Word Formation in English: Techniques, Importance, Tips, Examples and Practice Exercises

Words are the building blocks of any language and communication. Words are the means by which we express our thoughts and ideas. Hence, the formation of words is a crucial process and every student should know about it.

Word formation in English involves creating new words from existing root words, prefixes, or suffixes, among many other ways. The word formation expands vocabulary and thus score well in school and competitive exams. The process improves both spoken and written English.

There are different ways to form the words. They are:

Adding Prefix 

This is a way where a new word is formed by adding a prefix, a set of alphabets added to the beginning of a word to the original word. Some commonly used prefixes include ‘un-’, ‘in-’, ‘dis-’, ‘im-’, ‘ir-’, etc., which form new words when added at the start of the root word. For example:

• Loyal – Disloyal
• Satisfied – Unsatisfied
• Order – Disorder
• Agree – Disagree
• Direct – Indirect

Suffix Addition

Another way to form new words is to add a suffix to the base word. Adding a suffix also changes the meaning and context of the word. The most common suffixes include ‘-ment’, ‘-ness’, ‘-ity’, ‘-ous’, ‘-tion’, ‘-sion’, ‘-al’, ‘-able’, ‘-ible’, ‘-ive’, ‘-ly’, ‘-ate’, ‘-er’, ‘-or’, etc. for example:

• Quick – Quickly
• Happy– happiness
• Create – creation, creative
• Inspire– inspiration, inspiring
• Inform– information, informative

Conversion

The process of conversion is when the class of a word is converted from one to another, in a sentence. This is dependent on the use case of a word. In this case, a noun can be used as a verb or an adjective can act like a noun with the addition of another word or slight alteration in the spelling of the actual word.  For example:

• He should help the needy

Explanation: The adjective ‘needy’ has been used to refer to people who are financially weak.

• God helps the good.

Explanation: Here, the adjective good has been used to refer ‘good people’.  

Also Read: Spelling Rules in Grammar

Compounding

This is the process where a new word is formed by combining two or more words. In this case, the two words may have different meaning, but when combined, a new word with a new meaning is formed. For example:

• Textbook (text+book)
• Sunflower (sun+flower)
• Blackboard (black+board)  

Clipping

As the name suggests, clipping is a phenomenon where we clip or cut short an existing word, to form a new word. The shortened word, formed by removing one or more syllables, sometimes work as the abbreviations for the root word. There can be back clipping, fore clipping and middle clipping of the words. For example:

• Laboratory-Lab (fore clipping)
• Advertisement-Ad (fore clipping)
• Telephone- Phone (back clipping)
• Influenza-Flu (middle clipping)

Blending

Blending is when we combine parts of two or more words to create a new word. Both the words are individual in their own context and have different meanings. When combined, they form a different word altogether that has a different meaning. For example:

• Smoke+Fog=Smog
• Breakfast+Lunch=Brunch

Acronyms

These are the words that are derived as short forms of the original word. They are also termed as the abbreviations and are formed from the initial letters of a phrase. These short forms are pronounced as individual words. For example:

• NASA-National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• ASAP-As Soon As Possible
• LOL-Laugh Out Loud

Borrowing

Borrowing is the process where a word from one language is adopted and used in another language. These words help in expressing novel concepts or objects. These borrowed words are also called loan words. For example:

• Opera-An Italian word describes a play in which the actors sing the words to music
• Yacht-It is Dutch word used to refer to a large boat with a motor, used for personal pleasure experience

Onomatopoeia

This is a process that form words to imitate sounds. These words sound like the noises they represent and hence adds a sensory dimension to writing, allowing readers to "hear" the sounds within the text. For example:

• Hiss-sound of snake
• Meow-Sound of cat
• Boom-Sound of an explosion

 

Also Read: Figures of Speech

As explained above, there are almost nine types or process of forming words in English. Each process alters or combines base words differently. Understanding these patterns boosts your confidence and accuracy in both grammar and vocabulary-based questions. 

As they have been explained already, let’s take a look at their examples, for better understanding and clarity.

Type of Word Formation	Examples
Adding Prefix	·       He was disloyal to his manager and hence has been asked to leave. ·       I disagree with the points stated by the government.
Suffix Addition	·       Let’s finish the lunch quickly and then go out to play. ·       Reena is a creative person.
Conversion	·       She has been brainwashed completely. ·       They are always jetting somewhere.
Compounding	·       This chocolate is sugarfree. ·       Can you babysit for sometime?
Clipping	·       I saw her product’s ad in today’s newspaper. ·       It’s likely to catch flu in this weather.
Blending	·       I read her travel blog (web+log) today. ·       We had an amazing staycation (stay+vacation) this weekend.
Acronyms	·       He is a seasoned scientist at NASA. ·       This work needs to be completed ASAP.
Borrowing	·       This is a nice café (French word) that has opened recently. ·       She is in kindergarten (German word).
Onomatopoeia	·       I heard a big thumping sound last night. ·       The car zoomed in the tree.

Also Read: Subject Verb Agreement in English

Word formation in English is generally governed by patterns and rules. However, there are few exceptions and special cases, that can be confusing to students. Let’s take a look at them in detail for better understanding.

Irregular Plurals

Most nouns in English are changed to plural forms from their singular versions by adding ‘s’ or es’. However, there are few words which follow irregular plural forms that should only be learnt by students, to avoid errors. These words, if suffixed with ‘s’ or ‘es’ form words that have no meaning in English language. For example:

• There are lot of children (plural of child) in the park.
• I saw a lot of mice (plural of mouse) in the backyard.
• Her teeth (plural of tooth) are shiny white.

Also Read: Irregular Verbs in English Grammar

Nouns Ending With ‘o’

Nouns ending with ‘o’ also follow irregular pattern when it comes to plural forms. While some words ending in "-o" add "-es", while others add just "-s". In this case too, students need to memorize the plural forms in order to avoid mistakes especially in the written English. For example:

• I love tomatoes (plural of tomato) in my salad.
• The travel photos (plural of photo) have come out great.

Also Read: English Nouns: Types and Examples

Irregular Comparisons

Most adjectives form their comparatives and superlatives by adding "-er" and "-est". However, some common adjectives too have irregular comparative and superlative forms that must be memorized only, to avoid errors, in written and spoken English both. For example:

• This movie is good, but the one we watched yesterday was better.
• The weather was bad in the morning, and it got worse by the evening

Also Read: Degrees of Comparison

Prefixes ad Suffixes

In prefix and suffix (interlink) too, there are few irregular applications or exceptions that need to be learned on a case-by-case basis. These special cases also generally don’t follow the rule and thus need to be remembered for the correct usage. for instance, adjectives turn into adverbs when we add ‘ly’ in the end, in most cases. However, some adverbs have irregular forms. Similarly, the prefix "un-" is used to create negative forms of adjectives, but some adjectives have irregular negative forms. For example:

• She eats her food fast (not fastly)
• It is impossible (not unpossible) to reach the destination on time now.

Spelling Exceptions

A common rule states that "i" comes before "e" except after "c" or when sounded like "a" (e.g., believe, receive, neighbor, weigh). However, there are a number of exceptions to this spelling rule. For example:

• Mary is a foreign national residing in India.
• She likes to try weird food combinations.

Silent Letters

There are many words in English language, where the starting letter or a middle letter is silent when it comes to their pronunciations. Students need to learn and memorize the way they are pronounced and their spellings that differ from their pronunciation, in order to avoid errors. For example:

• Please pass me a sharp knife to cut fruits. (k is silent in knife)
• Debt is the first thing you should free yourself from. (b is silent in debt)

Homophones

Some words sound alike but have different meanings. Students should be careful while using such words as misuse of such words can lead to errors and alter the meaning and context of the sentence in English. Best way to avoid such errors, is learn and understand the meaning and spellings of homophones in English. For example:

• The book is kept on the table there.
• These are their
• They’re coming to collect their books.

 

Now that we have leant about exceptions of word formation in English, here are some rules that students need to keep in mind while forming new words in English. If the below mentioned rules are not followed, students will find it difficult to form and use the bright words in their conversations.             

• Before you make changes to the root words, students should first analyze the class and context of the word used in a particular sentence.
• Depending upon the context, you should add prefix or suffix to the root word.
• When a compound is formed, sometimes a hyphen is sued between the two words. For example:

1. Mike is a well-behaved child. 
2. Nancy is well-eaten and so can be put to sleep.

Also Read: 

• English Grammar: Tips and Rules
• English Punctuation: Do's and Dont's
• English Analogy: Meaning and Examples

Students can follow he following tips to form words in English:

Correct Noun/Verb/Adjective 

Students should know and understand where to use noun, verb, adjective, adverb in sentences. You can take note of the rest of the words or linking words to see which word will be used to complete the sentence. For example:

• My sister is a great dancer (dance).
• She eats her food quickly (quick).

Understand Prefix and Suffix

Students can read the whole sentence or paragraph to understand the right prefix and suffix to be used with the root word. An easy strategy for this is to add familiar prefixes and suffixes onto the root word. Then use your pattern recognition skills to pick the option with the most familiar spelling. For example:

• Everyone talks about equality (equal) and nothing concrete is done for it.
• You need to finish the job with perfection (perfect).

Read and Write

The key to ace word formation is reading and writing a lot. This will build up the vocabulary and students will be able to easily form different words appropriate to the sentence meaning and context.

Also Read: Letter writing Tips in English

Word formation is a crucial part of English grammar that helps in language learning and comprehension. Knowing how words are created enables students to expand their vocabulary.

To form new words in English students should identify error areas to do so without mistakes. Here are some errors students should avoid while forming new words in English. Students should use correct prefix and suffix to nouns, verbs and adverbs depending upon the number and context of the sentence. For example:

• One should be smart and independence when he/she grows up. (incorrect)
• One should be smart and independent when he/she grows up. (correct)
• She has written good describe for her answer. (incorrect)
• She has written good description for her answer. (incorrect)
• She has disunderstood her chapter. (incorrect)
• She has misunderstood her chapter. (correct)

Also Read: English Auxiliary and Modal Verbs

Students can consider following books to study word formation in English as they provide a thorough exploration of word formation processes in English language.

Book	Author
Word Formation in English	Ingo Plag
The Study of Words: An Introduction	Lewis Gebhardt
English Morphology: Word-Formation and Interfaces	Jeyaraj John Sekar
Word power made easy	Norman Lewis

The above mentioned books cover various aspects, including derivation, compounding, and conversion, delving into the intricacies of word formation, vocabulary expansion, and grammatical nuances. They will help students learn about word roots, prefixes, and suffixes and for understanding how words are formed and how to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words. The books also include numerous examples and exercises to aid in understanding.

Also Read:

• Best Books for English Articles
• English Subject and Predicate: Meaning with Examples