Verb + suffix
Many nouns are formed in this way.
Verb | Suffix | Noun |
improve (= get better) | -ment | improvement |
manage (e.g. a shop or business) | -ment | management |
elect (= choose somebody by voting) | -ion | election |
discuss (= talk about something seriously) | -ion | discussion |
inform (= tell someone something) | -ation | information |
organise | -ation | organisation |
jog (= running to keep fit or for pleasure) | -ing | jogging |
spell (e.g. S-P-E-L-L) | -ing | spelling |
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.
Adjective | Suffix | Noun |
weak (not strong) | -ness | weakness |
happy | -ness | happiness |
dark (e.g. at night, when you can't see) | -ness | darkness |
stupid (not intelligent, clever) | -ity | stupidity |
punctual (= always arrives at the right time) | -ity | punctuality |
similar (= almost the same; not different) | -ity | similarity |
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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