Learn Negative Prefixes in English: IN-, IM-, IL-, IR-, IG-

Hello. This is Gill here at engVid, and today we have a lesson on... Well, how to increase

your vocabulary just by adding a little bit at the beginning of a word to make it negative,

so that's called a negative prefix.

So, for example, this is probably one word you will know: the word "correct", when you

get something right; "correct". If you say "incorrect", then that's the negative, meaning

not correct. So, you can automatically add a word to your vocabulary just by adding the

negative bit at the beginning. Okay?

So, we're looking today at different what are called prefixes because you put it in

front of the word. In English, there are 12 of these prefixes, so we're going to look

at them in two different lessons. In this lesson, we're looking at five of them; and

then in the other lesson, we'll look at seven. So, does that add up to...? Seven, eight - yes,

that adds up to 12. Good. So, the reason we have five here and seven in the other one:

All of these begin with the letter "i", so we've put these all together, but the other

seven are different; they're all different. So, let's have a look at these.

So, increase your vocabulary by using a negative prefix. So, the first prefix, which is used

for a lot of words... You have to know which is the right one to use; you can't just use

any negative prefix with any word. They belong with certain words. So, the ones that belong

with "in", here are some examples; there are lots more. So, if something is complete, it's

complete, everything is there; but if it's incomplete... If your... If your homework

is incomplete, it means you haven't finished it. So: "Is your homework complete, or is

it incomplete? Do you still need to do some more work on it?" So, that's "incomplete"

- the negative. Okay?

So... And then when you get your homework back, is it all correct? Did you get full

marks, or was there anything in it that was incorrect? If you got something incorrect,

you maybe lost a mark or two. Okay. So, "incorrect".

If you're efficient, you do things very efficiently; very well, very... You have a good method

for doing things - but if you're inefficient or if somebody is inefficient, it means they're

not very well-organized; they don't do things in a very logical way. It takes them longer

to do it, they might make mistakes, and so on. So, that's "inefficient". Okay.

"Formal". We sometimes talk about formal language, and then the opposite of that is "informal",

informal language is when you're having a conversation with a friend, you might be using

slang terms and so on. But if you're meeting somebody important or you're going for a job

interview, you will be fairly formal. So, you're either formal or informal, depending

on who you're with. Okay. And who you're talking to. So, "informal".

Human, we're all human, but sometimes if people do something bad, it's called "inhuman". If

someone does something really bad to somebody else, they're being inhuman; they're not thinking

of that person's feelings. They're hurting them in some way. So you could say: "That

was inhuman, what he did." Maybe to give... You know, to get... If someone leaves a job,

they're given the sack, they're asked to go in a bad way - it's not very nice; it's inhuman

to just tell somebody: "You've got to go." So: "human", "inhuman".

"Secure", if you feel secure, you feel safe. If you feel insecure, then you don't feel

safe. So: "secure", "insecure".

And then, finally, for "in": "visible". If something is visible, you can see it; it's

right there. I can see the camera; it's visible. But if something is invisible... If the camera

is hidden and I don't know I'm being filmed, then it's an invisible camera. So: "visible",

"invisible". Anything you can't see is invisible. Okay.

There's one funny, little exception with the "in" prefix. If somebody's famous, then they're

a celebrity; they're very well-known, they're on television all the time, they're in films,

etc. So they're famous. Famous person. If you see them in the street, you think: "Oh

my goodness! Wow! It's that famous actor right near me in the street." Okay? So you might

think that the prefix "in" with "famous" would mean the opposite; that they're not famous,

but it doesn't mean that. This is an exception. If something or somebody is infamous... And

the pronunciation changes a little bit. The pronunciation of the "a": "famous", but "infamous".

So, the "a" vowel sound changes. If somebody is infamous or if some event, something that

happened was infamous, it does still mean famous - everybody knows about it, but it's

famous in a bad way. Okay?

So, if someone does something really bad and it's on television and everybody knows that

they did this awful thing... Maybe it's a big like a gangster in Chicago... Oh, one

of the gangsters was, you know, who used to... They had gangs and they were shooting each

other, and so on. They were very... Their names were very well-known, so you could say:

"The infamous gangster, Al Capone", for example. Al Capone, who was one of the Chicago gangsters

of the 1920s, 30s. He was infamous. Everyone had heard of him. He was famous, but he was

famous for a bad reason, so that made him infamous. Okay. Right, so that's the "in"

prefix.

Then there's one that's an "im" with an "m". Okay? So, again, there's no particular rule

here, but you just sort of have to get used to whether it sounds right or not. So, you

may have to try different prefixes to see if it sounds right. You have to just try and

see if you can get it. So, you get used to it as you use them. So, with the word "mature",

if you're mature you're sort of grown up; adult, you behave in a mature way. But someone

who is not mature can be called "immature". So, this one, it's a double "m", so: "i",

double "m", "immature". So, if someone behaves in an immature way, they behave like a child.

You might say: "Oh, stop being so immature. When are you going to grow up; behave like

an adult?" So that's "immature". Okay.

"Patient". If you're patient, you're happy to wait and not get annoyed. But if you...

If you get irritated and you think: "Ah, when...? When is something going to happen?" If you're

waiting or you're waiting for a friend to arrive and they're a bit late, and you start

to get really annoyed, and you start walking up and down, getting angry - that's impatient.

Impatient. So: "patient", "impatient". Okay.

So: "perfect". We all like to try to be perfect, I think; do everything well, but it doesn't

always work out that way. So, sometimes something can be imperfect. Imperfect; not perfect.

It may be 95% perfect, 96% perfect, but there's just one little thing that's wrong with it,

so that's imperfect. Okay.

"Polite", also we try to be polite all the time and be nice to everybody; polite. But

if someone is not polite, if they're a bit rude, if they're in a bad mood or something,

or they may always be like that, then they're impolite. "That was an impolite thing to say."

Okay. Not polite.

And then this one you probably know: "possible". If something is possible, it means you can

do it; it can be done. But if it's impossible, then it's not possible. You may know of a

television program, also a film called Mission Impossible, and that's a bit of a challenge,

really, because the people who are in it, they actually prove that it is possible. It

seems impossible to begin with, but they're very strong and clever, and they try to do

something that seems impossible. So, sometimes if we think something's impossible, we just

have to try. Just try a bit harder; it may be possible after all. So: "possible", "impossible".

Okay.

So, moving on to "il". So, there's a good sort of clue, here. A lot of the words that

go with "il" begin with an "l", which means that you get a double "l"; "i", double "l".

So that's... That helps you to remember which prefix to use with which word. So, with "legal",

for example, meaning something is okay to do; it's not against the law. It's legal.

If someone says: "Is this legal, what we're doing? Is it legal?" And you might say: "No.

I think it's illegal." So, we shouldn't really do that; it's illegal. It's against the law.

So, you could be arrested for doing that. The police will come and take you to the...

To put you in prison or something. So, "illegal", you have to be careful what you do to know

what you can and can't do. Depending on what country you're in, it varies. So: "illegal".

"Legible". I hope my writing is legible, meaning you can read it. I hope you can read it. I

try to make it clear. So, something that is legible... If you have legible handwriting,

people can read it. But I know some people with very bad handwriting, and they can't

even read their own handwriting. You know, they write something, and then five minutes

later they're trying to read it, and: "Oo, what's that? What did I put?" So, if the person

themselves can't read their own handwriting, there's not much hope. But anyway. "Legible"

and "illegible". So, his handwriting is illegible; I just can't read it. Okay. Right.

Well, this is a good one for learning English or any language: "literate" means you can

read; you're able to read. There are some people who can't read; they have not learnt

to read for various reasons. So, if... If someone is literate, it means they can read

printed words; but someone who is illiterate-"i", double "l"-"illiterate" has never learned

to read. Read and write. So, that's an important one.

And then, finally in this column: "logical". If something is logical, it makes sense; it

sort of... One thing follows from another; logical. But if somebody has an argument about

something and they... They... They make an argument which is illogical, then it doesn't

make sense; it doesn't follow. They may sound as if they know what they're talking about,

but if you analyze it, you find: "No, that's not logical." There's a... There's a big hole

in that argument. It's not logical; it's illogical. Okay.

Then "ir". So, "regular". If something's regular, it happens at every... You know, in a regular

way with the same sort of spaces in between all the time, so that's regular. And so, the

opposite is "irregular". Again, the little clue, here, is that a lot of these words begin

with an "r", so you end up with an "i" double "r" for these ones, so it helps you to remember

which prefix to use. So, "irregular".

"Relevant". If something is relevant, it's... It belongs with... If somebody's arguing again

and they say something, and it is relevant to the discussion, then it's part of that

subject. But if someone says something that has nothing to do with that subject, you can

say: "Well, that's irrelevant. That's got nothing to do with what we're talking about."

It's irrelevant. Okay?

This one. Usually this one is used with the negative probably more than the positive,

but if something is resistible, it means you can resist it; it's not all that attractive.

But we tend to talk about things which are irresistible. Things like chocolate, for example,

I find irresistible. It's very hard to resist if someone offers you a chocolate. They're

irresistible. But to say "resistible", it's... This is actually used as a bit of an insult.

If you don't like something... If someone's made some coffee and you don't like the taste,

you can say: "Well, that coffee is quite resistible." You know, I don't feel like drinking it, really.

It's easy to resist it; to... Not to drink it. So, "irresistible" is used much more,

I think, in the negative sense. Okay.

So, "responsible". If... If you're responsible in the way you do something, you're careful,

you're considerate, you're thinking of the consequences. You don't do anything silly,

so you're being responsible. But if... If people don't think about the consequences

and if they're very careless and they don't really... You know, they don't do things carefully

at all, then they're irresponsible. That was irresponsible to... For example, if someone

is trying to get onto a train and the train has already started moving and the doors are

open, and somebody tries to jump on the train while it's moving, you could say: "Well, that

was a very irresponsible thing to do." They could have hurt themselves, they could have

hurt somebody else, they could have caused an accident, so it's irresponsible. Okay.

Then "reversible". To reverse something is to turn it the other way around; reversible.

You can get reversible coats, for example, which are one colour on one side, and then

when you turn them the other way, they're a different colour on the inside, which then

becomes the outside. So you can have a reversible coat, which is like having two coats because

they will probably have two different colours, which is rather nice. But "irreversible"...

If you say: "That was an irreversible decision", once you have decided to do something and

you do it, you can't go back to how it was before; that was irreversible. Something...

Some irreversible damage has been done; you can't put it right afterwards. Okay. It's

permanently damaged, whatever it is. Okay.

And then finally, one little one and I only know of one word that has "ig" as the negative

prefix, and that's the word "noble". So, if you're noble, it means you're a sort of an

honest person, you do the right thing all the time, you don't do bad things to people;

but someone who is the opposite of that is called "ignoble". It's a slightly strange,

old-fashioned word, but ignoble if someone behaves badly; they're not behaving in a noble,

honest way. Okay.

And then, finally, for this lesson, just to mention that: Don't assume that every word

beginning with any of these letters is always going to be a negative, because there are

some words that just happen to start with those letters. So, here are just a few examples:

"influence", "impact", "improve", "illusion", "irrigate", "ignite". They're not negatives;

they just happen to start with those letters. Okay.

So, "to influence" is to... To get somebody to sort of believe what you think or to get

them to do something. "Impact" is... If you have an impact on somebody, they take notice

of something that you've done. "Improve" is what I hope you're trying to do all the time

with your English; improve your English, so I'm sure you know that word.

"Illusion" is when you imagine you've seen something, but it's an illusion; it's not

really there. "Irrigate" is when... If you have a very dry area of land and you maybe

want to grow some crops in it, you have to irrigate the soil. To make it wet enough,

you put some water on it to help the seeds to grow. So, that's "irrigate". And, finally,

"ignite" means to make something burn, to set fire to something; to ignite. Okay.

So, I hope that's been helpful and will help you to add to your vocabulary. And please

look at our other lesson on negative prefixes. And also go to the website, www.engvid.com;

do the quiz there. And see you again very soon. Okay. Bye.