Download Word Forms - Professor Catherine Hatzakos

http://www.athabascau.ca/courses/engl/egh/word_forms.php
Word Forms
Prefixes and suffixes that are used in English give clues as to the meaning and, or,
the function of words. Typically suffixes indicate the function of a word in a
sentence. For instance there are some suffixes that are used only for nouns and
others that are used for verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The particular suffix used in
forming a word also helps to give meaning to a word, for
instance competition and competitor are both nouns that are formed from the
verb compete. The -or suffix, however, indicates that there is a person performing
the action, whereas the -tion suffix indicates a condition or state of being. Do note,
that some suffixes are used with more than one type of word, so on their own they
cannot be used to infer the function of the word in the sentence. In those
situations, other context clues are needed to provide the function of that word in a
particular sentence. For example, an -ing suffix occurs with nouns, verbs and
adjectives; in the sentence “Teaching is interacting with interesting
people,” teaching is a noun (a gerund), interacting is part of a verb phrase in the
present progressive tense, and interesting is an adjective that qualifies people.
Suffixes
The tables below provide the more common noun, verb and adjective suffixes and
give the usage and examples. There is only one common suffix for adverbs, and
that is -ly. It is often added to adjectival suffixes as in creative and creatively.
Noun Endings
Ending
-al
-ance/-ancy/ence/-ency
-ation
-ice
-er/-or
-graph
-ian
-ing
-ism
-ist
-ity
-ization
-ment
Usage
the act of doing, or the state of
relating to quality, state or
condition
action or process of; result of
condition, quality or act
person or thing that performs the
action
a writing or record
person or thing
having the quality of (gerund
ending)
action or practice, theory or
doctrine
one who, or that which does or has
to do with
state, condition or quality
nouns formed from verbs;
condition, act, process
the product or result of; the means
of
Example
betrayal, refusal
performance, infancy,
prominence, urgency
creation, reformation
cowardice, notice
teacher, worker, competitor,
legislator
telegraph, polygraph
politician, amphibian
teaching, working
nationalism, Hinduism
nationalist, typist
inferiority, confidentiality
harmonization, urbanization
achievement, government
http://www.athabascau.ca/courses/engl/egh/word_forms.php
relating to quality, state or
condition
the study of
like, resembling
a place for the action of the verb
stem
the state, condition or quality of;
art or skill of
action or process of; condition or
state of being; result of
-ness
-ogy
-oid
-ory
-ship
-sion/-tion
happiness, sadness
biology, geology
humanoid, android
dormitory, repository
friendship, marksmanship
rejection, completion,
connection
Verb Endings
Ending
Usage
-ate
verbs from some Latin forms
forms the simple past and past participle of regular
verbs
verbs formed from adjectives
verbs with a habitual or repeated action
cause to be or become
present participle and part of progressive tenses
to cause to become, resemble; make into; to act in
the manner of
ending of third person singular, present tense
-ed
-en
-er
-fy
-ing
-ise/ize
-s/-es
Example
fascinate,
participate
walked, has walked
soften, weaken
stutter, canter
beautify, liquefy
walking, is walking
authorize,
sympathize
walks, runs
Adjective Endings
Ending
-able/-ible/ble
-al
-ant
-ed
-ent
-er
-est
-ful
-ic
-ing
-istic
-ite
-ive
-ory
Usage
Example
capable of, fit for, tending to, likely to
relating to, having the nature of
in the act or process of doing
adjectives formed from nouns
having the quality of
comparative ending
superlative ending
full of, characterized by
pertaining to, connected with, resembling
participial form as an adjective
having the qualities of, formed from
derived from some Latin verbs
having a tendency to or the nature of
a place or instrument for doing the main
element
trainable, flexible
musical, personal
vigilant, militant
interested, bored
dependent, resilient
bigger, faster
biggest, fastest
beautiful, bountiful
volcanic, angelic
interesting, boring
realistic, socialistic
infinite, polite
attentive, massive
laboratory,
dormitory
http://www.athabascau.ca/courses/engl/egh/word_forms.php
-ose
-ous/-ious
full of; like
full of; having the qualities of
verbose, grandiose
poisonous, anxious
Prefixes
Prefixes aid in determining the meaning of words. While some prefixes have only
one meaning, others may have more than one, or there may be several prefixes
with the same meaning. It is a situation that helps lead to the richness of the
English vocabulary.
Prefix
a-/anadanteantibenebibycircumco-/col-/com/
con-/corcontradediadisepiexhyperhypoil-/im-/in-/irinterintra-/intromalmicromismonomultinonoboverperipoly-
Usage
without
to, toward, near
before in time or order
against, opposed to
good
two
aside or apart from
around
together, with, jointly
against, opposite
down from, away, off
across, through
away from, apart
upon, above, outside, in
addition to
out of, thoroughly
beyond, excessive, extreme
under, beneath, down, less
than
in, into, on
not
between, with each other
within, inside of
bad, evil, wrong
small
wrong
one, alone
many, much
not
against, in opposition
above, on top of, superior
around, near
many
Example
amoral, anarchy
adhere, advert
antechamber, antecedent
antiaircraft, antibiotic
beneficial, benefactor
bicycle, bipolar
bystander, byproduct
circumpolar, circumnavigate
co-author, collaborate, combine,
conspire, correspond
contraception, contraband
descent, declassify
diagonal, diagram
disconnect, disown
epidermis, epilogue
exhale, exasperate
hyperbole, hyperactive
hypodermic, hypothesis
illegible, impolite, inoperable,
irrefutable
interchange, intercede
intramural, introvert
malformed, malignant
microscope, microorganism
mistake, misinformation
monotone, monopoly
multilingual, multiply
nonentity, nonconformist
objection, oblivious
overactive, overdraft
perimeter, perihelion
polygamy, polygon
http://www.athabascau.ca/courses/engl/egh/word_forms.php
postpreproreretrosemisub-/suc-/suf/sup-/sussuper
syl-/sym-/syntritransultraununi-
after in time or order
before in time or order
forward, toward the front,
occurring earlier
back again
back again, backward
half, partly
under, beneath
above, greater, better
with, together, associated
with
three
across, through
beyond, excessive, extreme
not, opposed to; back
one, alone
postdated, postmortem
predict, precaution
project, prognosis
redo, renew
retrospective, retroactive
semiconductor, semiconscious
submarine, succumb, suffocate,
support, suspect
superfluous
syllable, sympathy, synapse
tricycle
transform, transfuse
ultramarine, ultraviolet
unavoidable; undo
unicorn, uniform
There are many words that have noun, verb, adjective, and adverb forms. A few of
these word form families are given in the chart below as examples. Any good
dictionary will give you the various forms of a word.
noun
beauty
competition/competitor
creation
management/manager
nationalist/nationalism
nature
notice
sadness
significance
verb
beautify
compete
create
manage
nationalize
naturalize
notice
sadden
signify
adjective
beautiful
competitive
creative
manageable
national
natural
noticeable
sad
significant
adverb
beautifully
competitively
creatively
manageably
nationally
naturally
noticeably
sadly
significantly