Antonyms

Finn
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I’m Finn…

Catherine
And I’m Catherine.

Finn In today’s programme, we’re talking about antonyms.

Catherine Antonyms are words with opposite meanings.

Finn Like big and small…

Catherine Fat and thin… We’re going to give you lots of examples of antonyms today. And we’ll give you a top tip for improving your vocabulary.

Finn
So let’s start by listening to someone called Ruth. She’s shopping and trying on shoes.

Catherine
While you listen, think about this question: what colour are the two pairs of shoes with heels?

INSERT Assistant Here’s a selection.

Ruth I’ll try these on first… Hmm - they’re a bit uncomfortable - too tight .

Assistant OK. Try these. They’re the next size up.

Ruth Hmm… they’re a little more comfortable , but they’re too wide at the back and they feel a bit loose ! I ‘ve got very narrow feet.

Assistant What about the flat ones?

Ruth They look a bit old-fashioned .

Assistant These dark blue ones with the heels are really popular at the moment.

Ruth Yes, they’re quite trendy , but I think I prefer the light blue ones … Actually, the dark blue ones are quite nice… Oh, I’m so indecisive !

Finn
So that was Ruth shopping there. And we asked you: what colours were the two pairs of shoes with heels?

Catherine
And the answer is: one pair was dark blue and one pair was light blue.

Finn Dark and light are antonyms. Here they ‘re describing two different shades of blue.

Catherine Now we often find antonyms when we are comparing things. So listen to this clip for some more opposites.

INSERT CLIP 1 Ruth
Hmm - they’re a bit uncomfortable - too tight .

Assistant
OK. Try these - they’re the next size up.

Ruth They’re a little more comfortable , but they’re too wide at the back and feel a bit loose ! I ‘ve got very narrow feet.

Catherine So we had tight, spelt t-i-g-h-t, meaning fitting too closely.

Finn And we had the opposite loose , spelt l-o-o-s-e , meaning not fitting closely.

Catherine Ruth also said that one pair of shoes were too wide because she’s got narrow feet. So wide , spelt w-i-d-e , means the space from one side to the other is bigger than usual or bigger than comfortable. Narrow , spelt n-a-r-r-o-w , means the opposite - the space from one side to the other is smaller than usual or smaller than comfortable.

Finn There were two other words that are opposites - comfortable and uncomfortable . The difference between these two words is just two letters u and n , which form the prefix un .

Catherine And in English we often use the prefixes un, in (spelt i-n ) and dis (spelt d-i-s ) to make antonyms. If we put one of these prefixes at the start of the word, it can change the meaning of the word to its opposite.

Finn So Ruth said that she was indecisive . By adding the prefix in ( i-n ) to the word decisive , which means being able to make decisions easily, we make indecisive , which has the opposite meaning - not being able to make decisions easily.

Catherine What are you Finn?

Finn I’m a little indecisive, I must say.

Catherine Are you sure about that? Not really?

Finn Very good.

Catherine Let’s have another short clip with two more antonyms. Can you spot them?

INSERT CLIP 2 Assistant What about the flat ones?

Ruth They look a bit old-fashioned .

Assistant These dark blue ones with the heels are really popular at the moment.

Ruth Yes, they’re quite trendy .

Catherine So we had old-fashioned and trendy .

Finn You describe something as old-fashioned when it looks like it ‘s from a time in the past.

Catherine Whereas something that is trendy is modern, up-to-date or cool.

IDENT
6 Minute Vocabulary from BBC Learning English.

Catherine
And we’re talking about antonyms, which are words with opposite meanings.

Finn The prefixes un , in and dis are often used to make antonyms, for example: decisive and indecisive . Now all the words we ‘ve seen earlier are adjectives, but other parts of speech can be antonyms.

Catherine So you can have verbs, like ask and answer …

Finn Which is what we’re going to do now because it’s time for a quiz. So, what is the opposite of the word tight: is it a) loose or b) narrow?

Catherine
The answer is a) loose .

Finn
Well done if you got that right. Number two: trendy. Is the opposite a) modern or b) old-fashioned?

Catherine
It’s b) old-fashioned .

Finn That’s correct! And number three: comfortable. Is the opposite a) discomfortable or b) uncomfortable?

Catherine And the answer is b) uncomfortable .

Finn
And that’s the end of the quiz - so well done if you got them all right.

Catherine
And now here’s today’s top tip for learning vocabulary: when you learn a new word, have a look in the dictionary to see if there is a prefix that will help you make the opposite word.

Finn Yes, and that way you can get two words for the price of one!

Catherine Bargain!

Finn Absolutely. There’s more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again soon for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Both
Bye!