Page 1 of 5
Look at helpful
- helpful
- careful
- colorful
Ful means full of.
Leo and Maya are helpful. They are full of help.
Get Ready
A small part at the end changes a word too.
Words to know
- suffixA small part at the end of a word. It changes the word.
Learn It
Page 2 of 5
Here is less
- leafless
- helpless
- careless
Less means without.
The tree is leafless. It has no leaves.
Page 3 of 5
Opposites
- careful
- careless
Careful is full of care.
Careless is without care.
Page 4 of 5
Here is ly
- quickly
- slowly
- loudly
A quick dog. The dog ran quickly.
Ly tells how it was done.
Page 5 of 5
Both ends
- un-help-ful
Take off the front. Take off the end.
The middle is a word you know: help.
Your Turn
Answer each question in the yellow box.
Question 1 of 8
Which word means without help?
Question 2 of 8
What word is in the middle of unhelpful?
Question 3 of 8
Ana is careful with the eggs. How does she hold them?
Question 4 of 8
The sky is cloudless. What is the sky like?
Question 5 of 8
The dog barked ___. Which word fits?
Question 6 of 8
How many parts are in unhelpful?
Question 7 of 8
Which word is the opposite of careful?
Question 8 of 8
The water is colorless. What does it look like?
What You Learned
- ful means full of, like helpful.
- less means without, like leafless.
- ly tells how, like quickly.
- Take off both ends. A word you know is in the middle.
For the grown-up
-ful and -less make opposites from one base (careful, careless). -ly changes a word’s job more than its meaning: a quick dog, but the dog ran quickly.
This finishes the long-word strategy: take off the front, take off the end, read the base, then build the meaning back from the pieces.
Point out -ful, -less and -ly words in a book and ask what the middle word is.