Word Formation Part 3
Nouns & Suffixes
Transforming verbs into nouns by adding suffixes:
-ER/-OR – professions or things that do a job: write – writer, work – worker, shop –
shopper, act – actor, operate – operator, sail – sailor, sharpen – sharpener, open – opener,
project – projector, etc.
– ANT/-ENT – professions: attend – attendant, inform – informant, assist – assistant,
preside – president, etc.
-ER vs -EE – people who do vs people who experience something:
employ – employer (person who employs) vs employee (person who is employed)
pay – payer vs payee
send/address – sender vs addressee
-(A)(T)ION: inform – information, declare – declaration, capture – caption, contaminate –
contamination, cultivate – cultivation, reduce – reduction, etc.
-MENT: enjoy – enjoyment, agree – agreement, excite – excitement, replace – replacement,
establish – establishment, etc.
-AL: arrive – arrival, approve – approval, deny – denial, etc.
-ANCE/-ENCE: attend – attendance, prefer – preference, insure – insurance, accept –
acceptance, etc.
-(S)ION: confuse – confusion, decide – decision, revise – revision, divide – division, televise
– television, etc.
-AGE: pass – passage, pack – package, marry – marriage, etc.
-ING: bless – blessing, feed – feeding, seat – seating, dance – dancing, advertise –
advertising, etc.
-ERY: brew – brewery, bake – bakery, etc.
-TH: grow – growth, bear/born – birth,
Transforming adjectives into nouns:
-NESS – quality/condition: good – goodness, ready – readiness, forgetful –
forgetfulness, sad – sadness, happy – happiness, etc.
-IST vs -ISM – people vs ideology/activity:
ideal – idealist (person) vs idealism (ideology)
colonial – colonialist vs colonialism
human – humanist vs humanism
-TH: true – truth, strong – strength, broad – breadth, long – length, dead – death, warm –
warmth, wide – width, foul – filth, young – youth, etc.
-ITY: flexible – flexibility, available – availability, productive – productivity, active – activity,
etc.
-ERY: brave (adj.) – bravery, etc.
-Y: private – privacy, honest – honesty, jealous – jealousy, etc.
-TY: safe – safety, cruel – cruelty, certain – certainty etc.
-STER: hip – hipster, young – youngster, old – oldster, etc.
-DOM: free – freedom, wise – wisdom, etc.
Transforming nouns
-IST vs -ISM – people vs ideology/activity:
journal – journalist (person) vs journalism (activity)
peace – pacifist vs pacifism
anarchy – anarchist vs anarchism
-IST – professions: science – scientist, physics – physicist, piano – pianist, cello – cellist,
violin – violinist, etc.
-AGE: pass – passage, bag – baggage, etc.
-ERY: slave – slavery, machine – machinery, etc.
-(AR)IAN: vegetable – vegetarian, human – humanitarian, sect – sectarian, music –
musician, politics – politician, etc.
-EER: engine – engineer, mountain – mountaineer, musket – musketeer, etc.
-STER: gang – gangster, mob – mobster, spin – spinster, etc.
-ERY: slave – slavery, etc.
HOOD: child – childhood, likely – likelihood, adult – adulthood, parent – parenthood,
neighbour – neighbourhood, etc.
-SHIP: friend – friendship, censor – censorship, partner – partnership, relation –
relationship, etc.
-DOM: star – stardom, bore – boredom, king – kingdom, etc.
Adjectives & Suffixes
Adjectives are words that modify nouns and, unfortunately, there isn’t a general rule
which you can follow to form them. In many cases, in fact, these adjectives don’t even
derive from another word. For instance, adjectives like “red”, “small” or “flat”,
are not formed through suffixation. Therefore, in this post we will obviously focus on
those which are formed through suffixation. But firstly, let’s take a look at the typical
adjective suffixes and some examples:
Now we’ll see some adjectives (including some from above) and how they were formed.
Please note how some spelling changes take place in many cases:
1. Adjectives from Nouns
2. Adjectives from Verbs
Now let’s see some examples of sentences with both noun and adjective forms:
She obeys the teacher. –> She is obedient to the teacher.
We enjoyed the weekend very much. –> The weekend was very enjoyable.
Mary talks too much, doesn’t she? –> Mary’s very talkative, isn’t she?
3. Adjectives from Verbs: -ed/-ing
Another way to form adjectives from verbs is to use the past or present participles of the
verbs, that is, their “-ed” or “-ing” forms. For instance:
to amuse –> amused (past participle) / amusing (present participle)
to interest –> interested / interesting
to surprise –> surprised / surprising
Remember that adjectives ending in “-ed” are used when the subject feels, whereas “-ing”
adjectives are used when the subject produces the feeling. For more info about these
adjectives visit this previous post, where this point is explained in more depth.
4. Adjectives from Adjectives
There are several possibilities to form adjectives from other adjectives. The most common
is when we form comparatives or superlatives from one-syllable adjectives or
two-syllable adjectives ending in “-y”. Remember that the endings for these are “-er” and
“-est” respectively, and that some spelling rules my apply (double the final consonant,
change the “-y” for “-i”, etc.). For example:
This TV is very big, but mine’s bigger.
He’s extremely happy. He’s probably the happiest person I know.
Also, adjectives can be modified by adding a prefix to them. For instance: possible –>
impossible, regular –> irregular, logical –> illogical, etc. However, we will see these in a
future post, so keep an eye out for it.
* Warning: adjectives ending in -ic/-ical
In the first table (1. Adjectives from Nouns), we have seen some adjectives that could
have these two endings: “-ic” or “-ical”. However, it must be said that their meanings
usually vary. This difference is not the same for all of them, so whenever you come across
a pair like economic/economical or historic/historical, make sure you learn the different
by looking them up in a dictionary.
10 Nouns Ending in -TH
Nouns ending in -th are also commonly found in part 3. Let’s see if you know
these:
