Thursday, 24 June 2010

Noun suffixes

Verb + suffix


Many nouns are formed in this way.
















































VerbSuffixNoun
improve (= get better)-mentimprovement
manage (e.g. a shop or business)-mentmanagement
elect (= choose somebody by voting)-ionelection
discuss (= talk about something seriously)-iondiscussion
inform (= tell someone something)-ationinformation
organise-ationorganisation
jog (= running to keep fit or for pleasure)-ingjogging
spell (e.g. S-P-E-L-L)-ingspelling

Note: Sometimes there is a spelling change. The most common is the omission of the final 'e' before the suffix -ion or -ation: translate/translation; organise/organisation

Adjective + suffix


Nouns are also formed by adding a suffix to an adjective. Two suffixes often added to adjectives to form nouns are -ness and -ity.






































AdjectiveSuffixNoun
weak (not strong)-nessweakness
happy-nesshappiness
dark (e.g. at night, when you can't see)-nessdarkness
stupid   (not  intelligent, clever)-itystupidity
punctual (= always arrives at the right time)-itypunctuality
similar (= almost the same; not different)-itysimilarity

Pronunciation


The addition of these suffixes may change the pronunciation.

Nouns ending -ion or -ity have the main stress on the syllable before, so the pronunciation may be different from the verb or adjective:

Verb educate        translate discuss

Noun education    translation  discussion

Adjective similar           stupid            punctual

Noun similarity     stupidity      punctuality

-er/-or and -ist


These are common noun suffixes added to existing nouns or verbs, and they describe people and their jobs. -er

  • dancer singer murderer farmer


-er

  • driver manager footballer employer


-or

  • actor director translator operator


-ist

  • artist economist psychologist journalist


Note: Notice the common spelling changes:

  • translate/translator

  • operate/operator

  • economy/economist

  • psychology/psychologist.

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