0
Moon7296 Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
Prefix = in? or im? impossible
A good example is the negative prefix in- in a word like impossible: the alveolar nasal of the prefix /n/ becomes bilabial nasal /m/ due to the influence of the bilabial stop /p/ of possible.
Q) I don't understand why the quotation above says the prefix of the word impossible is in and not im!
Q) I don't understand why the quotation above says the prefix of the word impossible is in and not im!
Top answer
It doesn't really. It says that the core prefix in- has changed to im - in 'impossible'.
- It doesn't really.
- It says that the core prefix in- has changed to im - in 'impossible'.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
3 Answers
0
It doesn't really. It says that the core prefix in- has changed to im- in 'impossible'.
00
Ah.. what you mean is the prefix of 'impossible' is im- as shown but the core prefix is in-?
00
Yes. in- for most words, but it takes the form im- for m- and p-words (immobile, impossible), il- for l-words (illegal, illogical) and ir- for r-words (irresponsible, irrevocable).
0
Related Questions