Word building
Do you know the difference between happy and unhappy, between behave and misbehave,
between embark and disembark, between normal and abnormal, between circle and semi-circle?
You will recognize the difference more readily if you know the meanings of the little words or syllables (called prefixes) which are placed at the beginning of the second word in each pair.
Can you form a noun denoting the state of being good, or a verb from stiff? What is the diminutive of part?, and what is the adverb formed from brave? These nouns, verbs and adverbs are formed by the addition to the primary or simple words of certain endings (called suffixes).
The History of English
History of English
English is the second most spoken language in the world. English is a Germanic Language of the Indo-European Family.
An estimate of 300 million people use English as a second language and a further 100 million use it as a foreign language, while there is an estimate of 300 million native speakers. It is the language of science, aviation, computing, diplomacy, and tourism. It is listed as the official or co-official language of over 45 countries and is spoken extensively in other countries where it has no official status. English plays a part in the economic, cultural, or political life of the following countries.
English speaking populations are shown in bold.
http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history.html
Antigua
Australia
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
Botswana
Brunei (with Malay)
Cameroon (with French)
Canada (with French)
Dominica
Fiji
Gambia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
India (with several Indian languages)
Ireland (with Irish Gaelic)
Jamaica
Kenya (with Swahili)
Kiribati
Lesotho (with Sotho)
Liberia
Malawi (with Chewa)
Malta (with Maltese)
Mauritius
Namibia (with Afrikaans)
Nauru (with Nauruan)
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan (with Urdu)
Papua New Guinea
Philippines (with Tagalog)
Puerto Rico (with Spanish)
St Christopher and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent
Senegal (with French)
Seychelles (with French)
Sierra Leone
Singapore (with Malay, Mandarin and Tamil)
South Africa (with Afrikaans, Xhosa and Zulu)
Surinam (with Dutch)
Swaziland (with Swazi)
Tanzania (with Swahili)
Tonga (with Tongan)
Trinidad and Tobago
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Kingdom and its dependencies
United States of America and its dependencies
Vanuatu (with French)
Western Samoa (with Samoan)
Zambia
Zimbabwe
This compares to 27 for French, 20 for Spanish and 17 for Arabic. This domination is unique in history. Speakers of languages like French, Spanish and Arabic may disagree, but English is on its way to becoming the world's unofficial international language. Mandarin (Chinese) is spoken by more people, but English is now the most widespread of the world's languages.
Half of all business deals are conducted in English. Two-thirds of all scientific papers are written in English. Over 70% of all post/mail is written and addressed in English. Most international tourism, aviation and diplomacy is conducted in English.
Origin of English Nations
The history of the language can be traced back to the arrival of three Germanic tribes to the British Isles during the 5th Century AD. Angles, Saxons and Jutes crossed the North Sea from what is the present day Denmark and northern Germany. The inhabitants of Britain previously spoke a Celtic language. This was quickly displaced. Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed into Wales, Cornwall and Scotland. One group migrated to the Brittany Coast of France where their descendants still speak the Celtic Language of Breton today. The Angles were named from Engle, their land of origin. Their language was called English from which the word, English derives.
An Anglo-Saxon inscription dated between 450 and 480AD is the oldest sample of the English language.
During the next few centuries four dialects of English developed:
Northumbrian in Northumbria, north of the Humber
Mercian in the Kingdom of Mercia
West Saxon in the Kingdom of Wessex
Kentish in Kent
http://www.krysstal.com/english.html
Counting of Syllables
We will now learn about syllables at the beginning or the end of words. The prefixes and suffixes come from three sources:
- English itself
- Latin
- Greek
(The source of the prefixes is indicated by the letters in brackets: E. for old English, L. for Latin, G. for Greek.)
a- [E], in or on, thoroughly: asleep, ashore, abroad, ashamed.
a-, ab-, abs- [L] away from: avert, abnormal, absent.
a-, an-, [G] without: atheism (without God), anonymous (without a name).
circum- [L] around: circumnavigate (sail round), circumference.
ambi- [L] around, both: ambidexterous (able to use both hands), ambiguous.
amphi- [G], on both sides: amphitheatre, amphibious (living on both water and air).
ante- anti- [L] before: antecedent, ante-date anticipate.
ant-, anti- [G] against: antarctic, antipathy (feeling against).
bi-, bis- [L] twice: biped, biscuit (twice baked) bisect (cut in two).
di- [G] in two: dipthong, dilemma (choice of two difficulties).
twi- [E] double: twin, twice, twilight, twist.
with- [E] against, back: withstand, withold
syn-, sym-, syl-, sys- [G] with, together with: synthesis (placing together), sympathy (feeling with), syllable (taken together), system.
cum-, col-, con-, com-, co- [L] with: connect, combine, collect, correspond, co-operate (work with).
well- [E] in good state: welcome, welfare.
History of English
Opposites
Can you form opposites of the following words by adding prefixes:?
artic, potent, regular, trust, trustworthy, believe, believable, noble, pious, possible, sense, religious, combatant, responsible, soluble, credible, probable, discreet, poisonous, appearance, agree, rational, movable, literate, arm, adequate, relevant, artistic, advantage, mortal, lock, metallic, inclined, civil, merit, entangle.
Source: English Grammar: EBH Joubert
http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history.html
http://www.krysstal.com/english.html
