English on-line: особенности использования префиксов в английском языке (часть 2)

Деловой портал delo.ua совместно с British Council реализует проект "Английский язык on-line". В рамках проекта на портале появляются видеоинтервью с преподавателями British Council.

Тематика видеоинтервью — новые методики и подходы в изучении английского языка, интересные факты и практические советы по улучшению произношения и увеличения словарного запаса.

Тема сегодняшнего интервью — особенности использования префиксов в английском языке. Интервью дает Нассер Амери, заместитель директора обучающего центра British Council . Это вторая часть видео, посвященной этой теме.

Первую часть можно посмотреть здесь.

Наиболее распространенными префиксами в английском языке являются — 'dis-', 'im-', 'in-', 'un-', 'ir-', 're-' and 'il-'.

Как правило, префиксы имеют значение "не".

Существует также перечень префиксов, которые изменяют значение слово, однако не несут значения "не".

К таким префиксам можно отнести — 'anti', 'over-', 'under-', 'pre-' и 'post-'.

К примеру,

Confident — overconfident (уверенный — слишком уверенный)

Value — undervalue (ценить — недооценивать)

Текст интервью

Hello again. In my last presentation I talked to you a little bit about prefixes. Particularly those ones that mean 'not' or have a negative meaning for example 'dis-', 'dissatisfied', etc. This time I'm going to look at some other prefixes which also change the meaning of a word but don't usually mean 'not'.

Let's look at the word 'war' — a fight between two countries or two people over a long period of time. When you read a newspaper or watch the news you might see or hear something like 'antiwar protestors'. Now this doesn't mean 'no war', what it actually means is that protestors are against or don't support the war. So 'anti' means 'against' or 'not in favor of'.

Again, on the news you might hear the reporter talk about 'prodemocracy activists'. Now 'prodemocracy' doesn't mean 'no democracy', it means that the activists are in favor of or support democracy.

Other such prefixes are 'over-', 'under-', 'pre-' and 'post-'. Can you think of any words that go with those prefixes? ... Okay, here are few of mine. 'Over-' as in 'overconfident' which means you're too confident. This one does have a negative meaning but it doesn't mean 'not'. Then you've got 'under-', for example 'undervalue' which means when you put a price on a product or a service that isn't equal to what you're giving. So again it doesn't mean 'not' but it does have a negative meaning. The next two were 'pre-' and 'post-'. We often hear about 'prerevolutionary buildings' in Kiev which means buildings that were constructed before 1917. So 'pre-' means 'before'. Then we have 'post-' as in 'postindustrial'. 'Post-' meaning 'after'. In this case 'after the industrial age'.

See if you can think of some more words with these prefixes. Thank you very much.