Vocabulary Hack: 2 suffixes, 200+ words!

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid.

Back with another vocabulary hack.

So, what's a hack anyway?

A hack is a shortcut, a way for you to learn or do anything faster and more effectively.

Okay?

So in this vocabulary hack lesson you're going to learn not one word at a time, but you're

going to learn a principle that will allow you to learn hundreds of words.

Does that sound good?

I think so.

Because when you're learning a new language, the more vocabulary you learn, the more advanced

you get. Right?

So, especially if you're going to appear for the IELTS or the TOEFL exam, this is a great

lesson for you, and also if you just want to improve in your career, and at work, and

write better letters to your clients and your boss, and so on, and be more impressive, this

is a way to do that.

Okay? Let's learn how.

So, one of the keys to expanding your vocabulary is to use something called prefixes or suffixes.

Now, a prefix is a group of letters that you add to the beginning of a word.

A suffix is a group of letters that you add to the end of a word.

In this vocabulary lesson we're going to focus on suffixes that you add to a verb and to

a noun.

Now, these suffixes are related so that once you make the verb you can also make the noun,

and so you get...

From one word you're going to get three words.

And there are hundreds of words like this for which I will show you where you can get

a resource so you can really expand your vocabulary.

Okay?

So, let me show you how it's done.

The suffix that we add to the verb is "-ize" in American English, or "-ise" in Britain

English.

And to make a noun we add "-ization" in American English or "-isation" in British English.

Okay?

You'll understand exactly what that means in a second.

So, what does it mean when we take a word which could be a noun, it could be an adjective,

and we add this suffix?

What happens?

What does it mean?

It means that you're going to make or cause something to be.

For example, if you want to make something more final...

Okay?

You have reservations, you want to make them more final, so we say if we want to use the

verb, we want to finalize them.

Okay? See?

We make the verb with the suffix.

Or if you want to use the noun: the finalization of my reservations. Okay?

So you add another verb and you add another noun just from one adjective, so you've got

three words instead of just one word.

If you're using the noun...

So, what does the noun do?

When we add "-ization" or "-isation", we're basically talking about the act, or process,

or the result of making something a certain way.

For example, let's take an example from the academic world. Okay?

Lots of times you have to put something into your memory.

Right?

Whether it's a formula, or a poem, or a quotation, or something.

So, what's the verb for that?

We add "-ize", let's say: "memorize", and what's the noun for that?

"Memorization", okay?

Now, there's a little rhythm to this and we're going to practice that so that it comes to

you really easily.

Let's look at something from the business world.

What do people in business want to do?

They want to make as much money as possible, so let's say you had the word "maximum" and

you want to make it into a verb, you add the "-ize", so you say: "I want to maximize my

profits", or: "Our focus is on the maximization of our profits."

Okay?

Or: "Minimize our cost", "Minimization of our costs", okay?

Now, even if you weren't familiar with these words before you can see how you can use them

and how easily you can form them, and this pattern applies not only to these three words,

but as I said, to hundreds of words, and I'm going to show you a few more examples right

now.

Okay, are you ready?

We're going to take now one word and turn it into three words, all right?

So, the word: "western", make it into a verb, "western", "westernize", "westernization".

Got it?

This is what we're going to do with all of these words.

All right?

Also, I want you to do it because I want you to hear the patterns, hear the repetition

in your own voice.

Okay?

Here we go.

"Western", "westernize", "westernization".

"Global", "globalize", "globalization".

Good.

Say it with me.

Okay?

Because you know what to do.

Good.

"Democratic", this word is a little bit long but you can do it: "democratize", "democratization".

Good.

Now, I imagine if you wrote that word in an essay-right?-in an IELTS essay, of course,

it's very impressive. Okay.

Money, how do we make that into a verb?

"Money", "monetize", "monetization".

Good.

"Normal", "normalize", "normalization".

"Hospital", "hospitalize", "hospitalization".

"Legal", "to make legal", "legalize", "legalization".

"Criminal", "criminalize", "criminalization".

And: "visual", "visualize", "visualization".

Okay? You see, there's a pattern.

And once you get comfortable with the pattern it's not hard anymore.

Okay?

Now, let's see how you can use these words as part of phrases.

Okay?

Now we're going a little bit further so that you can really start using them, because you're

not just going to walk around saying these words, you're going to use them as part of

sentences, either while speaking or writing.

All right?

So, let's use the verb here.

Okay?

"To westernize a society", "To globalize the economy", "To democratize the country", money:

"Monetize a website", normal: "Normalize the situation", "Hospital": "Hospitalize a patient",

"Legal": "Legalize marijuana", or: "Criminal": "Criminalize marijuana", "Visual": "Visualize

your goals".

Okay?

So these are examples of some phrases.

And you can do that, too, when you go to the resource and you pull out some words which

you really like and which you'd like to start using yourself, do that.

First get the pattern of the words, then use them in phrases, then use them in sentences,

and then they will flow more easily from you.

And as you can see, these words cover all kinds of subject areas.

Right?

Sociology, economics, politics, business, health, the law, personal life.

All right?

So I think that you will find that this little trick will help you to expand your vocabulary

really quickly and nicely.

Okay.

So, what you could do if you really want to have some fun is take the word "optimum",

which means the very best.

What's the verb here?

"Optimize", and maybe write a sentence in the comments using this word.

For example, you could say: "I would like to optimize my grades", or "optimize my English",

or "optimize my income" or whatever it is that you want to optimize in your own life.

Right? I'd love to hear.

I'd love to read your comments. Okay?

Now, remember what you can do to practice this event more, go to our website at engVid,

www.engvid.com and do a quiz on this.

While you're there, don't forget to download the resource -- it's free -- it's for you

with hundreds of words that follow the same pattern. Okay?

So don't forget the link is in the description so you can go there really easily. Okay?

And subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can get more lessons with vocabulary hacks,

grammar hacks, and all kinds of other ways to help you learn English more quickly and

effectively.

All right? Thanks very much for watching.

Bye for now. Good luck with your English.