I.24 decide what the prefixes mean in the following.

1. Floppy disks are inexpensive and reusable. 2. If a printer malfunctions, you should check the interface сable. 3. The multiplexor was not working because someone had disconnected it by mistake. 4. Improper installation of the antiglare will make it impossible to read what is on the screen. 5. After you transfer text using the ‘cut and paste’ feature you may have to reformat the text you have inserted. 6. You can maximize your chances of finding a job if you are bilingual or even trilingual. 7. Peripheral device can be either input devices (such as keyboards) or output devices (such as printers). 8. Your pay rise is retroactive to the beginning of June and you will receive a bi­annual bonus. 9. The octal¹ and hexadecimal² systems are number systems used as a form of shorthand in reading groups of four binary digits. 10. As the results are irregular, the program will have to be rewritten.

NB: ¹octal - A numbering system that uses eight digits. It is used as a shorthand method for representing binary characters that use six-bits. Each three bits (half a character) is converted into a single octal digit. Okta is Greek for 8. ²hex - (HEXadecimal) Hexadecimal means 16. Computing of a system of numerical notation that has 16 (the figures 0 to 9 and the letters A to F) rather than 10 as a base which is used as a shorthand for representing binary numbers. Each half byte (four bits) is assigned a hex (octal) digit as follows:

Dec 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Binary 0000 00001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001

Octal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Hex 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Dec 10 11 12 13 14 15

Binary 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111

Hex A B C D E F

In a hex number, each digit position has a value 16 times greater than the one to its right. Two hex digits make up one byte; for example, A7h (h means hex) is equivalent to decimal 167 (10x16 + 7x1).

I.25 Fill in the gaps with the correct prefix from the box.

auto- / de- / dec- / inter- / maxi- / mega- / micro- / mini- / mono- / multi- / semi- / sub-

1. Most people prefer a colour screen to a -chrome screen. 2. -script is a character or symbol written below and to the right of a number or letter, often used in science. 3. A -byte equals approximately one million bytes. 4. Once you finish your program, you will have to test it and -bug it to remove all the mistakes. 5. The introduction of -conductor technology revolutionized the computer industry. 6. If a computer system has two or more central processors which are under common control. It is called a -processor system. 7. The -imal system is a number system with a base of 10. 8. When the user and the computer are in active communication on a graphics system, we refer to this as -active graphics. 9. A CPU on a single chip is called a –processor. 10. In a graphical environment, to enlarge a window to full size means to –mize. 11. In graphical environments, to reduce a window to an icon means to –mize. 12. –mation is the replacement of manual operations by computerized methods.

Text B₂ Word-Formation: Suffixes

a) Read the text & get ready to fill in the table underneath.

(1) As it is mentioned in Text B₁, pre­fixes and suffixes function differently in the processes of word-formation, pre­fixes only change the meanings of words; suffixes change or convert words from one part of speech to another. But in order to be more exact, we must say that sometimes suffixes are used only to give words different meanings without changing their functional classification, i.e. without converting words from one part of speech to another. Thus we have brother and brotherhood, both nor­mally nouns; yellow and yellowish, both normally adjectives. But more often suffixes convert words from one classification to another, as in the following examples: verbs to nouns: perform -performance, convert – conversion;

• adjectives to nouns: popular - popularity, ready – readiness;

• nouns to verbs: computer - computerize, minimum – minimize;

• adjectives to verbs: simple - simplify, glad – gladden;

• nouns to adjectives: person - personal, danger – dangerous;

• verbs to adjectives: divide - divisible, interact – interactive;

• adjectives to adverbs: usual - usually, similar – similarly.

(2) This kind of conversion is common in many languages, including Greek, Latin, and French from which a great many English words, especially terms, were borrowed. It explains many of the related words in the language. It seems more convenient to group all the suffixes into four groups as belonging to defi­nite parts of speech, i.e. as noun-forming suffixes, verb-forming suffixes, ad­jective-forming suffixes, and adverb-forming suffixes.

(3) I Noun-Forming Suffixes:

-er, -or, -ist, -ian mean “a person who”, “a thing which” as in programmer, user, conductor, typist, compiler, cursor;

-ion; -tion, -ation, -sion, -ance, -ment mean “state”, “action”, “the act of” as in conversion, information, compilation, profession, development, measure­ment, appearance;

-ness, -ism, -dom, -ship all mean “condition” or “state” as in hardness, darkness, magnetism, formalism, wisdom, freedom, partnership;

-ence means “quality of” as in independence;

-ity means “quality” or “state” as in possibility, electricity.

(4) II Adjective-Forming Suffixes:

-able, -ible both in the meaning “capable of being” as in computable, visible;

-al, -ar, -ic, -ical all in the meaning “having the quality of” as in logical, economical, circular, automatic, electrical;

-full means “characterized by” as in careful, thankful;

-less means "without" as in helpless, careless;

-ous means “like, full of” as in dangerous, fibrous (волокнистый);

-ive means “having the quality of” as in active, progressive.

(5) III. Verb-Forming Suffixes: -ize/ise, -ate, -ify, -en all in the meaning “to make” or “to perform” as in computerize, centralize, activate, calculate, simplify, harden, facilitate, lighten (облегчать).

(6) IV. Adverb-Forming Suffixes:

-ly means “in the manner of” as in automatically, logically, helplessly.

-ward(s) means “towards the…” as in afterward(s), downward, backward;

-wise means “in direction of” as in clockwise, anticlockwise;

-fold means “miltiplied by”, “…times” as in tenfold, threefold, fourfold.

Knowing the meanings of suffixes and prefixes you may easily recognize the words having the same root in all their modifications, and you may do without dictionary.