Exercise 2

A lot of adjectives can be made into their opposite form by adding a prefix (un-, in-, dis-, il-, etc.)
to the beginning of the word.
Task 1: Decide which of the prefixes from the first box can be used to make opposites of the words
in the second box.
Task 2: Without looking at your answers to Task 1, look at the following sentences and paragraphs.
In each one there is one word which has been given the wrong prefix. Decide which word is wrong
and correct it.
G
e
n
e
r
a
l

V
o
c
a
b
u
l
a
r
y
35
dis- il- im- in- ir- un-
acceptable accurate adequate advantaged agreeable attractive
authorized avoidable believable certain comfortable competent
complete conscious contented convincing correct curable even
fair fashionable honest inclined legal limited literate logical
married mature moral mortal obedient organized patient
perfect personal possible proper pure qualified rational
regular relevant replaceable resistible resolute responsible
satisfactory satisfied sufficient welcome
1. He is a very (A) disagreeable man and he makes visitors feel very (B) unwelcome, but the
management think he's (C) irreplaceable and are (D) uninclined to fire him.
2. Insider dealing is not only (A) immoral and (B) inhonest, but also (C) illegal: companies are legally
bound to take the strongest possible action against such (D) unacceptable behavior by their
employees.
3. It is an (A) unavoidable fact, but in a competitive job market, those who are (B) unqualified or who
have (C) imsufficient work experience will find themselves seriously (D) disadvantaged.
4. She was described by her boss as being (A) unresponsible, (B) incompetent, and (C) immature, which
she considered extremely (D) unfair.
5. In return for an increased investment, the company offered (A) unlimited returns for their investors.
While many found such an offer (B) irresistible, some thought the promises were (C) inconvincing
and were (D) uncomfortable about parting with so much money.
6. He had clearly given his presentation (A) disadequate preparation, and many in the audience
challenged the points he made, saying they were (B) inaccurate and (C) illogical. Despite this, he
remained (D) irresolute in his views, although the only person he managed to convince was himself.