Spelling Review: Adding Suffixes

A suffix is a sound added to the end of a word to form a new word:

foolish + -ness (state of being) = foolishness (state of being foolish)

Study these suffixes and their meanings:

Adding Suffixes

1. As a rule, do not add or drop a letter when adding a suffix to a word. Keep all the letters of the word and all the letters of the suffix.

intimate + ly = intimately
usual + ly = usually
sudden + ness = suddenness
violin + ist = violinist

2. However, if the word ends in silent e, drop the e before a suffix beginning with a vowel. (Remember: a, e, i, o, and u are vowels.)

believe + able = believable
recieve + er = receiver
menace + ed = menaced
menace + ing = menacing
supervise + or = supervisor
seize + ure = siezure

Spelling Review: Turning Adjectives Into Adverbs

Rule: To change an adjective to an adverb, we usually add -LY.

Exceptions

1. If the adjective ends in a consonant plus -LE, change the -LE to -LY.

2. If the adjective ends in -Y preceded by a consonant, change Y to I before adding -LY.

3. If the adjective ends in -IC, add AL before attaching -LY.

drastic + al + ly = drastically
scientific + al + ly = scientifically

4. Finally, note these special exceptions:

duly, truly, wholly

Spelling Review: -ABLE, -IBLE, -ABILITY, -IBILITY

A. Change tibe following nouns to adjectives ending in -ABLE or -IBLE. The first one has been done for you as an example.

answers: Each adjective ends in -ABLE—presentable, applicable, irritable, adorable.

From the above, you can see that an adjective ends in -ABLE (rather than -IBLE) if it has a corresponding noun form ending in -ATION. Exception: sensation—sensible.

B. Except for the clue in A, above, there is no easy way to tell whether an adjective ends in -ABLE or -IBLE. Therefore, study the following:

Frequently Used -ABLE Adjectives

Frequently Used -IBLE Adjectives

C. The suffix -ABLE or -IBLE does not change when a prefix is added or removed.

un + predictable = unpredictable
improbable - im = probable
ir + responsible = irresponsible
inexhaustible - in =exhaustible

D. Nouns ending in –ABILITY come from adjectives ending in -ABLE. Nouns ending in
-IBILJTY come from adjectives ending in -IBLE.

Spelling Review: Turning Verbs Into Nouns

A. Three suffixes for turning verbs into nouns are -ION, -ATION, and -URE. They all have the same meaning: "act or result of."

reminder: If the verb ends in silent e (as in anticipate, adore, and expose, above), drop the e before adding -ION, -ATION, and -URE because these suffixes begin with a vowel.

B. By dropping the suffixes -ION, -ATION, and -URE, we may turn nouns into verbs.

If a silent e was dropped when the noun was formed, it must be put back into the verb.

Spelling Review: Turning Nouns Into Adjectives

A. You can change some nouns to adjectives by dropping a suffix.

1. Dropping-NESS

2. Dropping -ITY

joviality - ity = jovial
insanity - ity = insane

B. You can change some nouns to adjectives by adding a suffix.

1.Adding -FUL

2. Adding -LESS

care + less = careless
pity + less = pitiless

3. Adding -OUS

peril + ous = perilous
victory + ous = victorious

4. Adding –Y

health + y = healthy
ice + y = icy
onion + y = oniony

C. You can change some nouns to adjectives by changing a suffix.

1. Changing -ANCE or -ANCY to –ANT

2. Changing -ENCE or -ENCY to -ENT

corpulence —> corpulent
urgency —> urgent

D. Note the spelling irregularities in the following:

awe + ful = awful (silent e dropped even though suffix begins with a consonant)

malice + ous = malicious (after c, e changes to i before -ous)
garlic + y = garlicky (k inserted before y)

Spelling Review: Turning Verbs Into Adjectives

Increase your store of adjectives by getting some of them from verbs.

A. You can form an adjective by adding -ING to a verb.

"What will not a man give for bis starving children and his old father!"

An -ING adjective is also called a present participle.

Spelling Reminders:

1. Drop silent e before adding -ING.

starve + ing = starving
freeze + ing = freezing

2. Change ie to y before adding -1

die + ing = dying
tie + ing = tying

B. You can also form an adjective by adding -ED to a regular verb.

"The man was thin... but not starved..."

An -ED adjective is also known as a past participle.

Spelling Reminders:

1. Drop silent e before adding -ED.

starve + ed = starved
increase + ed = increased

2. If the verb ends in y preceded by a consonant, change the y to i before adding -ED.

worry + ed = worried
satisfy + ed = satisfied

3. Do not change the y if it is preceded by a vowel.

annoy + ed ⁼ annoyed
decay + ed = decayed

C. If the verb is irregular—for example, break, broke, broken—you cannot add -ED. I use the last prinsipal part—broken—as an adjective.

Don't step on the broken glass! (break, broke, broken)
We skated on the frozen lake. (freeze, froze, frozen)
Can you help the lost child? (lose, lost, lost)

The last principal part is of course, a past participle.

D. Note how Pearl Buck formed adjectives from verbs in the following sentence:

Wang Lung felt in his own shriveled body the last remaining strength of life gathering into a

devastating anger against this man, his uncle.

shriveled (from the verb shrivel) is an
adjective modifying the noun body
remaining (from the verb remain) is an
adjective modifying the noun strength
devastating (from the verb devastate) is an
adjective modifying the noun anger

Spelling Review: Turning Adjectives Into Nouns by Adding –ITY

He was not merely a big snake, I thought—he was a circus monstrosity. His abominable muscularity, his loathsome, fluid motion, somehow made me sick.

Note how, in the above, Willa Gather has turned adjectives into nouns by adding the suffix -ITY, meaning "condition or state."

Forming -ITY nouns

1. As a rule, do not drop any letters. However, drop silent e before -ITY.

regular + ity = regularity
vital + ity = vitality
rigid + ity = rigidity

mature + ity = maturity

2. If the adjective ends in -BLE, change le toil before adding -ITY.

sociable + ity - sociabflity
possible + ity = possibility

3. Some -OUS adjectives lose the letter u.

4. A few adjectives add -TY only,

loyal —> loyalty-
novel —> novelty
cruel —> cruelty
subtle —> subtlety
jolly —> jollity

5. The following adjectives lose an e but add -IETY.

improper —> impropriety
proper —> propriety
sober —> sobriety

6. Finally, learn these irregularities:

anxious —> anxiety
notorious —> notoriety
brief —> brevity
clear —> clarity
gay —> gaiety or gayety
humble —> humility
poor —> poverty
vain —> vanity

Spelling Review: Adding Suffixes to Words Ending in – IC

1. Before adding -ED, -ING, -ER, or -Y to a word ending in -IC, insert the letter k.

picnic + ed = picnicked
frolic + ed = frolicked
mimic + ed = mimicking
panic + ed = panicking
picnic + er = picnicking
panic + y = panicky

The k keeps the c from being pronounced as s.

2. Reminder: Before adding -LY to a word ending in -IC, insert AL.

frantic + ly = frantically
drastic + ly = drastically

3. Reminder: When removing a suffix from a word ending in -1C, drop any extra letters that have been inserted.

frolicked - ed = frolic (k dropped)
tragically - ly = tragic (al dropped)