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Table --.13
Affix
Suffixes:
-able
-ant
-(at)ion
-er
-ing,
-ing2
-ive
-ment
-ful
-(i)al
-(i)an
-ic
-izel
-less
-ous
-ate
-en
-ity
-ize2
-ly
-ness
Prefixes:
antidedisexinmisreuniun2-
Some English derivational affixes
Change
Examples
VA
VN
VN
VN
VN
VA
VA
VN
NA
NA
NA
NA
NV
NA
NA
AV
AV
AN
A V
A  Adv
A N
fix-able, do-able, understand-able
claim-ant, defend-ant
realiz-ation, assert-ion, protect-ion
teach-er, work-er
the shoot-ing, the danc-ing
the sleep-ing giant, a blazing fire
assert-ive, impress-ive, restrict-ive
adjourn-ment, treat-ment, amaze-ment
faith-ful hope-ful, dread-ful
President-ial, nation-al
Arab-ian, Einstein-ian, Minnesot-an
cub-ic, optimist-ic, moron-ic
hospital-ize, crystal-ize
penni-less, brain-less
poison-ous, lecher-ous
activ-ate, captiv-ate
dead-en, bracken, hard-en
stupid-ity, prior-ity
modern-ize, national-ize
quiet-ly, slow-ly, carefully
happi-ness, sad-ness
N N
V V
V V
N N
A  A
V  V
V  V
A A
V V
anti-abortion, anti-pollution
de-activate, de-mystify
dis-continue, dis-obey
ex-president, ex-wife, ex-friend
in-competent, in-complete
mis-identify, mis-place
re-think, re-do, re-state
un-happy, un-fair, un-intelligent
un-tie, un-lock, un-do
Sometimes beginning students have trouble determining the category of the base to which an affix is added. In the case
of worker, for instance, the base (work) is some- times used as a verb (as in they work hard) and sometimes as a noun
(as in the work is time-consuming). Which category serves as base for the suffix -er in the word worker? The solution to
this problem is to consider the use of -er (in the sense of 'one who x's') with bases whose category can be unequivocally
determined. In the words teacher and writer, for instance, we see this affix used with bases that are unequivo- cally
verbs (teach and write). Moreover, we know that -er can combine with the verb sell (seller) but not the noun sale
(*saler). These facts allow us to conclude that the base with which -er combines in the word worker must be a verb
rather than a noun.