Prefixes, medical terms, and question tags

 

Video Script:

Hi guys! Welcome back!

I’m Julia and today I would like to do a review with you of three different things.

First of all: prefixes!

We are going to look at prefixes that will help us create the opposite of adjectives.

That’s point number one!

Point number is about medical terms used in lay language, in everyday English.

And finally we will do a very quick review of question tags.

Tag questions are short questions that we add to a statement.

Let’s get started with our prefixes!

A prefix is an affix. It’s a little particle that we add just before the stem of our word.

That will modify the meaning of the stem.

You most probably know certain prefixes already

For example: “IM-“: Are you patient? Are you impatient? “IM-” is the prefix here.

Let’s discover many more prefixes together and run through quite a few examples.

Up here, on my virtual whiteboard, you will see the prefixes appear.

If you want to see how the adjective is spelt, please put those subtitles on now.

Activate the subtitles. The subtitles are in English and in many other languages.

So press that button now and let’s get started with the list.

Let’s start off with: “UM-“.

If I add this prefix to an adjective, it will mean the opposite.

unacceptable

This means that it is not acceptable.

Let’s run through the list with some random examples:

Are you happy? Are you unhappy

Is this acceptable? This is not acceptable. It is unacceptable.

Is this true? It is untrue.

Are you married? Are you unmarried?

Is this chair comfortable? No, it is uncomfortable.

Is the doctor available? No, she is unavailable.

Is your room untidy?

The button is undone. It is not done up.

it is undone.

She is being unreasonable.

This situation is unusual.

Writing everything down is unnecessary.

The story’s plot is unbelievable.

The neighbour is friendly.
She is not unfriendly.

I am unable to help.

You seem uncertain.

Now let’s move on to “IM-” like in “impatient”

This prefix generally proceeds the letter P

impossible

improbable

immature

immortal

impolite

Now let’s look at three examples containing the prefix “IL-“:

When something is not legal, it is illegal.

When someone cannot read or write, they are unable to read or write, they are not literate. They are illiterate.

When something lacks logic, it is illogical.

If some of these words are totally unfamiliar, please post your comments below.

Make up your own examples and we will try and give feedback to everybody!

Now let’s look at four examples containing the prefix “MIS-“:

If you are given the wrong information or the wrong impression, you are misled.

If you have lost your phone in the house, you have mislaid it.

“misled” is quite similar to “misinformed”

“mislaid” is quite similar to “misplaced”

We are moving on to the prefix “IR-“. You know this prefix already: irregular

What we do our grammar videos we refer to regular verbs and irregular verbs.

We saw the word “illogical” a minute ago.

Here we have the word “irrational”. When something isn’t rational it’s “irrational”.

We can also use the adjective “responsible”. We add “IR-”

It becomes “irresponsible”.

That’s how you would describe someone who is a little rash, not very cautious, a little reckless.

For example you would say he or she is irresponsible.

When something is irrelevant, it means that it doesn’t necessarily apply to the situation we are talking about.

The prefix “IM-” is very familiar. It’s something that we use a lot in our grammar videos.

We say: Is something wrong or incorrect? The opposite of “correct” is “incorrect”.

We have the definite and indefinite articles.

We often talk about the direct and indirect speech.

That prefix is something you see a lot.

Some other examples would be:

“inedible”. When something isn’t edible. It means that you can’t eat it.

This is whether it’s because you shouldn’t eat it or it just doesn’t taste very nice.

You can say that it is inedible. Be careful here with the spelling!

Another adjective which is very useful is “inaudible”.

If I film this on the street, it may be a little inaudible, a little difficult to hear.

That’s a good word! Be careful there with not only the spelling but also the pronunciation.

So look in the subtitles: you should have the phonetic transcription.

| ɪnˈɔːdɪb(ə)l |

When somebody can’t make up their mind, you can say they are indecisive.

| ɪndɪˈsʌɪsɪv |

They are not decisive.

When something isn’t enough, it isn’t adequate. We say it is inadequate. | ɪnˈadɪkwət |

For example: the funding was inadequate.

Let’s move on to the prefix “DIS-“. It means the opposite.

If someone is not honest, you can say that they are dishonest.

If a product is discontinued, that means they do not make it anymore.

When your clothes are discoloured, that means that the color has come out. It’s discoloured.

You can use this prefix with lots of past participles of verbs like:

liked, disliked, approved, disapproved and many more..

The prefix “DE-“:

“decoded”: that’s when you have cracked the code. It’s decoded or there’s no code.

“declawed” that’s when you remove the claws | diːˈklɔːd |

“decreased” is the opposite of “increased”

Here I’m going to give you fewer examples because there are many more examples but they are very technical terms.

The prefix “AB-“: abnormal

When something isn’t normal, it can be described as abnormal.

antisocial

anti-inflammatory

anticlimactic | antɪklʌɪˈmaktɪk |

For example, when you read a book and you are disappointed by the twist or the ending of the story, you can say it was very anticlimactic.

It was disappointing, basically.

You must probably have in the house antibacterial products, anti-ageing creams…

“ANTI-” is a prefix that you will see a lot on labels of products.

Prefix “COUNTER-“:

When something is counterproductive, that means that you are spending time on something that actually doesn’t help.

It’s counterproductive.

Then you have the prefix “NON-“:

We use a hyphen in British English.

You can remove that hyphen, if you choose to spell words in American English.

For example you could say:

Is this product returnable?

No, it’s non-returnable. (British English spelling)

No, it’s nonreturnable. (American English spelling)

That’s all for prefixes today!

Let’s move on to the second part of this video which is dedicated to medical terms in layman’s terms, in everyday English.

I have no medical background of course.
I’m just doing this for everyday use of terms.

For my students that are nurses and doctors, please forgive me if my explanations are imperfect.

But for those who are here and are unfamiliar with these terms, I think they are very useful in everyday situations.

Let’s start off with: anti-inflammatory

That helps reduce swelling, soreness or pain.

anti-inflammatory

If you don’t have the subtitles on, please put them on now!

For these words we have added the phonetic transcription in the subtitles. | bɪˈnʌɪn |

“benign” means non cancerous, unlike “malignant”. | məˈlɪɡnənt |

“In remission” doesn’t mean cured.
It means that the disease isn’t getting worse.

BMI is a body fat measurement based on height and weight.

BMI stands for body mass index.

Hypotension means low blood pressure.

Hypertension means high blood pressure.

A biopsy for testing purposes: it’s when they take a sample of tissue.

A lesion is a cut or a wound.

It’s when tissue or organ has been damaged.

Acute means sudden and generally short.

For example: an acute pain.

swelling | ˈswɛlɪŋ |

wound | wuːnd |

stitches | stɪtʃɪz |

That’s it! That vocabulary can be quite useful, if you are abroad and need to talk to a doctor.

It is also good. if you’re simply preparing for an exam such as IELTS or TOEFL.

They very often contain scientific texts or academic texts in the reading and listening passages.

It’s quite useful to know these terms in any case.

We’re now going to finish this video with half a dozen examples of question tags.

I will speak quite slowly so as for you to have time to come up with the correct question tag.

First sentence:

They are European, aren’t they?

Close the door, will you?

Close the door, won’t you?

You have been here before, haven’t you?

They could understand without subtitles, couldn’t they?

I can’t leave early, can I?

They are eating well, aren’t they?

That’s it for today, guys! Thanks ever so much for watching!

I hope that you have enjoyed this video!

If you have enjoyed it, please don’t forget to give the video a like!

And if you haven’t done so already, please subscribe to my channel!

I look forward to seeing you in our next video! Bye for now!