| SUFFIXES | Noun
Suffixes | -er added to a verb is used
for the person who does an activity: writer, worker, singer,... (sometimes
-or, as in actor, sailor, supervisor,...) -er/-or are
also used for things which do a particular job: tin-opener, projector,
... -er and -ee can contrast with each other, meaning "person
who does something" (-er) and "person who receives or experiences
the action" (-ee): employer/employee, ... -(t)ion
is used to make nouns from verbs: communication, pollution, admission,
... -ist (person) and -ism (activity or ideology): marxist/Marxism,
terrorist/terrorism, ... -ist is also used for people who play
musical instruments: pianist, violinist, ... -al is added to
some verbs to make nouns: arrival, refusal, ... -ness is used
to make abstract nouns from adjectives: happiness, goodness, weakness,
... -ment is used to make abstract nouns from verbs: excitement,
enjoyment, ... -hood is used to make abstract nouns, especially
family terms, from nouns: childhood, brotherhood, ... -ship
is used to make abstract nouns, especially status, from nouns: friendship,
membership, partnership, ... -(i)ty is used to make abstract nouns
from adjectives: honesty, loyalty, ... |
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| Adjective
Suffixes | -able/-ible with verbs means
"can be done": readable, countable, edible, flexible, ...
-ive is used to make adjectives from verbs: active, passive, ...
-al is used to make adjectives from nouns: brutal, legal, ...
-ous is used to make adjectives from nouns: dangerous, furious,
... -ful is used to make adjectives from nouns or verbs: hopeful,
useful, forgetful, ... -less is used to make adjectives from nouns
or verbs: useless, harmless, cloudless, ... -ic/-ical is used
to make adjectives with nouns: economic/economical, ... -ish
can be added to most common adjectives, ages and times to make them less precise:
reddish hair, she's thirtyish, come about eightish, ... | Verb
Suffixes | -ise/-ize makes verbs from adjectives:
modernise, industrialise, ... -ify makes verbs from nouns:
electrify, terrify, ... -en makes verbs from adjectives: shorten,
deepen, darken, ... | |
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