CAE Word Formation: Master C1 Advanced Use of English

Crack the CAE Word Formation Paper

Part 3 of the C1 Advanced Use of English paper tests your knowledge of word formation. You get a text with 8 gaps, each with a "stem word" that you need to transform into the correct form.

This is where many candidates lose marks unnecessarily — but the patterns are learnable.

How Word Formation Works

You start with a base word and need to create the correct form using:

• Prefixes: un-, dis-, mis-, over-, under-, re-, pre-, im-/in-/ir-/il-
• Suffixes: -tion, -ment, -ness, -ity, -ful, -less, -able, -ous, -ive, -al, -ly
• Internal changes: strong → strength, long → length

The 10 Most Common Transformations

| Stem | Noun | Adjective | Adverb | Verb | Negative | |------|------|-----------|--------|------|----------| | achieve | achievement | achievable | — | achieve | unachievable | | compete | competition | competitive | competitively | compete | uncompetitive | | decide | decision | decisive | decisively | decide | indecisive | | develop | development | developmental | — | develop | undeveloped | | employ | employment | employable | — | employ | unemployment | | invest | investment | — | — | invest | — | | predict | prediction | predictable | predictably | predict | unpredictable | | rely | reliability | reliable | reliably | rely | unreliable | | succeed | success | successful | successfully | succeed | unsuccessful | | vary | variety | various | variously | vary | invariable |

Strategy for the Exam

1. Read the whole text first — understand the general meaning
2. Look at the gap — decide what part of speech is needed (noun? adjective? adverb?)
3. Check for negatives — does the meaning require a negative prefix?
4. Check for plurals — nouns might need to be plural
5. Double-check spelling — this is where marks are lost

How to Decide the Part of Speech

• After a/an/the/this/my: you need a noun (the achievement)
• Before a noun: you need an adjective (a competitive market)
• After a verb: you might need an adverb (successfully completed)
• After a preposition (of, in, with): you need a noun or gerund

Tricky Negative Prefixes

These are the ones students get wrong most often:

• un-: unhappy, unable, unusual, unexpected
• in-: incorrect, independent, informal, invisible
• im- (before m, p): impossible, impatient, immature
• il- (before l): illegal, illiterate, illogical
• ir- (before r): irregular, irresponsible, irrelevant
• dis-: disagree, disappear, disadvantage
• mis-: misunderstand, mislead, misinterpret

Practice Technique: Spaced Repetition

The best way to memorise word families is through spaced repetition:

1. Create a word family card with all forms (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, negative)
2. Review new cards daily for the first week
3. Then review every 3 days, then weekly
4. Focus extra time on words you keep getting wrong

This technique is backed by cognitive science — you remember better when you review just before you would forget.

Common Exam Mistakes

• Forgetting double letters: "successful" not "succesful"
• Wrong negative prefix: "impossible" not "unpossible"
• Missing the plural: "achievements" not "achievement" when context requires plural
• Spelling errors on common words: "responsibility", "environment"

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