Question Type: Word Formation

Examples and explanations of the Word Formation question type

What is being tested?

To answer each of these questions, you must complete a sentence that is missing one word by forming a new word derived from the base word that is given. These questions are not only testing your vocabulary and your ability to understand the meaning of words in context, but also your familiarity with the morphology of the English language and your ability to write a word properly. These skills are all relevant to academic and occupational writing in English.

Instructions

At the beginning of Word Formation sections, you will be given instructions similar to the following:

In each sentence, use the word given in bold to form a new word that correctly completes the sentence. Write the new word in the blank.
Pay attention to spelling and grammar. There may be more than one correct response.

What is and what is not allowed?

• You may type one word only. You cannot use hyphens, apostrophes, parentheses, or any characters other than letters.
• The bolded word you are given is the base word for the new word. You must change the base word - even if only to add or subtract a single letter - in order to come up with the right answer.
• You must form a word that is a conjugation of the base word. Writing a word that is different from the base word and that is not derived from it will not be scored as a correct answer, even if it creates a meaningful sentence.
  For example, let us assume you received a sentence with the base word “talk” and the correct answer is “talks”. If you write “speaks”, you will not receive a point even if the meaning of the two words is identical.
• You must write a word that exists in the English language. Do not invent new words that do not appear in a dictionary.
• You may use either American English or British English spelling. Both spellings will be accepted, regardless of which spelling is used in the given sentence.
• If the word you are asked to form is the first word in the sentence, you must use a capital letter at the beginning of the word, even if the base word appears with a lower-case letter. If the answer is the first word in the sentence and it is not capitalized, you will not receive a point.
• In contrast to multiple-choice questions, which have only one correct answer, Word Formation questions may have more than one correct answer. You only have to write one word, spelled correctly, even if you know other words that would fit the sentence.
• There is no partial credit for answers to these questions. You will receive a point only if you wrote one of the possible correct answers.

What should you pay attention to?

• Pay attention to the tense of the sentence. Sometimes you will have to conjugate a verb properly by using the suffix which matches the tense that the sentence is written in.
• Pay attention to the sentence structure. Is the sentence active or passive? Sometimes you will have to form the passive form of a word in order to complete the sentence.
• Pay attention to singular and plural forms. Sometimes you will need to form a plural noun.
• Pay attention to noun suffixes. Examples include -ness, -ism, -ment, -ity.
• Pay attention to adjective suffixes. Examples include -al, -ful, -ive.
• Pay attention to verb suffixes. Examples include -ally, -ily, -ly.
• Pay attention to prefixes that create words with the opposite meaning. Examples include
  -im, -un, -dis.
• Note that sometimes you will have to add both a prefix and a suffix.

Every Word Formation section contains four questions.

Examples

Example 1

Merchandise purchased online can usually be ____________ to one’s home.
deliver

The correct answer is delivered.

Example 2

The ____________ in a book or movie is the one telling the story.
narrate

The correct answers are narrator / narrater.

Example 3

Pill bugs are most commonly ____________ in damp environments.
find

The correct answer is found.

Example 4

Since the ____________ of scientific journals in the 17th century, academics have used them as a forum for publishing their research papers.
introduce

The correct answers are introduction / introducing.

Example 5

People who make ____________ decisions often regret them.
impulse

The correct answer is impulsive.

Example 6

The carpets created for the 16th-century rulers of Persia are famous for their elaborate colors and ____________ designs.
art

The correct answers are artistic / artful.

Example 7

Arthur Anderson, a major U.S. accounting firm, was forced out of business after the discovery that it had used ____________ practices.
question

The correct answer is questionable.

Example 8

Science museums usually provide ____________ of natural phenomena that are simple enough for children to understand.
explain

The correct answer is explanations.

Example 9

The civil rights movement in the U.S. sought to end ____________ segregation and to overturn laws that were discriminatory.
race

The correct answers are racial / racist.

Example 10

____________ hold themselves to extremely high, sometimes unrealistic, standards.
perfect

The correct answer is Perfectionists.