Hello. This is Gill here at engVid, and today
we have a lesson on... Well, how to increase your vocabulary just by adding a little bit
at the beginning of a word to make it negative, so that's called a negative prefix. So, for example, this is probably one word
you will know: the word "correct", when you get something right; "correct". If you say
"incorrect", then that's the negative, meaning not correct. So, you can automatically add
a word to your vocabulary just by adding the negative bit at the beginning. Okay? So, we're looking today at different what
are called prefixes because you put it in front of the word. In English, there are 12
of these prefixes, so we're going to look at them in two different lessons. In this
lesson, we're looking at five of them; and then in the other lesson, we'll look at seven.
So, does that add up to...? Seven, eight - yes, that adds up to 12. Good. So, the reason we
have five here and seven in the other one: All of these begin with the letter "i", so
we've put these all together, but the other seven are different; they're all different.
So, let's have a look at these. So, increase your vocabulary by using a negative
prefix. So, the first prefix, which is used for a lot of words... You have to know which
is the right one to use; you can't just use any negative prefix with any word. They belong
with certain words. So, the ones that belong with "in", here are some examples; there are
lots more. So, if something is complete, it's complete, everything is there; but if it's
incomplete... If your... If your homework is incomplete, it means you haven't finished
it. So: "Is your homework complete, or is it incomplete? Do you still need to do some
more work on it?" So, that's "incomplete" - the negative. Okay? So... And then when you get your homework
back, is it all correct? Did you get full marks, or was there anything in it that was
incorrect? If you got something incorrect, you maybe lost a mark or two. Okay. So, "incorrect". If you're efficient, you do things very efficiently;
very well, very... You have a good method for doing things - but if you're inefficient
or if somebody is inefficient, it means they're not very well-organized; they don't do things
in a very logical way. It takes them longer to do it, they might make mistakes, and so
on. So, that's "inefficient". Okay. "Formal". We sometimes talk about formal language,
and then the opposite of that is "informal", informal language is when you're having a
conversation with a friend, you might be using slang terms and so on. But if you're meeting
somebody important or you're going for a job interview, you will be fairly formal. So,
you're either formal or informal, depending on who you're with. Okay. And who you're talking
to. So, "informal". Human, we're all human, but sometimes if people
do something bad, it's called "inhuman". If someone does something really bad to somebody
else, they're being inhuman; they're not thinking of that person's feelings. They're hurting
them in some way. So you could say: "That was inhuman, what he did." Maybe to give...
You know, to get... If someone leaves a job, they're given the sack, they're asked to go
in a bad way - it's not very nice; it's inhuman to just tell somebody: "You've got to go."
So: "human", "inhuman". "Secure", if you feel secure, you feel safe.
If you feel insecure, then you don't feel safe. So: "secure", "insecure". And then, finally, for "in": "visible". If
something is visible, you can see it; it's right there. I can see the camera; it's visible.
But if something is invisible... If the camera is hidden and I don't know I'm being filmed,
then it's an invisible camera. So: "visible", "invisible". Anything you can't see is invisible.
Okay. There's one funny, little exception with the
"in" prefix. If somebody's famous, then they're a celebrity; they're very well-known, they're
on television all the time, they're in films, etc. So they're famous. Famous person. If
you see them in the street, you think: "Oh my goodness! Wow! It's that famous actor right
near me in the street." Okay? So you might think that the prefix "in" with "famous" would
mean the opposite; that they're not famous, but it doesn't mean that. This is an exception.
If something or somebody is infamous... And the pronunciation changes a little bit. The
pronunciation of the "a": "famous", but "infamous". So, the "a" vowel sound changes. If somebody
is infamous or if some event, something that happened was infamous, it does still mean
famous - everybody knows about it, but it's famous in a bad way. Okay? So, if someone does something really bad and
it's on television and everybody knows that they did this awful thing... Maybe it's a
big like a gangster in Chicago... Oh, one of the gangsters was, you know, who used to...
They had gangs and they were shooting each other, and so on. They were very... Their
names were very well-known, so you could say: "The infamous gangster, Al Capone", for example.
Al Capone, who was one of the Chicago gangsters of the 1920s, 30s. He was infamous. Everyone
had heard of him. He was famous, but he was famous for a bad reason, so that made him
infamous. Okay. Right, so that's the "in" prefix. Then there's one that's an "im" with an "m".
Okay? So, again, there's no particular rule here, but you just sort of have to get used
to whether it sounds right or not. So, you may have to try different prefixes to see
if it sounds right. You have to just try and see if you can get it. So, you get used to
it as you use them. So, with the word "mature", if you're mature you're sort of grown up;
adult, you behave in a mature way. But someone who is not mature can be called "immature".
So, this one, it's a double "m", so: "i", double "m", "immature". So, if someone behaves
in an immature way, they behave like a child. You might say: "Oh, stop being so immature.
When are you going to grow up; behave like an adult?" So that's "immature". Okay. "Patient". If you're patient, you're happy
to wait and not get annoyed. But if you... If you get irritated and you think: "Ah, when...?
When is something going to happen?" If you're waiting or you're waiting for a friend to
arrive and they're a bit late, and you start to get really annoyed, and you start walking
up and down, getting angry - that's impatient. Impatient. So: "patient", "impatient". Okay. So: "perfect". We all like to try to be perfect,
I think; do everything well, but it doesn't always work out that way. So, sometimes something
can be imperfect. Imperfect; not perfect. It may be 95% perfect, 96% perfect, but there's
just one little thing that's wrong with it, so that's imperfect. Okay. "Polite", also we try to be polite all the
time and be nice to everybody; polite. But if someone is not polite, if they're a bit
rude, if they're in a bad mood or something, or they may always be like that, then they're
impolite. "That was an impolite thing to say." Okay. Not polite. And then this one you probably know: "possible".
If something is possible, it means you can do it; it can be done. But if it's impossible,
then it's not possible. You may know of a television program, also a film called Mission
Impossible, and that's a bit of a challenge, really, because the people who are in it,
they actually prove that it is possible. It seems impossible to begin with, but they're
very strong and clever, and they try to do something that seems impossible. So, sometimes
if we think something's impossible, we just have to try. Just try a bit harder; it may
be possible after all. So: "possible", "impossible". Okay. So, moving on to "il". So, there's a good
sort of clue, here. A lot of the words that go with "il" begin with an "l", which means
that you get a double "l"; "i", double "l". So that's... That helps you to remember which
prefix to use with which word. So, with "legal", for example, meaning something is okay to
do; it's not against the law. It's legal. If someone says: "Is this legal, what we're
doing? Is it legal?" And you might say: "No. I think it's illegal." So, we shouldn't really
do that; it's illegal. It's against the law. So, you could be arrested for doing that.
The police will come and take you to the... To put you in prison or something. So, "illegal",
you have to be careful what you do to know what you can and can't do. Depending on what
country you're in, it varies. So: "illegal". "Legible". I hope my writing is legible, meaning
you can read it. I hope you can read it. I try to make it clear. So, something that is
legible... If you have legible handwriting, people can read it. But I know some people
with very bad handwriting, and they can't even read their own handwriting. You know,
they write something, and then five minutes later they're trying to read it, and: "Oo,
what's that? What did I put?" So, if the person themselves can't read their own handwriting,
there's not much hope. But anyway. "Legible" and "illegible". So, his handwriting is illegible;
I just can't read it. Okay. Right. Well, this is a good one for learning English
or any language: "literate" means you can read; you're able to read. There are some
people who can't read; they have not learnt to read for various reasons. So, if... If
someone is literate, it means they can read printed words; but someone who is illiterate-"i",
double "l"-"illiterate" has never learned to read. Read and write. So, that's an important
one. And then, finally in this column: "logical".
If something is logical, it makes sense; it sort of... One thing follows from another;
logical. But if somebody has an argument about something and they... They... They make an
argument which is illogical, then it doesn't make sense; it doesn't follow. They may sound
as if they know what they're talking about, but if you analyze it, you find: "No, that's
not logical." There's a... There's a big hole in that argument. It's not logical; it's illogical.
Okay. Then "ir". So, "regular". If something's regular,
it happens at every... You know, in a regular way with the same sort of spaces in between
all the time, so that's regular. And so, the opposite is "irregular". Again, the little
clue, here, is that a lot of these words begin with an "r", so you end up with an "i" double
"r" for these ones, so it helps you to remember which prefix to use. So, "irregular". "Relevant". If something is relevant, it's...
It belongs with... If somebody's arguing again and they say something, and it is relevant
to the discussion, then it's part of that subject. But if someone says something that
has nothing to do with that subject, you can say: "Well, that's irrelevant. That's got
nothing to do with what we're talking about." It's irrelevant. Okay? This one. Usually this one is used with the
negative probably more than the positive, but if something is resistible, it means you
can resist it; it's not all that attractive. But we tend to talk about things which are
irresistible. Things like chocolate, for example, I find irresistible. It's very hard to resist
if someone offers you a chocolate. They're irresistible. But to say "resistible", it's...
This is actually used as a bit of an insult. If you don't like something... If someone's
made some coffee and you don't like the taste, you can say: "Well, that coffee is quite resistible."
You know, I don't feel like drinking it, really. It's easy to resist it; to... Not to drink
it. So, "irresistible" is used much more, I think, in the negative sense. Okay. So, "responsible". If... If you're responsible
in the way you do something, you're careful, you're considerate, you're thinking of the
consequences. You don't do anything silly, so you're being responsible. But if... If
people don't think about the consequences and if they're very careless and they don't
really... You know, they don't do things carefully at all, then they're irresponsible. That was
irresponsible to... For example, if someone is trying to get onto a train and the train
has already started moving and the doors are open, and somebody tries to jump on the train
while it's moving, you could say: "Well, that was a very irresponsible thing to do." They
could have hurt themselves, they could have hurt somebody else, they could have caused
an accident, so it's irresponsible. Okay. Then "reversible". To reverse something is
to turn it the other way around; reversible. You can get reversible coats, for example,
which are one colour on one side, and then when you turn them the other way, they're
a different colour on the inside, which then becomes the outside. So you can have a reversible
coat, which is like having two coats because they will probably have two different colours,
which is rather nice. But "irreversible"... If you say: "That was an irreversible decision",
once you have decided to do something and you do it, you can't go back to how it was
before; that was irreversible. Something... Some irreversible damage has been done; you
can't put it right afterwards. Okay. It's permanently damaged, whatever it is. Okay. And then finally, one little one and I only
know of one word that has "ig" as the negative prefix, and that's the word "noble". So, if
you're noble, it means you're a sort of an honest person, you do the right thing all
the time, you don't do bad things to people; but someone who is the opposite of that is
called "ignoble". It's a slightly strange, old-fashioned word, but ignoble if someone
behaves badly; they're not behaving in a noble, honest way. Okay. And then, finally, for this lesson, just to
mention that: Don't assume that every word beginning with any of these letters is always
going to be a negative, because there are some words that just happen to start with
those letters. So, here are just a few examples: "influence", "impact", "improve", "illusion",
"irrigate", "ignite". They're not negatives; they just happen to start with those letters.
Okay. So, "to influence" is to... To get somebody
to sort of believe what you think or to get them to do something. "Impact" is... If you
have an impact on somebody, they take notice of something that you've done. "Improve" is
what I hope you're trying to do all the time with your English; improve your English, so
I'm sure you know that word. "Illusion" is when you imagine you've seen
something, but it's an illusion; it's not really there. "Irrigate" is when... If you
have a very dry area of land and you maybe want to grow some crops in it, you have to
irrigate the soil. To make it wet enough, you put some water on it to help the seeds
to grow. So, that's "irrigate". And, finally, "ignite" means to make something burn, to
set fire to something; to ignite. Okay. So, I hope that's been helpful and will help
you to add to your vocabulary. And please look at our other lesson on negative prefixes.
And also go to the website, www.engvid.com; do the quiz there. And see you again very
soon. Okay. Bye.
