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Lesson planC155 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Breakthrough or False Hope? Word formation
Students build word families and negative prefixes around medical research headlines, then write a magazine article about whether health news can be trusted.
Word formation · Science · Health · Media
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Plan at a glance
Aims
- Learn and use 14 words and phrases in 2 sets: Describing research, Research nouns
- Read for detail: a cure for forgetting?
- Writing task: an article
Stages · 55 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about word formation and share ideas with the class.
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 5 minControlled practice: Ex. 2
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 3
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 4–5
- 5 minReading: Ex. 6
- 20 minWriting: Ex. 7
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 2 PDFs)Grammar notes
Negative prefixes
- un- is the most common: unreliable, unlikely, unprecedented.
- in- often goes with Latin-based words: inconsistent, inaccurate, insufficient.
- im- before b, m, p: impossible, immature, improbable. il- before l: illegal. ir- before r: irreversible, irrelevant, irresponsible.
Noun suffixes
- -ance / -ence: significant → significance; consistent → consistency (and inconsistency).
- -y / -ity: safe → safety; reliable → reliability.
- Some nouns are compounds: break + through → breakthrough.
Adjective endings
- -ial / -al: controversy → controversial.
- -ing (active meaning): mislead → misleading (giving the wrong idea).
- -ible / -able: reverse → reversible; rely → reliable.
Study tips
- Before you fill a gap, decide what part of speech it needs (noun, adjective, adverb, verb) and whether the meaning is positive or negative.
- Keep a word-family table in your notebook: rely · reliable · unreliable · reliability · reliably.
Glossary
- Describing research6 items
- Research nouns8 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Words and meanings
Match each word with its meaning. There is one meaning you do not need.
Tap an item…
…then its match
2
Which negative prefix?
Which prefix makes each word negative? Put each word in the right group.
- a
probable
- b
accurate
- c
likely
- d
reliable
- e
consistent
- f
precedented
- g
reversible
- h
relevant
- i
possible
- j
sufficient
- k
mature
- l
responsible
3
Form the right word
Use the word in capitals to form a word that fits the gap.
- a
Early results from the trial were : some patients improved, while others showed no change at all.
CONSISTENT - b
The researchers stressed the of the findings for people living with the disease.
SIGNIFICANT - c
Headlines describing the drug as a 'miracle cure' were deeply .
LEAD - d
Once the nerve has been damaged, the effects are .
REVERSE - e
The speed at which the team produced results was in the history of the institute.
PRECEDENT - f
Very small studies are often , so scientists wait for larger trials before drawing conclusions.
RELY - g
The decision to stop the trial early proved highly .
CONTROVERSY - h
The team's came after ten years of painstaking work in the laboratory.
BREAK - i
Volunteers were asked to give their consent before they took part.
INFORM
4
Say it another way
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word given and between two and six words.
- a
Nobody had ever seen results like these before.
UNPRECEDENTED
The results .
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- b
The article gave readers the wrong idea about the risks.
MISLEADING
The article was the risks.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- c
You cannot rely on these figures.
UNRELIABLE
These figures .
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- d
The findings are very important for future research.
SIGNIFICANCE
The findings are for future research.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- e
The two reports did not agree with each other on several points.
INCONSISTENCIES
There were the two reports.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- f
It will never be possible to undo the damage.
IRREVERSIBLE
The damage .
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
5
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one word in the wrong form. Write the correction: the corrected word or the whole sentence.
- a
The results of the study were completely unconsistent.
- b
Doctors described the discovery as a real breakdown in cancer treatment.
- c
Fortunately, most of the side effects are reversable.
- d
The newspaper's headline was extremely misleaded.
- e
The trial raised serious questions about the drug's safeness.
- f
Experts disagreed about the significant of the results.
6
Read: a cure for forgetting?
Read the text and choose the correct answer.
In January, a small biotechnology firm, Calder Biosciences, announced what its chief executive called 'an unprecedented breakthrough' in the treatment of memory loss. Within hours, the story had been picked up by news websites around the world, many of them suggesting that a cure for age-related memory decline was just around the corner. The reality, as several independent scientists were quick to point out, was rather less dramatic. The trial had involved just forty-two volunteers, and only half of them had actually received the drug. While those who took it performed slightly better on a series of memory tests, the improvement was small, and there were inconsistencies in the data that the company had not explained. 'With a sample this size, the results are simply unreliable,' said Dr Helen Osei, a neuroscientist with no connection to the firm. 'It would be irresponsible to draw any firm conclusions.' Critics also questioned the significance of the tests themselves. Remembering lists of words in a laboratory, they argued, is very different from coping with everyday life. Others accused the company of issuing a misleading press release in order to attract investors, a charge the firm strongly denied. The episode has reopened a controversial debate about how medical research is reported. Some researchers believe that universities and companies exaggerate their findings because they are under pressure to secure funding. Journalists, for their part, complain that they are often given nothing more than a press release and a few hours to write their story. Calder Biosciences says a larger trial, involving several hundred patients, will begin next year. Until its results are published, experts warn, people with memory problems should treat claims of a cure with caution: some kinds of damage to the brain are irreversible, and false hope can be cruel.
- a
Why did the story spread so quickly?
- b
How many volunteers actually took the drug?
- c
Dr Osei's main criticism was that
- d
According to critics, the memory tests
- e
What do journalists complain about?
- f
What does the writer suggest in the last paragraph?
7
Write: an article
Write an article for a magazine.
Write an article for a student magazine with the title 'Can we trust health headlines?' (220–260 words). Explain why some health stories are misleading, who you think is responsible, and how readers can judge a story for themselves. Use at least five words from the box, and at least two words with a negative prefix. Word box: unreliable · inconsistency · significance · controversial · breakthrough · misleading · irreversible · unprecedented Example: Every week, it seems, scientists announce an unprecedented breakthrough, yet many of these stories turn out to be misleading.
Suggested minimum: 220 words
0 words · aim for at least 220
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 14 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 2 sets.
Describing research
- unreliable
- not able to be trusted or depended on
- misleading
- giving people the wrong idea
- irreversible
- impossible to change back
- unprecedented
- never having happened before
- controversial
- causing a lot of public disagreement
- irresponsible
- not thinking carefully about the possible results of your actions
Research nouns
- significance
- the importance of something
- inconsistency
- a difference that should not exist between two things
- breakthrough
- an important new discovery or development
- findings
- the information that a study discovers
- trial
- a test of a new treatment on people to see if it is safe and effective
- side effects
- unwanted effects that a medicine or treatment can have
- sample
- a small group of people or things that a study tests or examines
- data
- facts and numbers collected for a study
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