Negative Prefixes In English: UN-, DIS-, NON-, A-, AB-, AN-, ANTI

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Gill • 2-Intermediate• 3-Advanced• grammar Negative Prefixes in English: UN-, DIS-, NON-, A-, AB-, AN-, ANTI- Do you know how to turn positive words into negative words? It’s easy when you know your negative prefixes, which is the focus of this lesson. A prefix is one or more letters we add in front of a word to modify its meaning. There are many kinds of prefixes, but today we will talk about the prefixes that turn a word into its negative. As an example, you can turn “happy” into “unhappy”, “honest” into “dishonest”, and “fiction” into “non-fiction”. There are 12 different negative prefixes in English. This lesson will cover seven of them. The other five are covered my other lesson here, so be sure to complete your negative prefix collection by watching the other lesson after this one. Related Lessons Learn Real English – How to pay with DEBIT or CREDIT CARDS ONLY & JUST: What’s the difference? STOP giving advice in English! English Vocabulary & Expressions for SHOPPING in North America 10 ways to say “I don’t know” in English Gill Help a Charity, Save a Life Basic English: How to pronounce -NGTH words Real English: Speaking on the phone Basic English: How to pronounce contractions 22 ways to use ‘OUT’ in English: outfit, outlook, output, outcry, out loud… engVid quiz Quiz

Test your understanding of this English lesson

Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz. The opposite of "sense" is:unsensedissensenonsenseasenseantisenseThe opposite of "normal" is:unnormalabnormalnon-normalanormalantinormalThe opposite of "lucky" is:unluckydisluckynon-luckyaluckyabluckyThe opposite of "clockwise" is:unclockwiseanticlockwisenon-clockwiseaclockwiseabclockwiseclockstupidThe opposite of "appear" is:unappeardisappearnon-appearabappearanappearThe opposite of "trust" is:untrustdistrustnon-trustatrustabtrustThe opposite of "fiction" is:unfictiondisfictionnon-fictionafictionabfictionThe opposite of "tidy" is:untidyantitidynon-tidyatidyabtidyThe opposite of "popular" is:unpopulardispopularnon-popularapopularantipopularnotularThe opposite of "honest" is:unhonestdishonestnon-honestanhonestahonest Next Question LEAVE A COMMENT

63 COMMENTS

100℅ ☺ Thank you Gill. Superb lesson. I enjoyed a lot .

Annie

i would like to thank mss gill and her teem, because always you standing our improving our English speaking, so thank you so much,

mohamed ibrahim fanah

Sorry Ms Gill, you´re not a normal teacher, but an EXCELLENT one ;) Thank you so much for your lesson and your clear explanations. Btw, shouldn´t it be a hyphen in question number one?

knopfler86

    Thanks for your kind words :-) As mentioned in the video, the word ‘nonsense’ doesn’t have a hyphen, unlike the other examples I gave. The English language is full of exceptions!!

    Gill

      Ohhh yes, I´ve watched the video once again and you explained it in minute 9:16. Sorry for the stupid question and thanks again Gill!!

      knopfler86

Mrs Gill thanks for your improvement.

Edison belibofa

I like the way you explian the meaning of the words . You make it easier to understand. Thank you alot .

Nourah Gh

Hi! It’s always a huge pleasure to study your class. See you!

Guilherme

    Hi do you want to practise english with me?

    Murtaza Khan

hi Mrs Gill thank you for everything,i appreciat you a lot, so to day my English is getting better.

BAKARY MARA

Thank my best teacher gill I wanna happy to give more about the negative word because I can make more mistake just you can me good confidence what I’d to say have you made more effort keep going i want to join by course of TOEFL, please can you help me what about that course, i think so to help me ok teacher nice to me you.

Salankey

I don’t know that also a- and an- are used as a negative prefix with some words! Thanks Gill,

jalmod

Wow, I got 10 correct out of 10. Thanks teacher Gill!

Rafael Muniz

Wow, I’ve solved 10 correct out of 10. Thanks, teacher

nooragha nejat

All correct

Waraich22g

I got 10/10, but i still quite embarrassing when change from normal to abnormal, that is rarely see it in sentences. Thank Gill so much

nguyen van long

made 100 yeah

delia2812

really helping me We own you

Zana1

Thanks really helpful

@steven

Thanks??

Rezash

100 thank you

1969Rita

Please : I Would like to ask about the words “counter clockwise”. Does it mean the same than anti clockwise? Thanks so much for your useful lessons . You’re one of the best teachers I’ve ever meet !!!

sofema

    Hi! There are the same. I think counterclockwise will be used in the USA.

    IndigoGott

Thank you Gill.

sevigr

Gill, Does you tutor on skype: Sevigr I want to take lessons from you. if you write to me, I will glad you.

sevigr

thank you

ferhat

Amazing ? and very simple explanation

Ahmed sayed ali

one of the best teachers who I do like their accent. if you can make more videos about the advanced grammar, please.

omar fathi

Thank you teacher Gill. I got 10 out 10.

huynhbeti

thank you teacher gill i got 2 out 10

ikitabo2016

How do I take class one ow one with you in private lesson? Please let me know.

Eden1004

Thanks gill ,I got 90 and I would like to become of your students and learn with you .

Pearl freddy

Thankyou very much friendly and happy teacher. I am learning so much with you Gill.

Giomaria

Gill, I thank you immensely. Great lesson as always. Grazie! ❤️

AlessandroItaly

I love a British accent , but i can’t learn it even i practice hard it’s so difficult

Azhersalman97

Hallo, Mrs Gill! You overlooked about “able” in the end of the lesson. Could you explain, please, negative variants of “able”: unable, disable? Thank you!

Vladimir Petrush

for quiz 1, there is no (-) for non-sense, by the way thanks Gill,i,ve got all .

Al- Shahrier Mehedi

90% without watching video )

ShaX10

study english is abnormal for me on a regular basis :D

Simple Yarik

Gill i got 90 points

[Thank you]

SyedFadilAhmed

Hello, Gill :) The prefixe MIS- is missing, but I am confident there will be more lessons about negative prefixes. Thank you for you invaluable lessons.

ermes.rdg

“prefix”, of course (a typo, as always).

ermes.rdg

I got all 10.thank you for this wonderful lesson.

Astrero

thank you gill

Faithjewelkasongu

The lesson was very interesting.

Thank you.

Raniero

Thank you Ms. Gill.

Alex-1956

Thank you Gil for the video, Clarify for me please. Can’t I say unable or I have to say not able?

Allan Brazil

    You can say UNABLE :)

    isergey04

90 % ahaha good lesson

karen2021

Thanks very much Mrs Gill for your lessons, I enjoy them so much as well as I learn and practise, I’m trying to listen to you every day at breakfast or tea time. Send you a big hug from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

patobeat

10/10 The lesson was very interesting. Thank you

Jannyl

Thanks ?

Sheloue12

Thank you Teacher Gill. I got 100.

Amira Abdulaziz

I’m really lucky to improved about ability the knowledge English when i’ve learnt your lessons. Thanks so much Miss Gill

Jimmy Tuan

Dear Mrs. Gill, I like, how eloquent you are. Thanks for this lesson. Each verb was well described!

Arminius

Nice exercise

Yasser.Houidi

teacher it was a good lesson but I had noted something in the quiz Why you did not but Dash between non and sense in question one thanks .

modather dawod

Thank you very much. I got 10 of 10.

tampubolon

excuse me teacher but I think that antisocial is a personality and who have this personality do a lot of crimes.Actually they haven’t human conscience. for example:joker is a antisocial person. so is tony Montana (in the Scarface movie). they may sometime popular for group of people.

akbarkamali1367

    I corrected-Joker is a antisocial person. Tony Montana Joker is proper noun so I must write it with capitalized first letter.

    akbarkamali1367

Thank You Gill Mam

Prahalad

I have A Great Score 100/100 And I got a Great Lessons From Gill Teacher Thank You

andhikajansenreforwan

6/10 eahh not bad. Thanks Gill :)!

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