Muthayammal Engineering College, Rasipuram Department of English Technical English I Prefixes & Suffixes

Word Formation Verb formation: The endings -ize and ify can be added to many nouns and adjectives to form verbs, like this:

America n Legal Modern Popular

-ize

Americaniz e Legalize Modernize Popularize

Beauty Liquid Pure Simple

-ify

Beautify Liquefy Purify Simplify

Ex: They want to make the factory more modern. Ex : These tables make the water pure. They wanted to modernize the factory. They purify the water. Noun Formation: The endings er, -ment and ation can be added to many verbs to form nouns, like this Drive Fasten Open Teach Driver Fastener Opener Teacher Ex : The project development

-er

Amaze Develop Pay Retire

-ment

Amazement Developme nt Payment Retirement

Ex : John drives a bus. John develops the project quickly John is a bus driver. is very quick.

Admire Associat e Examine Organize

-ation

Admiration Association Examinatio n Organizatio n

Ex : The Doctor examined me carefully. The Doctor gave me a careful examination

Compiled by D.Jayavelu & P.Chandrasekaran

Page1

More Notes : Nouns : 1.suffixes like ant, -ator, -er, -ist, -or are added to form personal nouns. Protest-Protestant, terminate-terminator, teach-teacher, conductconductor, Education-educationist.

Muthayammal Engineering College, Rasipuram Department of English Technical English I Prefixes & Suffixes

2.suffixes ance, -ence, -ation, -ion, -ism, -ment, -sion, -tion, -ty, -age, . - ency can be used to form functional nouns. Immerse-immersion, secure-security, transparent-transparency, Maintain-maintenance, bond-bondage.

The endings ity and ness can be added to many adjectives to form nouns, like this. Cruel Odd Pure Stupid Cruelty Oddity Purity Stupidity Dark Deaf Happy Kind Darkness Deafness Happiness Kindness

-ity -ty

-ness

Ex : He is very cruel / Dont be so cruel. I hate his cruelty. impossible to see.

Ex : It was very dark The darkness made it

Adjective formation : The endings y, ic, -ical, -ful and less can be added to many nouns to form adjectives like this: Bush Dirt Hair Smell Bushy Dirty Hairy smelly Atom Biology Gramma r Poetry Atomic Biological Grammatic al Poetic

-y

-ic -ical

Ex : There was an awful smell in the room. exercises. The room was very smelly. Pain Hope Care Painful Hopeful Careful

Ex :The book contains exercises on grammar. The book contains grammatical

-ful

Pain Hope Care

-less

Painless Hopeless Careless

Ex : The operation didnt cause him any pain. The broken leg was very painful. was painless.

The ending able can be added to many verbs to form adjectives , like this.

Compiled by D.Jayavelu & P.Chandrasekaran

Page1

Ex : The operation didnt cause him any pain. The operation

Muthayammal Engineering College, Rasipuram Department of English Technical English I Prefixes & Suffixes
Wash Love Debate Break eg : you can wash this coat. This coat is washable. Adverb formation: The ending ly can be added to most adjectives to form adverbs, like this : Easy Main Quick Stupid Easily Mainly Quickly Stupidly -able Washable Loveable Debatable Breakable

-ly

eg : His behaviour was stupid. He behaved stupidly.

Compiled by D.Jayavelu & P.Chandrasekaran

Page1