Suffixes and Prefixes

Common Noun Suffixes

Suffixes at times change the word-class and meaning of a word.

With a wide range of verbs you can turn them into nouns by adding the following suffixes.

er/or is used for a person who does a certain activity, e.g. writer, actor. It can also be used for things that do a particular job, tin opener, projector.
(t)ion donate/donation, admit/admission

With some adjectives you can make nouns by adding ness.

ness happy happiness

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Common Adjective Suffixes

With some verbs you can obtain adjectives by adding the following suffixes.

able/ible with verbs has the meaning of can be done, e.g. drinkable, readable, printable
ible edible: can be eaten flexible: can be bent

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Common Verb Suffixes

Common verb suffixes are -ed or -ing

With some adjectives you can make verbs by adding the following suffixes.

ise/ize industrialise/ize, modernise/ize

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Other Suffixes

al	adjectives
ive	adjectives
ful	adjectives
less	adjectives
ous	adjectives
ment	nouns
ity	noun
hood	abstract noun (especially family terms)
ship	abstract nouns (especially status)
ify	verb

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Prefixes in Word Formation

un, in, dis, im, ir, il are prefixes used to obtain the negative meaning of an adjective. Note: when you learn a new adjective, remember to learn its opposite with the relevant prefix.

some words that start with the letter m or p prefix is im, immature, improbable
some words that begin with the letter l you add il, illiterate
some words that begin with r you add ir, irreplaceable

Note: for verbs we use the prefixes un and dis to reverse the action of the verb, e.g. agree/disagree, zip/unzip.

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