VOA日常语法2024--Prefixes in Reports about Student Protests

American college students have been protesting the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.

In this week's Everyday Grammar, we look at a few of the prefixes² and words people are using to talk about the protests.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary says a prefix¹ is "a letter or group of letters that is added at the beginning of a word to change its meaning." Sometimes we see the prefix separated by a hyphen before the following word. At other times, there is no hyphen. This is often true of words that are often used with a prefix. Here are some very common prefixes:

Pro-

Let us begin with the prefix "pro-." This prefix comes from the Latin language. It means "forward" or "before." The word "protest" combines this prefix with the root word, "test." One form of the word "test" comes from a Latin verb, testari, meaning "to witness." You can think of "protesting" as "speaking in front of the public." When we combine "pro-" with another word in English, it means to be "in favor of" that thing. Let us take a look at some examples.

The recent student protests started at Columbia University in New York City. In April, the Associated Press (AP) reported:

"New York police removed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University on Thursday and arrested more than 100 demonstrators."

The students said they are pro-Palestinian because they are calling attention to the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza. One demand of these students is a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. Students at some schools have held pro-Israel events and reminded the protesters of the October 7 attack on Israel.

En-

You may have noticed another prefix in our example. The protesters had set up tents, or cloth shelters, on an open green space of the school grounds, or campus. Because these tents are used for camping, the reports call them an "encampment." This is a noun formed by adding the prefix "en-" and the suffix³ '-ment" to the verb, "camp." The prefix "en-" means "to cause to be." The suffix "-ment" makes it a noun form.

You may have seen this prefix before in words like "enlarge" and "enrich." Before the letters b, m, or p, it is spelled "em-" as in "empower" and "embed⁴."

Anti- and counter-

Our next prefix is "anti-," which means "against someone or something." It is sometimes pronounced /??nti/ or /??nt?/. The Unites States has had a long history of anti-⁵war protests, and the recent student protests follow that tradition. But another use of this prefix is related to these protests. On April 23, the AP reported that New York University (NYU) said it learned of reports of "intimidating⁶ chants and several antisemitic incidents."

Antisemitic is a term that describes hatred⁷ of Jewish people. Byul Yoon, a student taking part in the protests at NYU, said:

"Antisemitism is never OK. That's absolutely not what we stand for and that's why there are so many Jewish comrades that are here with us today."

Jewish students at other campuses said they were intimidated⁹, or fearful of the protesters. This brings us to a similar prefix, "counter-,' which means "as a reaction against." There have been a number of counter-protests in favor of Israel.

Un-

At the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) on April 30, counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment. The AP reported that UCLA President Carol Folt said:

"This week, Alumni Park became unsafe."

The prefix "un-" means the opposite of the word that follows it. So, "unsafe" is "not safe."

Di-

Our final prefix is "di-" which can mean "divided in two, or separate from." Another of the students' demands is that the university divest¹⁰ its financial ties to Israel or companies that help support the war. You have probably seen the word "invest," which can mean to gain ownership interest in a business. Divest has the opposite meaning: to take away or sell interest in a business. The AP reported that:

"At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators¹¹ agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October - apparently¹² the first U.S. college to agree to such a demand."

Your turn

In this lesson, we have looked at the prefixes pro-, en-, anti-, counter-, un- and di-. The verbs in our examples included "protest" "camp" and "divest." Write to us about protests you have experienced using one or more of these prefixes and the words that follow. Email us at [email protected] or write to us in the comments.

Words in This Story

hyphen - n. a punctuation¹³ mark that is used to connect words or parts of words

encampment -n. the activity of setting up and maintaining a camp

tent - n. a portable shelter that is used outdoors, is made of cloth (such as canvas or nylon), and is held up with poles and ropes

intimidate⁸ - v. to make someone afraid

divest - v. to sell or have taken away (something valuable, such as property or stocks)

1 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

2 prefixes   

n.前缀( prefix的名词复数 )；人名前的称谓；前置代号（置于前面的单词或字母、数字）

参考例句：

• The prefixes cis and trans are frequently applied to disubstituted cycloalkanes. 词头顺和反常用于双取代的环烷烃。 来自辞典例句
• Why do you use so many prefixes while talking? 你说起话来，怎么这么多中缀？ 来自互联网

3 suffix   

n.后缀；vt.添后缀

参考例句：

• We add the suffix "ly" to make the adjective "quick" into the adverb " quickly ".我们在形容词“ quick”后加“ly” 构成副词“quickly”。
• It described the meaning of suffix array and also how to built it.它描述的含义，后缀数组以及如何建立它。

4 embed   

vt.把…嵌(埋、插)入，扎牢；使深留脑中

参考例句：

• The harpoon struck but did not embed.鱼叉击中了但并没有插入。
• This photo showed us how did the root of plant embed the soil deeply.这张照片显示植物的根是如何深入到土壤里去的。

5 anti-   

pref.[前缀]表示反抗，排斥

参考例句：

• The car has many safety features,including anti - skid braking.这车配有许多特别安全装置，包括防滑制动器。
• The anti-aircraft units opened fire and hit two of the enemy planes.防空部队开炮，击中了两架敌机。

6 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

7 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

8 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

9 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 divest   

v.脱去，剥除

参考例句：

• I cannot divest myself of the idea.我无法消除那个念头。
• He attempted to divest himself of all responsibilities for the decision.他力图摆脱掉作出该项决定的一切责任。

11 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

12 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

13 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。