ADJECTIVE NOUN ADJECTIVE NOUN

-nce -ness
important importance busy business
different difference sad sadness
independent independence happy happiness
polite politeness
-ty lazy laziness
difficult difficulty
stupid stupidity -ion
possible possibility corrupt corruption
probable probability educated education

1. I think the old prime minister was really (corrupt / corruption).

2. The new prime minister will be very (different / difference), I hope.
3. Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia that has always been (independent/ independence).
4. We use ‘khrap’ or ‘ka’ a lot in Thai because (polite / politeness) is very important in Thailand.
5. There is a significant (different / difference) between British and American English.
6. We won’t have much (busy / business) after the New Year. It is going to be (difficult / difficulty).
7. I believe that (educated / education) is very (important / importance).
8. A lot of students don’t see the (important / importance) of grammar, which is (sad / sadness).
9. It was my (stupid / stupidity) that I didn’t lock the door. I’m not (happy / happiness) about it at all.
10. Next month we will be very (busy / business), so I don’t want any (lazy / laziness) people here.
11. There is a small (possible / possibility) that there will be a blizzard tomorrow.
12. It is not very (probable / probability) that there will be a war next year.
13. I think (lazy / laziness) is not very good character trait but (corrupt / corruption) is worse.
14. The (educated / education) individuals often get good jobs but the (stupid / stupidity) ones don’t.
15. Money can’t buy (happy / happiness) but can help you to achieve (independent / independence).
16. It is not very (probable / probability) that the world will end in 2012 but it is (possible / possibility).

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Put the word in brackets into the correct form. You will have to use prefixes and/or suffixes.

1. He was sitting __________________ in his seat on the train. (comfort)

2. There was a __________________ light coming from the window. (green)

3. He was acting in a very __________________ way. (child)

4. This word is very difficult to spell, and even worse, it's __________________. (pronounce)

5. He's lost his book again. I don't know where he has __________________ it this time. (place)

6. You shouldn't have done that! It was very __________________ of you. (think)

7. He didn't pass his exam. He was __________________ for the second time. (succeed)

8. Some of the shanty towns are dreadfully __________________ . (crowd)

9. The team that he supported were able to win the__________________ . (champion)

10. There is a very high __________________ that they will be late. (likely)

11. I couldn't find any __________________ in his theory. (weak)

12. He wants to be a __________________ when he grows up. (mathematics)

13. You need to be a highly trained __________________ to understand this report. (economy)

14. There were only a __________________ of people at the match. (hand)

15. She arrived late at work because she had__________________ . (sleep)

16. The road was too narrow, so they had to __________________ it. (wide)

17. He was accused of __________________ documents. (false)

18. They had to __________________ the lion before they could catch it. (tranquil)

19. He needed to __________________ the temperature. (regular)

20. I think that you should __________________ . It may not be the best thing to do. (consider)

21. There was a three-hour __________________ because of the strike. (stop)

22. You need a _______________of motivation, organization and revision to learn English.(combine)

23. I try not to go to the supermarket at 5pm because it's __________________. (practice)

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24. It is very __________________ to run air-conditioning with the door open. (economy)

25. His __________________ has been expected for the last half an hour. (arrive)

26. She looked at her __________________ in the mirror. (reflect)

27. I told him my plan but he wasn't very __________________ . (receive)

28. She had no __________________ of going to see him. (intend)

29. He spent half an hour __________________ himself with the building. (familiar)

30. Failing her driving test was a great __________________ to her. (appoint)

This exercise looks at forming nouns from verbs, nouns and adjectives by using suffixes.
Type the correct form of the word in the box.

1. My teacher says there has been a big (IMPROVE) .......... in my English lately.

2. The recipe says you only need to add two (SPOON) .......... of salt.

3. Why did you do that? I thought you had more (INTELLIGENT) .......... than that.

4. The singer gave a brilliant (PERFORM) .......... on stage yesterday.

5. Have you seen her magazine (COLLECT)..........? She must have over 200 editions.

6. On hearing the news, everyone was overcome with a feeling of (SAD)...........

7. When you take the FCE Speaking paper you will be given marks for your (ACCURATE) .......... and also on
how fluent you are.

8. She has the (ABLE) .......... to pass the exam first time round providing she works hard.

This exercise looks at the most common adjective and adverb endings.

Write the correct form of the adjective or adverb of the word in CAPITALS. For questions 5-8 you will
need to make TWO changes to the stem word.

1. Be sure to contact him if you need advice. He's a very (HELP) .......... person.

2. It was a really (ENJOY) .......... party. Thanks for inviting me.

3. He has just taken out a (MONTH) .......... subscription to the magazine.

4. She smiled (HAPPY) .......... when they offered her the new job.

5. (HOPE) .......... we'll have enough money saved to get married next year. (2 changes required)

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Part Five: Word Formation

Read the text and then write the correct form of the word in CAPITALS to complete the gaps. There is
an example at the beginning.

Example: 0 traditional

Puppet Shows
Puppets are dolls representing

(0) traditional or modern characters in TRADITION

stories. They are a popular form of

(1) ... for both children and adults. ENTERTAIN

Some puppets seen in Europe today

were (2) ... created in Italy in the ORIGIN

1500s. A puppet show was an (3) ... EXPENSIVE

way to enjoy yourself so people could

go to see the same (4) ... again and PERFORM

again.

So what is the continuing (5) ... of the ATTRACT

puppet show? Used (6) ... by artists, CLEVER

puppets have a living magic. However

beautiful, funny or (7) ... to look at, they FASCINATE

are really simple tools used by artists

to express their ideas, (8) ... and PERSON

character. Of course they must have

great technical (9) ... but the fun and ABLE

charm come from the way the artists

establish (10) ... with the audience. COMMUNICATE

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Read the text and then write the correct form of the word in CAPITALS to complete the gaps. There is
an example at the beginning.

Example: 0 ability

Computers That Play Games

Computers have had the (0) ... to play ABLE
chess for many years now, and their (1) ... PERFORM
in games against the best players in the
world has shown steady (2) ... . However, IMPROVE
it will be years before the designers of
computer games machines can beat their
(3) ... challenge yet - the ancient board BIG
game called 'Go'. The playing area is (4) ... CONSIDERABLE
larger than in chess and there are far
more pieces, so that the (5) ... of moves is COMBINE
almost (6) ... . The game involves planning END
so many moves ahead that even the (7) ... IMPRESS
calculations of the fastest modern
computers are (8) ... to deal with the SUFFICIENT
problems of the game.
In a recent (9) ... for computer 'Go' COMPETE
machines, the best machine beat all its
rivals, but lost (10) ... to three young HEAVY
schoolchildren, so there is obviously still
a lot of work to do.

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