← Use of English

Word Families

Change the root word so that it fits the gap

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Topic: Surf lifesavers – keeping Australia’s beaches safe. Every summer, thousands of volunteers in red and yellow uniforms watch the beaches and help swimmers in trouble. In this unit you practise three typical tasks from the Use of English part of your exam.

What do you have to do?

In the exam you get a sentence with a gap and a ROOT WORD in capital letters. You have to change the root word so that it fits into the gap – often it becomes a different word class (noun, verb, adjective or adverb).

  1. Read the whole sentence. What does it mean?
  2. Look at the words before and after the gap. Which word class do you need?
  3. Change the root word – add a prefix (un-, il-) or a suffix (-ful, -less, -ion, -ly) or take a prefix away.
  4. Check again: Does the sentence need a past tense (-ed)? A plural (-s)? A negative meaning? Is the spelling right?

Example · ROOT WORD: HELP

The volunteers are very ________ .

➜ very + ___ describes the volunteers → I need an adjective → help + -ful

✅ The volunteers are very helpful.

🔎 Word class detectives – how to find the right word class

Nounafter a, an, the, my, a good …-ion, -ation, -er, -ness, -ment
Verbafter I, you, she, they … or topast: -ed
Adjectiveafter is, are, was, very, feel or before a noun-ful, -less, -al; un-, il-
Adverbtells us how something happens-ly

📚 Our word families – flip the cards!

Each card shows a root word and how many words are hiding in its family. First try to find them yourself – then click (or tap) the card to check.

🇩🇪 Hilfe auf Deutsch

Du bekommst ein Wort in GROSSBUCHSTABEN (z. B. HELP). Du musst es so verändern, dass es in die Lücke passt – meistens wird daraus eine andere Wortart. Schau immer auf die Wörter vor und nach der Lücke: Steht davor a/the, brauchst du meist ein Nomen. Steht davor is/very, brauchst du meist ein Adjektiv. Beschreibt das Wort, wie jemand etwas tut, brauchst du ein Adverb (-ly). Achte auch auf die Zeit: In einer Geschichte in der Vergangenheit bekommt ein Verb oft -ed.

Task 1 · Which word class is it?

Warm-up: drag every word into the right box.

Correct: 0 / 0

Task 2 · A day with the surf lifesavers

Fill in the correct form of the ROOT WORD (one word). Stuck? Click 💡 Hint.

Task 3 · Explorers, lifesavers and nervous surfers

More word families: employ, explore, immediate, recover, warn, nerve. Fill in the correct form (one word). Did you know? The explorer in sentence 1 came from Germany!