Adjective Suffixes Greg Heon Arielle Amzallag Michael Hwang Brian Delsack

Definition  Some adjectives have special endings  These endings are called adjective suffixes  Some of these adjective suffixes are -able, - ful, -ish, -less, -y, and -ous.

RULES  One method for creating adjectives is to add a suffix to either a noun or verb.  If suffix that you are adding to the word begins with a vowel and the word that you are changing ends in silent “e,” you would generally remove this e.  Sometimes a verb can be the same word as a noun. Ex. running boy

The Main Suffixes  The main six adjective suffixes are: –able –ful –ous –ish –y –less

EXAMPLE 1 -able  Here are some examples of root words and suffixes: –Believe  believable (shows dropping of “e”) –Renew  renewable –Reason  reasonable  The suffix adjective “-able” appears to be used primarily with verbs.

EXAMPLE 2 -ful  Here are examples of words with the -ful adjective suffix: –Help  helpful –Dread  dreadful –Delight  delightful –Grace  graceful –Success  successful  The suffix adjective “-ful” seems to be used with nouns.

EXAMPLE 3 -y  Here are some examples of words with the suffix adjective “-y”: –Mess  messy –Luck  lucky –snow  snowy –rock  rocky  The “-y” suffix adjectives appears to be used for nouns

Advantages  Suffix adjectives allow you to change the sentence structure easily  Suffix adjectives can also the writer to rephrase a sentence  Suffix adjectives can also add variety to your writing