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said, “I didn’t back-file the letter, I waste-basketed it” was speaking twenty-century English, however inelegant. Adjectives, which can become verbs, such as ‘dirty, empty, total, crazy, and nasty, etc. Other forms, such as up and down, can also become verbs, as in ‘they up the price’ or ‘we down a few beers’. Compounding, derivation, and conversion are three major word-formation processes through the history of the English language. For the vast numbers of English neologisms, they have contributed much more. 2.2. Minor Processes Besides the three major methods of forming words (compounding, derivation, conversion), English also uses minor word-formation processes. Here are six devices which are considered as means of forming new words on the basis of old ones. a. Clipping or Shortening Clipping or shortening is a method of shortening a word without changing its meaning. Words like gas (from gasoline), bus (from omnibus), etc. are formed by clipping. Clipping is an important process of forming new words in modern English .it can be used frequently in informal language. For instance, people use exam, prof, lab, math, and dorm in the campus and classroom. Most of them stand for a colloquial flavor. This process is used widely in scientific writing and journalistic style. It is advanced for using words precisely and conveniently. In modern English, not only single words but also phrases can be replaced by the use of clipping. For example, the word prefab is clipped from the phrase prefabricated structure or prefabricated house. There are seven types of clipping: 1. front clipping Phone= telephone, copter=helicopter, bus=omnibus 2. back clipping ad=advertisement, photo=photograph, dom=dormitory 3. front and back clipping flu=influenza, script=prescription, fridge=refrigerator 4. middle clipping curtsy=courtesy, boatswain=bo’sn, pacifist=pacificist 5. phrase clipping Three-D=three-dimensional film or form Pub= public house Lube=lubricating oil 6. Journalist clipping Cwlth=commonwealth, Dept=department, H.K=HongKong 7. back clipping +suffix agro= aggression+ (-o), comfy=comfortable+ (-y), hankie/hanky=handkerchief+(-ie)/ (-y) b.Acronyms An acronym is the process of forming new words by jointing the first letters or syllables of different words. Words formed in this way are called initialisms or acronyms, depending on the pronunciation of the words. Initialisms are words pronounced letter by letter. 1. letters represents full words; SARS severe acute respiratory syndrome MMS Multimedia Messaging Service 2. letters represents constituents in a compound or just parts of a word TB tuberculosis TV television Acronyms are words formed from initial letters but pronounced as a normal word. Scuba Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus Zip Code Zone Improvement Program Some acronyms are formed with the initial letter of the first word plus the whole of the second N-bomb nuclear bomb E-mail electronic mail The process of acronyms gains its popularity in English since World WarⅡ. When people talk about NATO, UNESCO, and NASA, most of them can not give the longer title. Some acronyms can lose their capital letters to become everyday terms, such as laser and radar. Rader derives from radio detecting and ranging, and laser derives from light amplification (by) stimulated emission (of) radiation. It is important to note that even though such words are originally created as acronyms