1. SUFFIXES

2. COMMON NOUN SUFFIXES
ADJECTIVES SUFFIXES
VERB SUFFIXES
OTHER SUFFIXES THAT CAN HELP YOU RECOGNISE THE WORD CLASS

3. 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.

4. “-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.

5. “-(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.

6. “-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.

7. ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES “-able/-ible” with verbs, means “can be done”.
e.g. Drinkable, washable, readable, recognizable,
edible (can be eaten), flexible (can be bent).

8. VERB SUFFIXES “-ise (or ize)” makes verbs form adjectives.
e.g. Modernise, commercialise, industrialise.

9. 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.

10. “-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.

11. THE END