Cindy Octavina

Morphology 1A

Adjectives derived from adjectives

In this category, prefixes predominate. The only suffix of note is –ish, meaning
‘somewhat X’, as in GREENISH, SMALISH, REMOTISH ‘rather remote’. By contrast, the
prefixes un- meaning ‘not’ is extremely widespread: for example, UNHAPPY, UNSURE,
UNRELIABLE, UNDISCOVERRED. Because it is so common, most dictionaries do not
attempt to list all un- adjectives. This does not mean, however, that un- can prefixed to all
adjectives quite freely, we do not find, for example, ‘UNGOOD’ with the meaning ‘bad’ (though
George Orwell included that word in the Newspeak vocabulary devised for Nineteen Eighty-
Four). Another negative prefixes is in-, with allomorphs indicated by the variant spellings il-, ir-,
and im- as in INTANGIBLE, ILLEGAL, IRRESPONSIBLE, and IMPOSSIBLE. It is more
restricted that un-, largely for historical reasons. For the present it is worth noting the existence
of pairs of more or less synonymous adjectives, one of which is negated with un- and the other
with in- or one of its allomorphs:

a) Eatable → uneatable e) Tangible → intangible

b) Readable → unreadable f) Edible → inedible
c) Lawful → unlawful g) Legible → illegible
d) Touchable → untouchable h) Legal → illegal

Adding prefixes: dis-, ir-, in-, im-, un- (express the opposite).
Adjectives derived from members of other word classes

Some of the processes that derived adjectives from verbs straddle the divide between
derivation and inflection in a way that we have not yet encountered.
The suffixes -ed, -en, -ing, and vowel change, in passive and progressive participle form of verb
can also be adjectives.
E.g. a. A not very interesting book
b. The party–goers sounded very drunk.
c. The car seemed more damaged than the lamp-post.
The modifier very and the comparative construction (more…than) show that interisting,
drunk and damaged are adjectives.

a. Adjectives Derived From Verbs

The most productive suffixes for deriving adjectives from verbs are -able, -ive, -ant, -ent.
1) Adjectives Derived From Verbs: -able
a. adapt → adaptable f. avail → available
b. admire → admirable g. bear → bearable
c. adore → adorable h. break → breakable
d. advise → advisable i. count → countable
e. agree → agreeable j. cure → curable
Some adjectives derived from verbs ending in silent e can also be spelled including
the e (for example, like →likable or likeable); however, the spelling without the e is more
common. Also, there are some adjectives that spell the suffix -ible: eat → edible and fail
→ fallible.

2) Adjectives Derived From Verbs: -ive

a. Abort → abortive f. Assert → assertive
b. Abuse → abusive g. Capture → captive
c. Act → active h. Corrode → corrosive
d. Adapt → adaptive i. Create → creative
e. Adopt → adoptive j. Cure → curative
 Note that adjectives derived from verbs ending in -d or -de are usually spelled with a
-ive ending (expend → expensive, exclude → exclusive, etc.).
3) Adjectives Derived From Verbs: -ant
a. Abound → abundant f. Disinfect →disinfectant
b. Accept → acceptant g. Dominate →dominant
c. Ascend →ascendant h. Expect →expectant
d. Descend →descendant i. Exult →exultant
e. Deviate →deviant j. Hesitate →hesitant

4) Adjectives Derived From Verbs: -ent

a. Abhor → abhorrent f. Compete → competent
b. Absorb → absorbent g. Confide → confident
c. Adhere → adherent h. Consist → consistent
d. Cohere → coherent i. Correspond → correspondent
e. Coincide → coincident j. Depend → dependent

b. Adjectives Derived From Noun

Suffixes that form adjectives from nouns are more numerous here are some:
a. (-ful): Joyful, hopeful, helful, meaningful, powerful, skillful, faithfull, beautifull,
successful.
b. (-less): Joyless, hopeless, helpless, meaningless, powerless, homeless, worthless,
useless.
c. (-al): original, normal, personal, national, universal, regional.
d. (-ish): boyish – selfish, waspish, loutish, foolish, childish, sheepish.
e. (-y): funny, stormy, sunny, guilty, messy, wealthy, gloomy.
f. (-ly): friendly, orderly, manly, costly, monthly.
g. (-ous): dangerous, mysterious, famous, nervous, poisonous.
h. (-ary): momentary, customary, fragmentary, complimentary, honorary, revolutionary

Verbs derived from verbs

 Prefixes re- and negative ones such as un-, de-, dis-
E.g.
paint, enter; repaint, re-enter
tie, tangle; untie, untangle
compose, sensitise; decompose, desensitise
entangle, believe; disentangle, disbelieve
  Intransitive and Transitive
E.g. (35)
Intransitive Transitive
Lie (past lay) Lay (past laid)
Rise (past rose) Raise (past raised)
Fall (past fell) Fell (past felled)
Sit (past sat) Set (past set)

• Transitive verbs are ones with an ‘object’ noun phrase, usually indicating the thing or
person that is the goal of the action of the verb. Example; (36)
a. Jill laid the book on the table.
b. The book lay on the table.
• The transitive verbs in (35) are all causative – ‘cause to X’ where X stands for the
meaning of the corresponding intransitive. Involve conversion as in; (37)
a. Jill boiled the water.
b. The water boiled.

Verbs derived from members of other word classes

 Verbs derived from nouns and adjectives are numerous. Some affixes for deriving verbs
from noun are;
a. de- ; debug, deforest, delouse
b. -ise; organise, patronise, terrorise
c. -(i)fy; beautify, identify, clarify

 Verbs derived by replacing the final voiceless consonant of a noun with a voiced one,
perhaps with some vowel change too.

Nouns Verbs
Bath Bathe
Belief Believe
Breath Breathe