10.His answers were very ________________so he failed the Maths exam.

(ACCURATE)
Word Formation: Negatives
11.It's ________________that people will ever live on the moon. (LIKELY)
12.He waited ________________for the train. (PATIENT)
1. Negative prefixes can be used with nouns, verbs, adjective and adverbs. For example
13.It's ________________to smoke in public places nowadays. (LEGAL)
disapproval, disapprove, disapproving, disapprovingly.
14.I would never teach children. They always ________________. (BEHAVE)
2. Usually im + p (impatient) but not always (unpleasant).
15.The shirt he's wearing is completely ________________for a job interview. (APPROPRIATE)
3. Often il + l (illegal) but not always (unlikely).
16.His speech was ________________. I thought he'd never stop talking. (END)
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.
Word Formation: Nouns with -ion
Look at the information in the table for 1 minute and try to remember the words.
One of the most common ways to change a verb to a noun is with -ion (e.g. act to action) and -ation
un- in dis- im- (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
inaccurate improbable
unexpected unaware disapprove
of the stem also changes.
inappropriate impossible

unbelievable dislike

inefficient
impolite

unknown
disagree

incapable
imperfect

unable dishonest Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words.
ineffective impatient

il- ir- mis- -less

illegal
misbehave careless
Noun Verb Adjective
irregular
illiterate
misunderstand harmless
application apply applicable
irresponsible
illogical
misspell
helpless

irrational
illegible misuse endless permission permit permissable
solution solve unsolved

Write the correct NEGATIVE form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences. Be very description describe descriptive
careful: some words have different negative forms (e.g. unbelievable/disbelief, unlikely/dislike, unable/ intention intend unintended
disabled).

competition compete competitive

1. The politician was accused of being___________________(HONEST) decision decide decisive

2. His story was so ________________I thought he was crazy. (BELIEVE) explanation explain unexplained
3. She looked at him in ________________when he told her the shocking news. (BELIEVE) production produce productive
4. Many people are ________________of the dangers of mobile phones. (AWARE) repetition repeat repetitive
5. He's invited me to his party. It would be ________________to say no. (POLITE) consumption comsume consumable
6. Too many children nowadays are growing up ________________. (LITERATE)
qualification qualify qualified
7. That's not what I said! You've ________________me. (UNDERSTAND)
8. My dog is completely ________________. I promise he won't bite. (HARM)
9. The medicine was ________________- he didn't recover. (EFFECT)
Write the correct form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences. Some of the answers are (dis)obedience (dis)obedient to (dis)obey
irregular (from the table above), but there are other regular nouns included here. Don't forget to use an
-s if necessary. excellence excellent to excel


 silence silent to silence

violence violent to violate
1. Please send a photograph with your CV and ________________form. (APPLY) innocence innocent -
2. You need to make a ________________today. (DECIDE) occurrence - to occur
3. Her ________________of the grammar was very unclear. (EXPLAIN)
(im)patience (im)patient -
4. We had a long ________________about our problems. (DISCUSS)
5. Students must have their parent's ________________to come on the trip. (PERMIT)
Noun (-ance) Adjective Verb
6. He is still in hospital, recovering from his ________________. (OPERATE)
attendance

7. I entered a bowling ________________. (COMPETE) - to attend
attendant (person)
8. My children never show ________________for anything I do! (APPRECIATE)
assistance

- to assist
9. I can't come up with a ________________to this problem. (SOLVE) assistant (person)
10.The ________________of junk food has increased over the last 20 years. (CONSUME) (dis)appearance apparent to (dis)appear
11.You need a lot of ________________for this job. (QUALIFY)
distance distant -
12.When I lived abroad, I found the ________________from my family very difficult. (SEPARATE)
(un)importance (un)important -
13.The ________________of the new flats is nearly finished. (CONSTRUCT)
acceptance accepting accept
14.We don't want a ________________of the violence at last year's football match. (REPEAT)
reassurance reassured to reassure
15.The police are conducting an ________________into the murder. (INVESTIGATE)
(ir)relevance (ir)relevant -
16.I gave the police a ________________of the thief. (DESCRIBE)
17.It wasn't my ________________to offend you. (INTEND) (in)significance (in)significant to signify

18.We are making ________________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.
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.
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 ________________along this road. (OCCUR)

Noun (-ence) Adjective Verb
2. It's difficult to believe in the ________________of aliens. (EXIST)
evidence evident -
3. The police are looking for ________________of the attack. (EVIDENT)
existence existing to exist
4. She thinks everyone hates her and needs ________________from her friends all the time.
(in)dependence (in)dependent to depend (REASSURE)
difference different to differ 5. Scientist believe that the mysterious ________________of millions of bees is due to disease.
(APPEAR)
intelligence intelligent -
6. What's the best punishment for a ________________teenager? (OBEY)
 7. What he said was true, but it was completely ________________. (RELEVANCE)
8. 100% ________________is necessary to pass this course. (ATTEND)
9. I'm the only person who believes in his ________________. Even the police think he's guilty.
(INNOCENT)
10.There are three shop ________________over there - you should ask one of them for help.
(ASSIST)
11.Some people think that if you enjoy your job, the salary is ________________, but I love money!
(IMPORTANCE)
12.I'm excited because I've just got a letter of ________________from Cambridge University!
(ACCEPT)
13.Cats are extremely ________________animals. They don't really need people. (DEPEND)
14.You need a lot of ________________if you want to work with children. (PATIENT)
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 ________________of this grammar. (PRACTISE)
5. We don't have any ________________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 ________________. (SAVE)
10.The politician's ________________really made me think about the issues. (SPEAK)

Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words. Then click below to 11.We tried to keep up the ________________that everything was OK. (PRETEND)
hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom. 12.I need to get a ________________for my parents' wedding anniverary. (GIVE)
13.I'm really sorry. You were ________________in your job application. (SUCCEED)
Noun Verb Adjective Adverb 14.He lost his ________________in the accident (SEE)

(dis)belief (dis)believe (un)believable (un)believably 15.He's really selfish and ________________. (THINK)

a choice choose chosen - 16.

Most adjectives which end in -ful make the negative with -less. But, not all. Note also that we can
a defense defend defensive defensively
make adverbs from these adjectives with -fully or -lessly. For example, carefully and carelessly. This is a
a death die dead/deadly deadly list of key words which might appear in the FCE exam.
a gift give - -
a loss lose lost - Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words. The words in this
a marriage marry (un)married - table all use -ful and -less to make the adjectives.

practice practise practising - Noun Verb Adjective

pretense pretend - - care care careful/careless
proof (dis)prove (un)proven - harm harm harmful/harmless
safety save (un)safe safely help help (un)helpful/helpless
a sight see unseen -
hope hope hopeful/hopeless
a speech speak (un)spoken -
pain pain painful/painless
a success succeed (un)successful (un)successfully
power power powerful/powerless
a thought think thoughtful/less thoughtfully/lessly
use use useful/useless
thought think thoughtful/thoughtless
 15.I bought some shares in the company 5 years ago, but unfortunately now they are
taste taste tasteful/tasteless
________________. (WORTH)
The adjectives in this table take -ful or -less, but not both. 16.His speech went on ________________. I thought he'd never stop talking. (END)

Noun Verb Adjective 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
count count countless/countable
forms. Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words.
end end endless
Adjective Noun Verb
home - homeless
deep depth deepen
peace - peaceful
high height heighten
play play playful
- weight weigh
price price priceless
wide width widen
success succeed (un)successful
long length lengthen
truth - (un)truthful/(un)true
shortage (= not enough)

worth worth worthless short shorten
shortness (= not tall)

large enlargement enlarge

Write the correct adjective or adverb for each of these questions. You will need to use -ful/-less or - low - lower
fully/-lessly. Some answers will also need un-. tight tightness tighten
loose looseness loosen
1. What a lovely present! That was very ________________of you. (THINK)
strong strength strengthen
2. He drives really ________________- one day he's going to have an accident. (CARE)
weak weakness weaken
3. He's told me ________________times about how good he is at football. (COUNT)
darkness

4. Because of his bad interview, he was ________________in his job application. (SUCCEED) dark darken
dark
5. "I didn't eat your chocolate," she said ________________, hiding the empty wrapper. (TRUE)
bright brightness brighten
6. It's ________________. England will never win the World Cup football again. (HOPE)
7. My best friend is a rich, ________________lawyer. (POWER)
Write the correct form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences.
8. You must remember to recharge your phone. Without its batteries, it's ______________. (USE)
9. Cigarettes are ________________to your health. (HARM)
1. Normally I prefer tall men, but my husband's ________________isn't a problem. (SHORT)
10.The sales assistant was really ________________and rude. (HELP)
2. The news report covered the economic crisis in ________________. (DEEP)
11.A newborn baby is completely ________________. (HELP)
3. A healthy diet will ________________your life expectancy. (LONG)
12."Don't worry - this injection will be completely ________________. (PAIN)
4. If they ________________this road, there would be fewer accidents. (WIDE)
13.Thieves broke into the museum and stole a ________________painting by Van Gogh. (PRICE)
5. I think I'll ________________this photograph. (LARGE)
14.She's really rich, but her clothes are always very ________________and elegant. (TASTE)
6. The airport has ________________security at passport control. (TIGHT)
 7. I do yoga to ________________my back. (STRONG)
8. There is a water ________________nearly every summer in the south of England. (SHORT)
9. The moment I left work I ________________my tie and started to relax. (LOOSE)
10.When I ________________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 ________________. (DARK)
14.I'm afraid of the ________________so I sleep with the lights on. (DARKEN)
15.The government are going to ________________the legal drinking age to 18. (LOW)
16.His long illness has ________________him. (WEAK)
10.His speech was too long. He should have ________________it. (SHORT)
11.He always thinks he's right. He never ________________for his mistakes. (APOLOGY)
12.I think the government should ________________alcohol. (CRIMINAL)
13.Thank you for the flowers. They really ________________up the room. (BRIGHT)
14.The burglar ________________that no one was in the house before he broke in. (SURE)
15.The film "The Ring" ________________me. I couldn't sleep for days. (TERROR)
16.The government's plans for the hospitals will ________________thousands of lives. (DANGER)

Look at the information in the table for 1 minute and try to remember the words.

en- -ify -ise -en

widen 

televise 
 lengthen 

enlarge 
 beautify 

advise 
 deepen 

enable 
 clarify 

organise 
 shorten 

entrust 
 specify 

specialise 
 tighten 

enrage 
 identify 

prioritise 
 brighten 

ensure 
 terrify 

criminalise 
 darken 

endanger purify
apologise weaken 

strengthen

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 ________________me to listen to the pronunciation of new words.
(ABLE)
6. He loves insects. He can ________________over 50 different types of beetle.(IDENTITY)
7. There are a lot of accidents on this road - the council should ________________it. (WIDTH)
8. The time we spent apart only ________________my love for him. (STRONG)
9. You didn't ________________what flavour you wanted, so I got you chocolate. (SPECIFIC)