Re: Adjective opposites Vs. Lingustic Freedom

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 13:23:29 GMT

Hi Mister Micawber,

Here was my friends original use of the word:

Thanks for the article about Russia and the fairly non-informative email.

To which I replied with some light-hearted taunting:

...Also, the proper antonym of informative is uninformative. If we venture too willy-nilly into the world of adjective opposites we could end up with such awkward words as:

dislegal

unlogical

iltrue

dismature

imlogical

...and many more terrible variations.

And this stylistic rule:

Adjectival Opposites

The opposite or the negative aspect of an adjective can be formed in a number of ways. One way, of course, is to find an adjective to mean the opposite â an antonym. The opposite of beautiful is ugly, the opposite of tall is short. A thesaurus can help you find an appropriate opposite. Another way to form the opposite of an adjective is with a number of prefixes. The opposite of fortunate is unfortunate, the opposite of prudent is imprudent, the opposite of considerate is inconsiderate, the opposite of honorable is dishonorable, the opposite of alcoholic is nonalcoholic, the opposite of being properly filed is misfiled. If you are not sure of the spelling of adjectives modified in this way by prefixes (or which is the appropriate prefix), you will have to consult a dictionary, as the rules for the selection of a prefix are complex and too shifty to be trusted. The meaning itself can be tricky; for instance, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing.

(The above paragraph was taken from this website: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm)

Thanks for the advice,

Eric

Re: KiB, MiB, KB, MB are prefixes or suffixes?

McoreD — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 02:11:02 GMT

Hi Ivantalk,

Thanks for the reply. That surprises me. So none of them are either prefixes or suffixes but abbreviations?

If you are interested to know what MiB and KiB, then here are two excellent articles about Binary abbreviations (prefixes).

http://members.optus.net/alexey/prefBin.xhtml
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj/binprefixes.html

Cheers,
McoreD

KiB, MiB, KB, MB are prefixes or suffixes?

McoreD — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 14:49:52 GMT

Hi Guys,

By definition: prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. A suffix is an affix that succeeds the morphemes to which it can attach.

So when you say 700 MiB, is "MiB" really a prefix or a suffix? It's amazing to see almost every popular article use the phrases "binary prefixes", "SI prefixes" etc.
For example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html

Why they use the word "prefix" instead of "suffix" is beyond me. Can anybody please explain?

Thank you in advance,
McoreD

prefixes

jeter — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 02:53:56 GMT

Prefixes
Hi all:
The article is that I read a paper. I wrote it to here maybe someone need.
This article is saying about prfixes like âreâ.âoverâ.âmisâand âdisâ. And so no.
Re meaning (again) âMy project is bad that manager want me to redoâ
Over meaning (too much) âI think my leader is overdoingâ
Mis meaning (badly or incorrectly)
Un meaning (without)â¦
Sorry there words is all in this paper
I think there words are useful but someone maybe can provide too many word to me
To undestand prefixes of English.
Thx.

Re: Need help

Teacher Eric — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 20:13:12 GMT

1. "Worse" is the comparative of "bad" while "worst" is the superlative.

bad-worse-the worst

His new movie is worse than his last.
Your cooking is getting worse! (compared to before)
Among his movies, the newest one is the worst.
This is the worst of all!

2. I'm reproducing Taiwandave's post in its entirety. The article mainly reflects British English usage. As follows:

Rules for using hyphens
Posted: 24 Jun 2004 01:11 AM
There have been a number of recent questions concerning when to use hypens. The following is an excerpt from The Economist magazine's style guide.

Â© The Economist Newspaper Limited 2004

Use hyphens for:

1. FRACTIONS (whether nouns or adjectives): two-thirds, four-fifths, one-sixth, etc.

2. MOST WORDS THAT BEGIN with anti, non and neo. Thus anti-aircraft, anti-fascist, anti-submarine (but antibiotic, anticlimax, antidote, antiseptic, antitrust); non-combatant, non-existent, non-payment, non-violent (but nonaligned, nonconformist, nonplussed, nonstop); neo-conservative, neo-liberal (but neoclassicism, neolithic, neologism).

Words beginning Euro should also be hyphenated, except Europhile, Europhobe and Eurosceptic; euro zone and euro area.

Some words that become unmanageably long with the addition of a prefix. Thus under-secretary and inter-governmental. Antidisestablishmentarianism would, however, lose its point if it were hyphenated.

A sum followed by the word worth also needs a hyphen. Thus $25m-worth of goods.

3. SOME TITLES

vice-president, director-general, under-secretary, secretary-general, attorney-general, lieutenant-colonel, major-general, field-marshal

but

general secretary, deputy secretary, deputy director, district attorney

4. TO AVOID AMBIGUITIES

a little-used car
a little used-car
cross complaint
cross-complaint
high-school girl
high schoolgirl
fine-tooth comb (most people do not comb their teeth)
third-world war
third world war

5. AIRCRAFT

DC-10, Mirage F-1E, MiG-23, Lockheed P-3 Orion
(If in doubt, consult Jane's "All the World's Aircraft".)

6. ADJECTIVES FORMED FROM TWO OR MORE WORDS

right-wing groups (but the right wing of the party), balance-of-payments difficulties, private-sector wages, public-sector borrowing requirement, a 70-year-old judge, state-of-the-union message, value-added tax (VAT).

Adverbs do not need to be linked to participles or adjectives by hyphens in simple constructions: The regiment was ill equipped for its task; The principle is well established; Though expensively educated, the journalist knew no grammar. But if the adverb is one of two words together being used adjectivally, a hyphen may be needed: The ill-equipped regiment was soon repulsed; All well-established principles should be periodically challenged. The hyphen is especially likely to be needed if the adverb is short and common, such as ill, little, much and well. Less-common adverbs, including all those that end -ly, are less likely to need hyphens: Never employ an expensively educated journalist.

Do not overdo the literary device of hyphenating words that are not usually linked: the stringing-together-of-lots-and-lots-of-words-and-ideas tendency can be tiresome.

7. SEPARATING IDENTICAL LETTERS:

book-keeping (but bookseller), coat-tails, co-operate, unco-operative, pre-eminent, pre-empt (but predate, precondition), re-emerge, re-entry (but rearm, rearrange, reborn, repurchase), trans-ship. Exceptions include override, overrule, underrate, withhold.

8. NOUNS FORMED FROM PREPOSITIONAL VERBS:

bail-out, build-up, call-up, get-together, lay-off, pay-off, round-up, set-up, shake-up, etc.

9. THE QUARTERS OF THE COMPASS:

north-east(ern), south-east(ern), south-west(ern), north-west(ern), the mid-west(ern).

10. HYBRID ETHNICS:

Greek-Cypriot, Irish-American, etc, whether noun or adjective.

Words gathered together in quotation marks to serve as adjectives do not usually need hyphens as well: the "Live Free or Die" state.

----------------

A general rule for makers: if the prefix is of one or two syllables, attach it without a hyphen to form a single word, but if the prefix is of three or more syllables, introduce a hyphen. So carmaker, chipmaker, peacemaker, marketmaker, troublemaker, but candlestick-maker, holiday-maker, tiramisu-maker, antimacassar-maker. Policymaker (one word) is an exception.

With other words ending -er that are similar to maker (builder, dealer, driver, grower, owner, player, runner, seeker, trafficker, worker, etc) the general rule should be to insert a hyphen. But some prefixes, especially those of one syllable, can be used to form single words (coalminer, foxhunter, householder, landowner, metalworker, muckraker, nitpicker, shipbroker, steeplechaser), and some combinations will be better left as two words (insurance broker, crossword compiler, tuba player).

ONE WORD:
airfield
airspace
airtime
antibiotic
anticlimax
antidoteantiseptic
antitrust
bedfellow
bestselling
bilingual
blackboard
blueprint
bookmaker
businessman
bypass
carmaker
cashflow
ceasefire
chipmaker
clockmaker
coalminer
coastguard
codebreaker
comeback
commonsense (adj)
cyberspace
dotcom
fallout
farmworker
figleaf
foothold
forever (adv, when it precedes the verb)
foxhunter (-ing)
goodwill
halfhearted
handout
handpicked
hardline
headache
hijack
hobnob
kowtow
lacklustre
landmine
landowner
laptop
loophole
lopsided
lukewarm
machinegun
marketmaker (-ing)
metalworker
minefield
multilingual
nationwide
nevertheless
nitpicker (-ing)
nonetheless
offline
offshore
oilfield
online
onshore
overpaid
overrated
override
overrule
overrun
payout
peacekeepers (-ing)
peacemaker (-ing)
peacetime
petrochemical
placename
policymakers(-ing), but foreign-policy makers (-ing)
profitmaking
rainforest
roadblock
rustbelt
salesforce
seabed
shipbroker (-ing)
shipbuilder (-ing)
shipowner
shortlist
shutdown
soyabean
spillover
statewide
steelmaker (-ing)
steelworker (-ing)
stockmarket
streetwalker
strongman
subcommittee
subcontinent
subcontract
subhuman
submachinegun
sunbelt
takeover
threshold
timetable
transatlantic
transpacific
troublemaker (-ing)
turnout
underdog
underpaid
underrated
videodisc
videocassette
wartime
website
windfall
workforce
worldwide
worthwhile

TWO WORDS:
ad hoc (always)
air base
air force
arm's length
any more
ballot box
birth rate
car maker
child care (noun)
common sense (noun)
dog owner
errand boy
for ever (when used after a verb)
girl friend
health care (noun)
Land Rover
no one
on to
some day
under way
vice versa

TWO HYPHENATED WORDS:
agri-business
aid-worker
aircraft-carrier
asylum-seekers
bail-out
bell-ringer
build-up
buy-out
call-up (noun)
catch-phrase
copper-miner
death-squads
drawing-board
drug-dealer (-ing)
drug-trafficker (-ing)
end-game
end-year
faint-hearted
field-worker
front-line
front-runner
fund-raiser (-ing)
get-together (noun)
gun owner
gun-runner
hand-held
health-care (adj)
heir-apparent
hot-head
ice-cream
infra-red
inter-governmental
interest-group
joint-venture
kerb-crawler
know-how
lay-off (noun)
like-minded
long-standing
machine-tool
mid-week, mid-August, etc
mill-owner
nation-building
nation-state
news-stand
pay-off (noun)
post-war
pot-hole
pressure-group
pre-war
pull-out (noun, not verb)
question-mark
rain-check
re-create (meaning create again)
re-present (meaning present again)
re-sort (meaning sort again)
round-up (noun)
set-up (noun)
shake-out (noun)
stand-off
starting-point
start-ups
sticking-point
stumbling-block
talking-shop
task-force
tear-gas
think-tank
time-bomb
truck-driver
turning-point
vote-winner
working-party

THREE WORDS:
ad hoc agreement (meeting, etc)
armoured personnel carrier
chiefs of staff
half a dozen
in as much
in so far
multiple rocket launcher
nuclear power station
third world war (if things get bad)

THREE HYPHENATED WORDS:
A-turned-B (thief-turned-journalist)
brother-in-law
chock-a-block
commander-in-chief
no-man's-land
prisoners-of-war
second-in-command

Avoid from 1947-50 (say in 1947-50 or from 1947 to 1950) and between 1961-65 (say in 1961-65, between 1961 and 1965 or from 1961 to 1965).

âIf you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go madâ (Oxford University Press style manual).

Search results for 'tag:Prefixes tag:Articles' matching tags 'Prefixes' and 'Articles'

Re: Adjective opposites Vs. Lingustic Freedom

Re: KiB, MiB, KB, MB are prefixes or suffixes?

KiB, MiB, KB, MB are prefixes or suffixes?

prefixes

Re: Need help