Word families
When you’re learning vocabulary, it can be helpful to learn more than one part of speech.
For example, we learned these words in Workplace Safety 1: Safety Attitude:
hazard
hazardous
They belong to the same word family.
hazard is a noun that means something that may be dangerous, or cause accidents or problems.
hazardous is an adjective that means dangerous, especially to your health or safety.
Think About It
Look at the first line of this table, do you know what these parts of speech mean: noun, verb, adjective? Can you give some examples of each?
Now look at the missing words in the word families. Do you know what they are? For example, the verb is notify. Do you know what the noun or the adjective is? Try to guess. (Notice: sometimes a part of speech in that word family doesn't exist.)
| noun | verb | adjective |
|---|---|---|
| hazard | X | hazardous |
| notify | ||
| behavior | ||
| slip | ||
| injury | ||
| prevent | ||
| surroundings |
Practice
Here are some vocabulary words from the last workplace safety lesson, Safety attitude. Do you remember what they mean? (If you need to, you can check out the flashcards at this link.)