Words are made up of prefixes, roots and suffixes. The root is the base word, the prefix is the first part of the word, and the suffix is the end of the word. Suffixes such as "-ed", "-en" and "-ing" are known as inflectional suffixes, which create different forms of the word. Derivational suffixes change the meaning of the word, such as "-ism", "-able" and "-ment". There are online dictionaries available that list common prefixes and suffixes, which are a useful reference in identifying the different parts of a word.
Instructions
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1
Choose a word to break down the three components: prefix, root and suffix. We will use "reactive" as an example.
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2
Find the root, which is generally the middle component of the word. In our example, "act" is the root, which is a verb, since it is an action.
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3
Identify the prefix, which is the beginning part of the word. In this example, "re" is the prefix, which means recurring.
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4
Find the suffix of the word. The suffix in reactive is "ive", which is an adjective that means like.