The careful teaching of letter combinations and affixes as preskills to multisyllable word-reading is a key feature of effective advanced word-reading programs (Archer et al., 2003). The table below lists some of the more common beginning affixes.
| Affix | Phonetic Pronunciation |
| a | afraid |
| able | drinkable |
| age | package |
| al | animal |
| be | behold |
| bi | bicycle |
| com | commit |
| con | confess |
| de | deport |
| dis | dismiss |
| er | hotter |
| est | saddest |
| ex | expand |
| ful | helpful |
| im | imperfect |
| in | inside |
| ing | dusting |
| ion | action |
| ish | punish |
| ive | captive |
| less | restless |
| ly | friendly |
| ment | shipment |
| mid | midterm |
| mono | monorail |
| ness | goodness |
| ous | monstrous |
| out | outlast |
| post | postseason |
| pre | pretend |
| pro | provide |
| re | resell |
| semi | semicircle |
| ship | friendship |
| teen | fifteen |
| un | unhappy |
| uni | uniform |
| ward | seaward |
| y | muddy |
Sources: Avery & Ehrich (2002); Celce-Murcia et al. (1996); Edelen-Smith (1997); Ladefoged (1975); McCormick et al. (2002); Singh & Singh (1976).
Excerpted From:
Excerpt from Reading Instruction for Students Who Are at Risk or Have Disabilities, by W.D. Bursuck, M. Damer, 2007 edition, p. 140.
© ______ 2007, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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