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Academic Word List- vocabulary with negative prefixes

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Negative prefixes before AWL vocabulary for EAP classes

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Academic Word List vocabulary with negative prefixes

 

Find the words below which have negative prefixes but don’t have negative meanings.

abnormal                                                                   deregulation/ deregulate

disproportionate                                                       illegal

illiberal                                                         illogical

immature/ immaturity                                 imprecise/ imprecision

inaccessible                                                              inaccurate

inadaptable                                                               inadequate

inappropriate                                                             incapable

incoherent                                                                 incompatible/ incompatibility

inconsistency/ inconsistent                       indemonstrable

indiscrete/ indiscretion                              inflexible/ inflexibility

insecurity                                                                   insignificant

instability                                                                   insufficient

invalid/ invalidity                                                       irrational

irrelevant/ irrelevance                                misinterpret/ misinterpretation

nonconformist                                             unachievable

unambiguous                                              unapproachable

unbeneficial                                                              unbiased

unclear                                                                      uncommitted

uncommunicative                                                     unconfined

unconstitutional                                          unconstrained

unconstructive                                            uncontroversial

unconvincing                                                            uncooperative

uncreative                                                                  uncultured

undiminished                                                            undiscriminating

undynamic                                                                 uneconomical

unempirical                                                               unenergetic

unethical                                                                   unfocused

unideological                                                            uninjured

uninvolving                                                               unjustifiable

unlicensed                                                                 unmethodical

unmotivated                                               unprofessional

unrefined                                                                   unregulated

unreliable                                                                  unsustainable

 

Hint: There are eight.

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Try to remember the negative prefixes of the words below:

accessible                                                                               accurate

achievable                                                                               adaptable

adequate                                                                                 ambiguous

approachable                                                            appropriate

beneficial                                                                                 biased

capable                                                                      clear

coherent                                                                                   committed

communicative                                                         compatible/ compatibility

confined                                                                                   conformist

consistency/ consistent                                           constitutional

constrained                                                                             constructive

controversial                                                                           convincing

cooperative                                                                             creative

cultured                                                                                   demonstrable

diminished                                                                               discrete/ discretion

discriminating                                                           dynamic

economical                                                                              empirical

energetic                                                                                  ethical

flexible/ flexibility                                                                    focused

ideological                                                                               injured

interpret/ interpretation                                            involving

justifiable                                                                                 legal

liberal                                                                                       licensed

logical                                                                                      mature/ maturity

methodical                                                                               motivated

normal                                                                        precise/ precision

professional                                                                            proportionate

rational                                                                       refined

regulated                                                                                 regulation/ regulate

relevant/ relevance                                                                reliable

security                                                                      significant

stability                                                                       sufficient

sustainable                                                                              valid/ validity

Try to argue that some of the words are not necessarily in the right section and/ or that some of the opposites do not have opposite connotations. You will get one point for each one that you argue convincingly. 

Use the list on the next page to help you if you need to.

What phrases can you use to talk about positive and negative aspects?

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Suggested answers

Positive words with negative prefixes

deregulation/ deregulate                                                                     nonconformist

unbiased                                                                                                unconstrained

uncontroversial                                                                       undiminished

unideological                                                                                        uninjured

 

Words which could be debated

adequate

biased

clear/ clarity

committed

confined

conformist

constitutional

constrained

controversial

cooperative

diminished

dynamic

empirical

flexible/ flexibility

focused

ideological

interpret

justifiable

liberal

licensed

mature

methodical

nonconformist

normal

professional

refined

regulated

regulation/ regulate

reliable

security

stability

sufficient

sustainable

unambiguous

unconfined

unconstrained

uncontroversial

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