
Have something done: Grammar for teachers
A question we are often asked by trainee teachers on the EC's London CELTA course is how much metalanguage...
Recently, we talked about 12 of the most commonly-used prefixes in the English language. Today, we’re going to talk about something called a ‘suffix’. Let’s do this!
A suffix is a group of letters which can be added to the end of a word. A suffix cannot be used alone, and using one will change the meaning of the word it is attached to – but in a way that is different to how prefixes change the meaning of a word. Take a look at these examples first:
Suffix | Changes root into | Example [+ ROOT] |
-ity | Noun | Reality [Real (Adjective)] |
-ment | Noun | Improvement [Improve (verb)] |
-ness | Noun | Happiness [Happy (adjective)] |
-ship | Noun | Internship [Intern (noun, person)] |
-ation | Noun | Motivation [Motivate (Verb)] |
-ize | Verb | Authorize [Author (noun)] |
-able/-ible | Adjective | Reliable, sensible [Rely (verb), Sense (noun)] |
-ful | Adjective | Beautiful [Beauty (noun)] |
-ive | Adjective | Sensitive [Sense (noun)] |
-ouS | Adjective | Dangerous [Danger (noun)] |
-ly | Adverb | Slowly [Slow (adjective)] |
-ally | Adverb | Accidentally [Accident (noun)] |
Now that you know your suffixes, check out our blog on prefixes!
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