an email 
Find the negative forms of these words. Use a dictionary to help you.
1 possible
impossible
2 comfortable
3 polite
4 pleasant
5 attractive
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