B2 First Reading & Use of English Part 3
Word Formation
What is Part 3 Word formation?
A text with 8 gaps, 1 gap per question and 1 mark per question.
For each gap a base word is given ON THE SAME LINE. You must change the form.
What it tests
1. Vocabulary range - ability to form and recognise common B2-level word families.
- success → successful / successfully / unsuccessful
- decide → decision / decisive
- compete → competition / competitive
- improve → improvement
- rely → reliable / unreliable
- attract → attractive / attraction
- employ → employment / unemployed
- communicate → communication
2. Parts of speech - ability to change words between grammatical categories
verb → noun
- develop → development
- decide → decision
adjective → noun
- responsible → responsibility
- possible → possibility
noun → adjective
- danger → dangerous
- culture → cultural
adjective → adverb
- careful → carefully
- efficient → efficiently
3. Knowledge of prefixes and suffixes - understanding how affixes change meaning or function.
Common prefixes
- un- (unhappy, unfair)
- in- / im- / il- / ir- (incorrect, impossible, illegal, irregular)
- re- (rebuild, reconsider)
- dis- (disagree, dishonest)
- over- / under- (overwork, underpaid)
Common suffixes
- -tion / -sion (education, decision)
- -ment (development, achievement)
- -ness (happiness, weakness)
- -ity (responsibility, ability)
- -able / -ible (reliable, possible)
- -ly (carefully, efficiently)
Suggested strategy
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Decide which part of speech you need
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Check if it needs to be negative
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Check spelling carefully
Common mistakes
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Forgetting plural or negative forms
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Spelling errors after adding suffixes
Part 3 Word Formation Format
Answers to this sample can be found in the interactive exercise below.
