6 Minute Vocabulary - Suffixes: -less and -free

This is the BBC . This podcast is supported by advertising outside the . This is a download from BBC Learning English to find out more , visit our website , six minutes from BBC Learning English dot com . Hello and welcome to the six minute vocabulary . I'm Catherine . And I'm Neal . Today we're looking at the less and free two or three at the end of a word that affect its meaning . We'll look at what the suffix is free and less mean and give you some examples . There'll be a quiz and we'll leave you with a top tip for learning vocabulary . by listening to Marcus . He's a politician and he's talking about his party's policies , right . So while you listen , think about this question . Do e-cigarettes produce smoke ? Here's Marcus . We're focusing on the jobless , the homeless , the sick and the people who are powerless to change things for themselves , where campaigning for more car free and smoke free zones . We're going to extend the smoking ban to include e-cigarettes , which may be smokeless , but they aren't harmless . And we're going to raise the penalties for careless drivers . So we asked you , do e-cigarettes produce smoke ? And the answer is no , they don't . E-cigarettes are smoke less . And smokeless is a key word in this program because it ends with the less spelt l . E s . S . This means without so smoke , less cigarettes are cigarettes . Without smoke , they don't produce any smoke . And if something is harmless , it doesn't cause harm . said that e-cigarettes are not harmless . In other words , they are dangerous . Marcus also said his party was going to raise penalties or increase punishments for careless drivers , people who drive without care . Yes , careless means not being careful . So by adding less to the noun's smoke , harm and care , we turn them into Let's hear some more examples with less . We're focusing on the jobless , the homeless , the sick and the elderly , people who are powerless to change things for themselves . So we had the jobless . That's people without jobs , the homeless people who have nowhere to live . We can create a noun to describe a particular group of people by using the word the with a less word , the jobless , the homeless . Lastly , we had the adjective powerless , which describes people who are unable to do certain things . If we add the we get a group noun the powerless . Let's have another clip . Listen out for the suffix free . We're campaigning for more car free and smoke free zones . We had car free and smoke free , now if you add free to a noun , you get an adjective , meaning that there isn't any of that noun or it's not allowed or both . means there are no cars because they're not allowed . Smoke free means smoking is not allowed . And so there is no smoke for six minutes . Vocabulary from BBC Learning English . And we're talking about the suffixes free and less , how was your journey to work today I hope ? No , actually it was awful . I tried to use my contactless credit card to pay for the train , but it didn't work , so I had to walk all the way . Oh , won't do you any harm . ? No , it's good for me . I suppose it is . And contactless credit cards are the cards that work without a pin number . Usually you use either free or less with a particular word , but occasionally you can use free and less interchangeably as in sugarless and sugar free . These both mean without sugar . But be very careful with the words careless and carefree because they have very different meanings . Yes , they do . A careless person is someone who doesn't take much care over what they're doing , whereas a carefree person like doesn't worry about anything . No , I don't worry about a thing . Now it's time for a quiz . Choose the correct word . Ready , number one , Jack looks scary , but he's actually very kind and gentle . He's a careless be harmless , see powerless and the answer is B , . Number two , doesn't check her work properly , so she makes lots of mistakes . She's very a careless be carefree C contact And the answer is a careless number . Three , to cut the risk of cancer . Some people smoke e-cigarettes , which are a smokeless B , smokeless free , C , smoke free . And the answer is a smokeless . And that's the end of the quiz . Well done . If you got them right . And now here's today's top tip for learning vocabulary . Record yourself saying new words and then listen to them every day . Top tip . And there's more about this at ABC Learning English dot com . Join us again for more six minute vocabulary by . Six minutes , . From the BBC . But . 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