If you are a new listener to this podcast, welcome! I’m Craig. This is Reza, and we are going to help you grow your grammar, vocalize your vocabulary and perfect your pronunciation.

We’ll improve your English and take it to the next level.
In this episode: Vocabulary: Word Formation

Listener Feedback: Ricardo Fica

Hi Craig, how are you and Reza? Here in Chile we are freezing, the temperatures have been decreasing last time (lately, recently). But we are all fine!

Last night, while I was returning home by subway, I was listening to episode 48 and you read my message that I wrote you by email.

It was funny because I started laughing and the people put their eyes on me (started looking at me, stared at me)!

I realize you have known many countries and cities in the world. Due to my job (SAP Consultant), I haven’t had the opportunity to travel a lot.

In Chile we only have 15 days of vacations (15 business days) and you will understand that is something complicated to make long travels (trips) in the world.
What’s a SAP Consultant?

SAP, started in 1972 in Germany by 5 ex-IBM employees, SAP says that it is the world’s largest inter-enterprise software company.

The original name for SAP was German: Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte, German for “Systems Applications and Products.”

is a German multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations.

SAP has more than 291,000 customers in 190 countries. (Wikipedia)

Just Colombia, Brazil and Argentina.
*To keep in mind from Chile: ?

The indio pícaro

– Mapuches with “u” (Not “Mapaches”) – Mapaches are animals!. Mapuches are from the region of “Araucanía”, where I come from!
– San Pedro de Atacama (Not “de la” Atacama)
– The Merkén is excellent, very useful for everything (Made by the Mapuches) – the smoked red pepper “cacho de cabra”.

I don’t know if you met the famous “indio pícaro”. If not, please search on google!? (Made by Mapuches as well) – yes I saw them!

Best regards, Ricardo!?

The indio pícaro (teaser Indian) is a traditional wooden statuette of a Mapuche Indian with a broad smile that, when the body is lifted, shows an erect penis or vagina (Guacolda or india pícara).
The indio pícaro is found in traditional artisan shops in south-central Chile. It is usually made of wood, and generally viewed as a “gag gift” or joke, sometimes as decoration.
A question from Pau (the question king)

What’s the difference between TAKE PLACE, OCCUR and HAPPEN

Occur is a more formal word.

Take place can be used for events that are openly planed “The concert will take place tomorrow.”

Also for things that are planned: “The robbery took place yesterday.”

“The accident took place/occured on the motorway.”

Use ‘occur’ for stages and developments: “Puberty occurs in girls sooner than in boys.”

“problems can occur at work.”

‘Happen’ is used more to talk about things ‘by chance’.
The disease ______________ more frequently in elderly parents. (answer – occurs). – more formal

Losing weight is the best thing that ever ______________ to me. (answer – happened). – more by chance

Aerobic classes are scheduled to ______________ in the Community center every Thursday. (answer – take place…)
It’s just occured to me that we could do a summer podcast.

Vocabulary: Word Formation (request from Maria Jose)

What are prefixes and what are suffixes?

Examples of prefixes: un- in- mis-

Prefixes change the meaning of a word (believable + un = unbelievable)

Examples of suffixes: -tion -ly -ment

Suffixes change the word class (govern + -ment = governnment)

Prefixes (adjectives)

happy + un = unhappy

decent + in = indecent

legal + il = illegal

relevant + ir = irrelevant

understood + mis = misunderstood

satisfied + dis = dissatisfied

possible + im = impossible

Suffixes (changing adjectives to nouns)

happy – happiness / unhappiness

decent – decency

illegal – illegality

irrelevant – irrelevancy / irrelevance

understood – understanding

misunderstood – misunderstanding

dissatisfied – dissatisfaction

possible – possibility

impossible – impossibility

Sometimes there are other word changes:

adjective – noun
long – length
wide – width
high – height
deep – depth
What nouns can you think of that use these suffixes?

Find a teacher with italki.com

-ment improvement, development, enjoyment, department, commitment
-er owner, teacher, baker, adventurer, computer, lawyer
-or doctor, actor, professor, sailor, inventor
-tion station, adoption, transaction, prediction, invention, redemption, absorption
-sion confusion, tension, admission, conclusion, aggression
-ation liberation, organisation, fraternisation, imagination, abbreviation, radiation
-ition proposition, fruition, ambition, competition, composition, repitition
-ship friendship, relationship, internship
-ity university, fraternity, serendipity, city, witty
-ance relevance, occupance, deliverance
-ence independence, dependence

What adjectives can you think of that use these suffixes?

-ive attractive, creative, inventive, constructive, addictive, productive
-ative talkative, imaginative, argumentative, informative
-itive sensitive, definitive, fugitive, repetitive, competitive
-able suitable, countable, predictable, enjoyable, capable
-ible convertible, sensible, irresponsible, reversible

How can you improve your word families?

Think of a root word, for example ‘education’, and try to think of as many words as possible based on that root word: educational, uneducational, educationally, educated, uneducated, educationalist, educator

Reading helps. Read a lot. Read about your hobbies and pastimes. Read about things you’re interested in.

Identify words as verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. Learn the suffixes and prefixes of words. Not only new words, but words you may already know, but maybe you don’t know all the different word groups of those words.

It can also help to make a word table. For example, a table with 4 columns, in the first column the verb, then the adjective, then the noun, and finally the adverb.

So, for example, you might have TO CONFUSE / CONFUSED or CONFUSING / CONFUSION / CONFUSINGLY

More prefixes

pre- (before) prehistoric, pre-natal, prehistory
post- (after) post-natal, postscript
over- (too much) overcook, overeat, overweight, overpay
under- (not enough/below) undercook, underpay, underweight, underground
pro- (in favour of) proindependance
anti- (against) anti-fascist, anti-independance, anti-abortion, anti-adhesive
non- (not) non-stick, non-negotiable
bi- (of two) bisexual
hetro- (a mixture) hetrosexual, hetrogeneous
homo- (the same) homosexual, homogeneous
extra- (more than) extraordinary
ex- (from the past/old) ex-girlfriend, ex-boss, ex-wife, ex-husband
infra- (very low) infrared
ultra- (very high) ultranationalist, altraviolet
micro- (very small) microscope, microorganism, microbiology, microadvertising
macro- (very large) macroeconomics
hyper- (very, very large/too much) hypermarket, hyperactive, hypersensitive, hypertension
sub- (under) submarine, substandard, subhuman
pan- (of everything) pan-Spain
inter- (between, among) internation, intercontenental, interplanetary
There is a lot of help and practice of word formation in our course for Cambridge FCE. mansioningles.com
Send us an email, or record your voice and send us a sound file, with a comment or a question to [email protected] or [email protected].

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In next week’s podcast: the pronunciation of ‘ed’ endings on past regular verbs.
The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’