Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Suffixes and Prefix
Suffixes and Prefix
‐ A suffix is a letter or group of letters added at the end of a word which
makes a new word.
Nouns
‐acy – state or quality – consistency/democracy
‐al – action or process of – criminal/remedial
‐ance/‐ence – state or quality of – assistance/evidence
‐dom – place or state of being – Kingdom/freedom
‐er/or – person or object that does a specified action – writer/Creator/teacher
‐ism – doctrine/belief – capitalism/pratiotism
‐ist ‐ person or object that does a specified action – protagonist/scientist
‐ity/‐ty – quality of – enormity/extremity
‐ment – condition – argument/government
‐ness – state of being – sickness/heaviness
‐ship – position held – friendship/internship
‐sion/‐tion – state of being – ambition/conclusion
Verbs
‐ate – become – mediate/collaborate
‐ify/‐fy – make or become – justify/simplify
‐ise/‐ize – become – memorize/organize/realize
Adjectives
‐able/‐ible – capable of being – audible/edible
‐al – having the form or Character of – colonial/fictional
‐ful – notable for – handful/hopeful
‐ic/‐ical – having the form or Character of – artistic/dramatic/musical
‐ious/‐ous – characterized by – jealous/religious
‐ish – having the quality of – childish/boyish
‐ive – having the nature of – attentive/informative
‐less – without – hopeless/homeless
‐y – characterized by – beauty/jealousy
Adverbs
‐ly – how something is done – carefully/slowly
Exercises
Add the correct suffix.
‐OUS – Characterized by (adj.)
‐AL ‐ Characterized by (adj.)
‐MENT – Condition (noun)
‐SHIP – Position held (noun)
‐NESS – State of being (noun)
1. Jealous
2. Weakness
3. Hardness
4. Fictional
5. Friendship
6. Religi ‐ religious
7. Ridicul ‐ ridiculous
8. Regional
9. Sickness
10. Abandon abandonment
11. Laziness
12. Abolish abolishment
13. Member ‐ membership
14. Appointment
15. Disagreement
16. Tiredness
17. Logical
Add ‐less(without) or ‐ful(notable for) (adj.)
1. Powerful / less
2. Homeless
3. Hopeful/ less
4. Meaningless/ ful
5. Helpless/ful
Add ‐able or ‐ible (adj.)
1. Responsible
2. Fashionable
3. Incredible
4. Flexible
5. Adorable
1. Terrible
2. Desirable
3. Horrible
4. Reversible
5. Believable
6. Disposable
7. Changeable
8. Invincible
9. Comfortable
Add the correct suffix.
1. Happiness
2. Friendship
3. Argue ‐ arguement
4. Kindness
5. Encouragement
6. Membership
7. Sickness
8. Rudeness
9. Achievement
10. Treatment
11. Internship
12. Darkness
13. Fitness
14. Changeable
15. Successful
16. Comfortable
17. Harmless/ful
18. Dangerous
Complete with ‐able/‐ible/‐al/‐ful/‐less/‐ous/‐y (adj.)
1. Natural
2. Breathable
3. Nervous
4. Grateful
5. Flexible
6. Accessible
7. Honorable
8. Courageous
9. Biological
10. Lifeless
11. Cloudy
12. Sleepy
13. Tolerable
14. Reversal
Complete with ‐age/‐ment/‐ness/‐ship/‐tion/‐sion
1. Achivement
2. Affection
3. Citizenship
4. Encouragement
5. Excitement
6. Friendship
7. Happyness
8. Highness
9. Marriage
10. Membership
11. Promotion
12. Rudeness
13. Sadness
14. Sickness
15. Treatment
Form adjectives using the sufixes: ‐al/‐able/‐ful/‐less
1. Accidental
2. Adaptable
3. Acceptable
4. Recogniziable
5. Educational
6. Fictional
7. Flame ‐ flammable
8. Forgetful
9. Helpless/ful
10. Homeless
11. Hopeless/ful
12. Meaningless/ful
13. Musical
14. Personal
15. Playful
16. Religionless
17. Successful
18. Thankful
19. Useful/less
20. Wonderful
Complete with ‐ize/‐fy/‐ify/‐ly
1. Beauty – beautify ‐ verb
2. Clarity – carify ‐ verbo
3. Family – familiarize (v)
4. Fort – fortify ‐ verb
5. Mad – madly ‐ adv
6. Memory – memorize adv
7. Quick – quickly adv
8. Real ‐ realize v
9. Softly adv
10. Slowly adv
11. Terror – terrify verb
12. Unit – unify (v)
1 ‐ Complete the sentences using the words from the box + a suffix!