Negative Prefixes in English: UN-, DIS-, NON-, A-, AB-, AN-, ANTI-

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I'm Gill from engVid, and today we have a lesson on a way of increasing your vocabulary

by turning a positive word into a negative one just by adding a few letters at the front,

which is called a "negative prefix".

So, it's a rather nice way of adding to the...

All the words that you know in English.

And in English, there are actually 12 different prefixes, negative prefixes, so what we've

done: We have done two separate lessons.

There's another lesson covering five of the negative prefixes that all begin with the

This one, we have seven, the other seven which all begin with different letters.

So, just a way to increase your vocabulary, turning a positive word to a negative one.

So, let's... let's start.

And looking first of all at the prefix: "un" which makes something negative.

So, if something is "believable", you believe it.

"That seems believable."

If someone makes an excuse, why they're late for...

For their class or for work - they had a believable excuse; a believable reason why they were

But if you think: "Oh, that doesn't sou-...

I don't think I believe that.

That doesn't sound right.

I think they're lying", basically.

Telling a lie, then their... their reason is "unbelievable".

"That was unbelievable."

Okay, so that turns it to the negative.

So, there are a lot of words in English which you can add "un" at the beginning.

So, another one, if you're "certain" about something, you're...

You're very sure about it.

You know it's true.

But if you're "uncertain", then you're not sure.

If things are fair, then it's...

Everything is good; everybody is being treated equally and treated well.

But if something is "unfair".

If someone's handing out chocolates...

I keep coming back to chocolates - I wonder why.

If someone is handing out chocolates to a room full of people and they give five chocolates

to one person, one chocolate to another person, and no chocolates to another person, then

that seems a little bit unfair.

That's unfair; everyone should have an equal number.

We all try to be friendly and nice to each other.

If people are friendly, that's great.

But if they're "unfriendly", if they're not very nice, then that's the opposite, of course.

"That woman was rather unfriendly."

And then: "happy".

If you're happy, everything's going well; but then something bad happens and it makes

When people behave nicely, they're kind to each other.

And then the opposite would be "unkind", again, if someone does something not very nice.

"That was an unkind thing to do."

If you're a lucky person, if you...

If you go in for competitions, and the lottery, things like that and you win some money or

you win a prize quite often, then you're a lucky person; good things happen to you.

Or just life in general, you feel: "I've...

I've been very lucky; getting a good job, finding somewhere nice to live, etc.

I've been very lucky."

But if... if it's the opposite and a lot of things go wrong all the time, or you never

win a prize or anything, or a competition, then you're "unlucky".

"That was unlucky.

That was an unlucky day; everything went wrong."

If lots of people like you, then you're popular.

But if there's someone that people don't seem to like; they don't have much to do with them,

they don't have a nice chat, a conversation with them, they stay away from them, then

that person is "unpopular".

For whatever reason, people don't like to be with that person; they're unpopular.

So, "sure" is a bit like "certain".

"Certain" and "sure".

"I'm...

I'm sure I did well in the exam.

But if you're not sure, you feel a little bit "unsure".

You're unsure about how you did in the exam; it's hard to know: "Did I do well?

I...

And then, finally, in this column: "tidy" is when you keep your room, your house tidy,

everything looks nice, there's not a lot of stuff lying all over the place.

It's very tidy.

"You keep your room tidy.

Clean and tidy."

But if you just leave everything lying about all over the place, and dirty dishes, you've

had a meal and you just left the dirty dishes and the cutlery just lying around on the floor,

and it's smelling and horrible, then that's "untidy".

"He's such an untidy person.

He leaves things lying around his room."

So, let's move on to the next column, so: "dis" is another prefix to turn words to the

So, if you agree with someone, you say: "Yes, yes, I think so, too.

But if you don't agree with them, then you "disagree".

"I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you, there.

I don't think the same as you; I disagree."

If someone appears, you see them.

A friend comes into the room, they appear.

But then if they...

They go away again: "Oh, where did he go?

Where did he go?

He's disappeared.

He's disappeared."

It's good to try to be honest all the time; tell the truth.

But some people, I'm sure we've all met some people who are "dishonest"; they're not honest.

They tell lies, they trick you, they deceive you.

So, you have to be careful.

If you can tell if someone is dishonest, then maybe you avoid having anything to do with

"Like" - nice, simple word.

If you like somebody or you like something - that's the positive.

If you don't like it, you "dislike" it or you dislike that person.

And, finally, in this column: "trust".

Again, it's like "honest".

-"Can you trust this person?

Can you believe what they tell you?"

-"Yes, I trust that person."

Or: "No.

I...

I don't trust that person.

Distrust that person.

I'm not sure they're telling the truth all the time; I distrust them."

This one, fairly obvious with "non" as the prefix.

"Non" like "no".

And usually this one has the actual hyphen included in the word; whereas all the others,

you would just have the extra letters but no hyphen.

So this one usually, apart from here with "nonsense", you get the little hyphen; the

little mark, there.

So, with "fiction", "fiction" is a book that's a story; not a true story, not a true history,

but just a story or a novel that's...

That's with characters in it who aren't real people, so that's "fiction".

But if you prefer books which are about real people or history, then it's "non-fiction";

it's the opposite of "fiction".

It's "non-fiction".

When things make sense, they sound logical.

But if you say: "No, that...

That's nonsense.

What you've just told me is nonsense.

That can't possibly be true.

Sometimes you hear what's called fake news nowadays or you see it on the internet, and

it's hard to tell sometimes: "Is that real news or is it fake news?

Is it true or not?"

So, if it's nonsense, it's like fake news; you can't really believe it.

It...

It's not possible.

A "smoker" - someone who smokes cigarettes, etc., pipes, and cigars, tobacco of any kind;

But then there's the "non-smoker" who does not smoke.

And you can have room in hotels which are non-smo-...

Rooms for non-smokers, and carriages on the train which are for non-smokers.

In fact, I think in the UK, I don't think you can smoke on the train anymore.

Not legal anymore.

It's been banned to smoke anywhere on a train or on the train platform even.

So, in public places now it's restricted.

So, non-smokers are people who don't smoke.

If something sticks, it sort of stuck like glue or something; two pieces of paper stuck

"Non-stick" usually is a description for something like a frying pan that you use; a non-stick

A frying pan that you fry...

Oh, you might fry an egg, you might fry some onions, anything like that.

And if it's non-stick, it means the food doesn't stick to the bottom of the frying pan.

So, most modern frying pans are non-stick; they have a special covering on them to stop

the food sticking.

"Stop", that's a simple word, when you stop.

But if you do something "non-stop" or the train...

The train is non-stop from London to Scotland, to Edinburgh, non-stop train - it means it

doesn't stop anywhere on the way from London to Edinburgh, which is a very long way.

I don't know if there is such a train that doesn't stop anywhere on the way, but you

would say: "It's non-stop to somewhere", or: "We did...

We were working yesterday non-stop.

From 9 in the morning until 9 in the evening, we worked non-stop.

We didn't stop for a break or anything", so that's "non-stop".

Then we have some very short ones, which aren't used with many words.

Just an "a" can be a negative prefix.

So, a "theist" is anyone who believes in a god of some kind; any god.

But an "atheist" is someone who doesn't believe in any gods at all; they just don't think

there is such a thing as...

As God, or a god or gods.

So, that's an "atheist" who just doesn't have any religious belief at all.

If something's typical, it happens all the time.

"Oh, what she did then was typical.

She's always doing that."

You know, maybe throwing rubbish on the floor, in the street, which is a bad thing to do.

But that's typical of her; throwing...

Throwing papers and rubbish onto the pavement rather than taking it home and putting it

in the bin when she gets home.

"That's so typical of her."

So, that's "typical" - something someone does regularly that you expect them to do.

But if it's "atypical", that means it's not typical; so it's a bit unusual for that to

So, if she amazingly one day keeps her rubbish and takes it home, and puts it in the in bin

instead of throwing it on the pavement, then you could say: "That's atypical of her.

She usually throws it in the street."

Then: "ab", "ab" goes with a small number; not many of words.

I'm sure you know the word "normal", whatever "normal" means, but "normal".

Whatever your definition of "normal" is.

So, if something is "abnormal", it's the opposite of normal.

If...

If you think I'm normal, for example...

I don't know if you do, but if you think I'm normal, then that...

Okay, thank you.

But if you think I'm "abnormal", you may think I'm a bit strange, so you would call me "abnormal".

"Oh, she's an abnormal tutor", something like that.

So, it's a sort of slightly personal opinion word, whether something is abnormal or not,

but whether it happens a lot.

It's a bit like "typical" and "atypical"; "normal", "abnormal".

It's what you're used to; what you expect from somebody.

This is a...

I think, as far as I know, there's only one of these with "an" as the prefix, and it's

a rather scientific kind of term.

Maybe used in chemistry, that kind...

Biology, that sort of thing.

"Hydrous" just means something that contains water.

Okay, from the Greek word for water.

But if something is "anhydrous", that just means it doesn't...

It contains no water; it has no water in it.

So it's something completely dry with no water at all, no moisture in it at all, no liquid.

And then, finally, we have: "anti", which is a fairly obvious negative.

"Anti" meaning to go against something.

So, "biotic" is...

Well, this one, it's usually used with the negative: "antibiotic" because it's to do

with medicine and pills that you take to fight an infection.

If you have an infection, you take antibiotics because they fight the...

The bacteria that are causing the infection.

So, "bio" is to do with the...

The human body.

So, to fight infection: "antibiotic".

"Clockwise", this is quite a useful one.

If...

If you do something in a clockwise direction, the direction that the hands of the clock

go...

They go around in that direction: "clockwise" from here to...

Around to there.

But if it's the other way around, if it's around this way, that's "anticlockwise".

And then, finally: "social".

If someone is social, they're friendly, they like chatting to people.

But if someone is "antisocial", they tend to stay on their own, they don't seem to like

talking very much or getting to know people, having conversations.

They're antisocial.

And then, finally, just a few little words to show that not every word beginning with

these letters is necessarily negative.

There are words that just happen to begin with those letters.

I'm sure you know most of these.

So: "under" just means under something; it's not a negative.

If you "discuss" something, you just talk about it; there's no negative there.

"Display" - if you put things out on a table to show someone... or in an exhibition, in

an art gallery, there is a display to look at.

That's not really a negative.

We've got "ab" here, but "able" is not a negative; it just means you're able to do something,

you can do something.

And "an", "angry" just means angry; feeling mad, annoyed by something.

It's not necessarily...

Well, it's not a very pleasant emotion; it's a bit negative, I suppose.

But this isn't a negative prefix on the front; it just happens to begin with those two letters.

So, I hope that's helped to help you expand your vocabulary, and understand how negative

Do have a look at the other lesson with the other five.

And also, if you'd like to go to the website, www.engvid.com and do the quiz, and if you'd

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See more of me - that would be great.

And see you again soon.