Prefixes pre-, mis-, and sub-

Read words with prefixes meaning before, wrongly, and under.

Three more useful prefixes are 'pre', 'mis', and 'sub'. 'Pre' means before: a preview is a view before the main event, and to preheat an oven is to heat it before cooking. 'Mis' means wrongly or badly: misspell means spell wrongly, and misplace means put in the wrong place and lose. 'Sub' means under or below: a submarine travels under the sea, and a subway runs under the city.

Watch how they help in a sentence: 'Before the trip, we prepaid for tickets, but I misread the time and almost missed the subway. ' Each prefix gives you a clue: paid before, read wrongly, a way under the city.

• 1pre- = before (preview, preheat).
• 2mis- = wrongly (misspell, misread).
• 3sub- = under (submarine, subway).