ANTONYMS

An Antonym is a word that is opposite in meaning to another word.
The term antonym is commonly taken to be synonymous with opposite, but antonym also has other more restricted meanings. Graded (or gradable) antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite and which lie on a continuous spectrum (hot, cold).
These are words that are opposite in meaning. It comes from the Greek work “anti” for opposite and “onym” for name since language is complex for most people at times, and people are usually confused on what words are truly opposite in meaning to other words.
An antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings. Each word in the pair is the antithesis of the other. A word may have more than one antonym. There are three categories of antonyms identified by the nature of the relationship between the opposed meanings. Where the two words have definitions that lie on a continuous spectrum of meaning, they are gradable antonyms. Where the meanings do not lie on a continuous spectrum and the words have no other lexical relationship, they are complementary antonyms. Where the two meanings are opposite only within the context of their relationship, they are relational antonyms.
Opposites are simultaneously different and similar in meaning. Typically, they differ in only one dimension of meaning, but are similar in most other respects, including similarity in grammar and positions of semantic abnormality. Additionally, not all words have an opposite. Some words are non-opposable. For example, animal or plant species have no binary opposites (other than possible gender opposites such as lion/lioness, etc.); the word platypus therefore has no word that stands in opposition to it (hence the unanswerability of What is the opposite of platypus?).
HOW TO ARRIVE AT THE CORRECT ANTONYM OF A WORD
The first step for finding a suitable antonym for a word is to work out the meaning of the first word from the context.
The second step is to think of a word which is opposite in meaning to the word.
Sometimes two or more words may have opposite meanings but you have to look for a word which is more directly opposite to the word in question.
CATEGORIES OF ANTONYMS           
Graded antonyms
Complementary antonyms
Relational antonyms
Antonyms by adding prefix
 EXPLANATION
GRADABLE ANTONYMS
It deals with levels of meaning of words like if something is not good, it may still not be bad. It may be average, fair excellent, terrible, poor or satisfactory.
Examples:
WORD
ANTONYM

Fat
Skinny

Risky
Safe

Last
First

Pretty
Ugly

Excited
Bored

Early
Late

Dull
Interesting

Rich
Poor

Simple
Challenging

Empty
Full

Soft
Hard

COMPLIMENTARY ANTONYMS
It has a relationship where there is no middle ground. There are only two possibilities either one or this other. A complementary antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings, where the two meanings do not lie on a continuous spectrum. There is no continuous spectrum between push and pull but they are opposite in meaning and are therefore complementary antonyms. Complementary antonyms cannot be graded and are mutually exclusive. That is, they can exist independently of each other. For example, there might be a daughter in a family but not the complementary opposite of ason, as girls can exist without their complementary opposite of boys.
Examples
WORD
ANTONYM

Wet
Dry

Yes
No

Silence
Noise

Fantasy
Reality

Question
Answer

Hired
Fired

Pass
Fail

Exit
Entrance

Push
Pull

On
Off

Dead
Alive

        3. RELATIONAL ANTONYMS
They are sometimes considers as sub-category of complementary antonyms with there pairs, for there to be a relationship both must exit. A Relational antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings, where opposite makes sense only in the context of the relationship between the two meanings. There is no lexical opposite of teacher, but teacher and pupil are opposite within the context of their relationship. This makes them relational antonyms.Relational Antonyms are pairs of opposites where one cannot exist without the other. For example to have a husband, you must have a wife. Therefore, husband and wife are relational antonyms.
Examples:
WORD
ANTONYM

Husband
Wife

Buy
Sell

Doctor
Patient

Behind
Ahead

Parent
Child

Borrow
Lend

Coach
Learn

Above
Below

Employer
Employee

        4. PREFIX ANTONYMS
Antonym by adding a prefix sometimes, an antonym can be easily made by adding a prefix.
Examples
WORD
ANTONYM

Likely
Unlikely

Fortunate
Unfortunate

Able
Unable

Forgiving
unforgiving

Note: Antonyms can be almost opposite in meaning or opposite in meaning. Antonym in isolation is different in a context.
THE CONSONANTS /l/ and /r/
These two sounds are often confused especially when they follow each other like /p/, /b/ and /f/. To make the /r/ sound, you let the tip of your tongue nearly touch your alveolar ridge. But when you make the /l/ sound, you let the tip of your tongue touch the ridge and you also force air to escape from both sides of your tongue.
/l/
/r/

Flesh
Fresh

Pleasant
Present

Blouse
Browse

Player
Prayer

Exercise
What is a preposition?
Mention and explain the two forms of preposition.
 What is prepositional phrase?
Briefly discuss how to arrive at different types of antonyms.
 How do you differentiate between the /i/ sound and the /r/ sound?