Talk a Lot
Focus on Connected Speech
Common Suffixes and What they Indicate
•
•
•
A suffix comes at the end of a word.
Suffixes are usually unstressed.
Adding a suffix changes the word type, e.g. a noun changes into a verb.
Below are some examples of how a root word can change type when a suffix is added:
Root Word
Word Type
+ Suffix
believe
participate
walk
interfere
teach
big
China
clever
faith
Russia
access
beauty
watch
memory
child
science
attract
name
quiet
arrange
happy
cube
fame
cat
friend
revise
maintenance
ten
revolve
verb
-able
verb
-ant
verb (infin.)
-ed
verb
-ence
verb
-er
adjective
-er
noun (country) -ese
adjective
-est
noun
-ful
noun (country) -ian
verb
-ible
noun
-ify
verb (infin.)
-ing
noun
-ise
noun
-ish
noun (abstract) -ist
verb
-ive
noun
-less
adjective
-ly
verb
-ment
adjective
-ness
noun
-oid
noun
-ous
noun (singular) -s
noun (common) -ship
verb
-sion
noun
-tain
number (cardinal) -th
verb
-tion
Changes to
Word Type
believable
participant
walked
interference
teacher
bigger
Chinese
cleverest
faithful
Russian
accessible
beautify
watching
memorise
childish
scientist
attractive
nameless
quietly
arrangement
happiness
cuboid
famous
cats
friendship
revision
maintain
tenth
revolution
adjective
noun (person)
verb (past participle)
noun
noun (person)
adjective (comparative)
adjective (nationality)
adjective (superlative)
adjective
noun (person)
adjective
verb
verb (present participle)
verb
adjective
noun (common)
adjective
adjective
adverb
noun
noun
adjective
adjective
noun (plural)
noun (abstract)
noun
verb
-on
-or
-our
-ow
-phone
-ra
-raphy
-tain
-teen
-um
-ure
-us
-y
number (ordinal)
noun
Other common suffixes
-an
-ane
-ar
-ard
-cide
-cy
-ect
-en
-ert
-es
-ess
-et
-ey
-ia
-ic
-ical
-ies
-im
-in
-is
-ism
-it
-ity
-le
-logy
-o
-oir
For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www.englishbanana.com now!
Talk a Lot Elementary
English Banana.com
15.1