Learning English

The long and short of it…

In 6 Minute Vocabulary we heard lots of different antonyms. Many of them were adjectives, like:

• wide and narrow, dark and light, tight and loose

But verbs can also be antonyms:

• ask and answer, come and go, buy and sell

And so can nouns:

• day and night, man and woman, supply and demand

Read the text and complete the activity

Prefixes

One common way of making antonyms is by adding a prefix, like in-, un- and dis-

• decisive and indecisive
• comfortable and uncomfortable
• respect and disrespect

Unfortunately, there are no simple rules about which prefix to use.

Fortunately, we have a tip for you: when you learn a new word, try to learn the opposite word, with or without a prefix!

To do

Let's do an activity to help you learn antonyms.

You probably know some of these already. Many of them have prefixes, but not all, so be careful when you answer. And remember, both words should be the same part of speech.

Next

It's time to use antonyms in context, as we meet two politicians, each hoping to become the next mayor of a European city.