SUFFIXES
COMMON NOUN SUFFIXES ADJECTIVES SUFFIXES VERB SUFFIXES OTHER SUFFIXES THAT CAN HELP YOU RECOGNISE THE WORD CLASS
COMMON NOUN SUFFIXES “-er” is used for a person who does an activity. e.g. Writer, worker, shopper, teacher. Sometimes this suffix is written as “-or” instead of “-er”. e.g. Actor, operator, sailor, supervisor.
“-er/or” are also used for things which do a particular job. e.g. Pencil-sharpener, grater, projector. “-er” and “-ee” contrast in meaning: “person who does something” (“-er”) and “person who receives or experiences the action” (“-ee”). e.g. Employer/ee, sender/addressee.
“-(t)ion” is used to make nouns from verbs. e.g. Complication, pollution, reduction. “-ist” (person) and “-ism” (activity or ideology). They are used for people’s politics, beliefs and ideologies, and sometimes their profession. e.g. Marxism, Budhism, journalism, anarchist, physicist, terrorist.
“-ist” is also often used for people who play musical instruments. e.g. Pianist, violinist. “-ness” is used to make nouns from adjectives. e.g. Goodness, happinesss, sadness, weakness.
ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES “-able/-ible” with verbs, means “can be done”. e.g. Drinkable, washable, readable, recognizable, edible (can be eaten), flexible (can be bent).
VERB SUFFIXES “-ise (or ize)” makes verbs form adjectives. e.g. Modernise, commercialise, industrialise.
OTHER SUFFIXES “-ment”: (nouns) excitement, enjoyment. “-ity”: (nouns) flexibility, productivity. “-hood”: (abstract nouns esp. Family terms) childhood, motherhood. “ship”: (abstract nouns esp. status) friendship, partnership, membership. “-ive”: (adjectives) passive, productive. “-al”: (adjectives) brutal, legal, arrival.
“-ous”: (adjectives) delicious, outrageous, furious. “ful”: (adjectives) forgetful, hopeful, useful. “-less”: (adjectives) useless, harmless, cloudness. “-ify”. (verbs) beautify, purify, terrify. NOTE: the informal suffix “-ish” that can be added to most common adjectives, ages and times to make them less precise. e.g. She’s thirtish. She has reddish hair.
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