Reading 5 Name ________________ _____ Score 1st Q

Module 7
Suffixes
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The Function of a Suffix
A suffix is a type of affix. Suffixes change the meaning or grammatical function of a base word or root word. For
example, by adding the suffixes -er and -est to the adjective fond, you create the comparative fonder and the superlative
fondest. Explore a suffixes list to broaden your vocabulary.
Examples of Suffixes
Many suffixes used in the English language to create a rich vocabulary. Take the suffix -ist for example, by adding
this to a word, you have changed the word to describe a person who performs or practices something. So, art becomes artist,
a person skilled in a particular art.
Let's look at the verb read. This verb can be turned into a noun by adding the suffix -er so read becomes reader.
Likewise, by adding the suffix -able, the verb read now becomes the adjective readable. Check out a list of noun, adjective,
verb, and adverb suffix examples.
A. Noun Suffixes
Nouns are used to identify a person, place, thing, or idea. Dive into a list of noun suffixes along with their meaning
and examples.

Suffix Meaning Example

-er/-or someone who performs an action helper, teacher, preacher, dancer

-ion the action or process of celebration, opinion, decision, revision

-ism theory, act or belief criticism, humanism, professionalism, patriotism

-ity the state or condition of probability, equality, abnormality, civility

-ment the action or result of movement, retirement, abandonment, establishment

-ness a state or quality fondness, awareness, kindness, darkness

-or a person who is something distributor, investigator, translator, conductor

-sion state or being depression, confusion, tension, compulsion

-ship position held worship, ownership, courtship, internship

B. Adjective Suffixes
Since you can have noun suffixes, it only makes sense that you can have adjective suffixes too. These suffixes work
to make words that you can use to describe things.

Suffix Meaning Example

-able, -ible capable of being preventable, adaptable, predictable, credible

-al pertaining to theatrical, natural, criminal, seasonal

-ant inclined to or tending to vigilant, defiant, brilliant, reliant

-ary of or relating to budgetary, planetary, military, honorary

-ful full of or notable of grateful, beautiful, wonderful, fanciful

-ic relating to iconic, organic, heroic, poetic

-ious, -ous having qualities of gracious, cautious, humorous, fabulous

-ive quality or nature of creative, expensive, expressive, pensive

-less without something hopeless, faultless, fearless, restless

 -y made up of or characterized by brainy, fruity, tasty, grouchy
Suffixes create variety in the English language. They provide endless ways to express our thoughts, feelings,
findings, and emotions. They morph nouns into adjectives and verbs into nouns. They express deeper qualities, providing
layers of color and intrigue required by writers.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF!
FT1 Change each word in to an adjective by adding a suffix. You may have to change, drop, or add letters before adding the
suffix to some words.
1. awe – awesome/awful 7. consider - considerable 13. move – movable 19. count- countless/countable
2. China -Chinese 8. Congo – Congolese 14. remark – remarkable 20. master- masterful /masterless
3. Canton - Cantonese 9. speech - speechless 15. service - servient 21. bounty- bountiful
4. wish - wishful 10. penny - penniless 16. end - endless 22. grate- grateful
5. create - creative 11. Fame - Famous 17. Communist - communistic 23. Graph – graphic
6. religion -religious 12. Reptile - reptile 18. impress- impressive 24. defect- defected/defective
Reading 5 page 2 1st Q
25. Freud – Freudian 28. Brazil- Brazilian 31. construct - constructive 34. atom- atomic
26. hero - heroic 29. Industry - industrious 32. mass - massive 35. moment - momentous
27. Canada - Canadian 30. enthusiast - enthusiastic 33. Italy - Italian 36. disaster – disastrous
FT2 Change each word in to a noun by adding a suffix. You may have to change, drop, or add letters before adding the
suffix to some words.
1. brother- brethren 9. trumpet- trumpets 17. boy- boyhood 25. woman- womanhood
2. swim- swimmer 10. member- membership 18. together – together 26. conscious- consciousness
3. sick - sickness 11. neighbor- neighborhood 19. farm - farmer 27. empty- emptiness
4. write - writer 12. false- falsehood 20. do- doer 28. happy- happiness
5. partner – partnership 13. sportsman- sportsmanship21. Court - courtship 29. companion- companionship
6. narrate- narrator 14. duchy- duchess 22. emperor- emperorship 30. material- materialism
7. explode- explosion 15. legate- legator 23. critic -criticism 31. direct- director
8. train- trainer/trainee 16. bail- bailor 24. govern- governor 32. vandal- vandalism
FT4 Write the correct word by adding suffix to the given word. In the blank, write whether the new word is noun or
adjective.
Adjective 1. She was a very careful (care) driver and had never had an accident since she started driving twenty-five
years ago.
Adjective 2. My father was really angry (anger) when I told him that I had smashed the car. For a minute I thought
he was going to hit me.
Adjective 3. Your daughter is going to be a painter, Mrs. Green. She is very artistic (artist)
Adjective 4. Mozart developed his musical (music)talents at a very young age.
Adjective 5. There are still thousands of homeless (home) people in the big cities who sleep rough every night.
Adjective 6. He was a very optimistic (optimist) person and was always expecting the best to happen.
Adjective 7. We caught our train at the central (center) station.
Adjective 8. It was accidental (accident)! I didn’t drop the vase on purpose. It just slipped out of my hand.
Noun 9. The old man passed along a lot of his wisdom (wise).
Noun 10. The team had a lot of unity (unite).
Adjective 11. My parents wanted privacy (private) when they went out to eat.
Adjective 12. The humility (human) that the team is showing is very admirable.
Noun 13. Nobody knows why this regulation had to be introduced. There is no justice (justice) for it.
Noun 14. Dr Novák, by his own admittance (admit), lacks experience of chairing a session at an international conference.
Noun 15. The failure (fail)of this plan will have serious implication (imply).
Adjective 16. The bat was very useful (useful) when walking alone.
Adjective 17. The boy was careful (care) when running in the rain.
Noun 18. The guitarist (guitar) practiced all night.
Noun 19. The developer (develop) created a work of art.
Noun 20. His commitment (commit) was unparalleled.
Noun 21. We obtained freedom (free) many years ago.
Noun 22. I have not received confirmation of the acceptance (accept) of my paper.
Noun 23. If you want to teach a technical subject, you need not only a good technical education but also a teaching
Qualification (qualify)
Noun _24. The reviewer (review) found a lot of inaccurateness (inaccurate) in John ´s paper.
Noun 25. We apologize for the cancelation (cancel) of the meeting.
Noun 26. We won the championship (champion) two years in a row.
Noun 27. I received compensation (compensate) for all my hard work.
Adjective 28. I feel really healthful (health) since I gave up smoking and started jogging.
Adjective 29. This knife is useful (use), it won’t cut! We should get it sharpened.
Noun 30. I had a lot of happiness (happy) during the year.
Noun 31. He believes that our assumption (assume) about the cost of the equipment are wrong.
Noun 32. The project is nearing completeness. (complete).
Noun _33. In this area, extreme temperatures are a rare occurrence (occur).
Noun _34. Any signal originating from a source other than the wanted transmitter, e.g. atmospherics or unwanted
stations is referred to as disturbance (disturb).
Noun __35. Throughout his career he has demonstrated a willingness (willing) to compromise.
Noun ___36. We don't tolerate anti social behavior (behave) in our school.
Noun _37. There is widespread unhappiness (unhappy) with the government's economic policy.
Noun __38. The markets offer a variety (vary) of fresh fruits and vegetables.
END!