Nouns: formation with common suffixes

 

Nouns are words that refer to people, places, and things. We use suffixes to make a new word. For example, we can add a suffix to a verb and create a noun.

Suffixes go on the end of words.

• They always arrive late on Wednesdays. (verb)
• The arrival of a new puppy made everyone happy. (noun)

By adding -al, the verb ‘arrive’ becomes a noun.

 

Here are some other examples of nouns ending in -al:

 

Root Word	Noun	Meaning
profession	professional	Related to the action of a verb
approve	approval
deny	denial

 

There are other suffixes that we can use to create nouns, such as -tion/-ation, -ness, -ity, -ment, -ship, -ance/ence, -er/or, -ian, -ist, and many more. We can divide them into several main groups to distinguish them by meaning:

1. Nouns describing people doing some activity (often an occupation) and people experiencing some activity (suffix -ee).

Suffix	Example
-ant	assistant, participant
-ee	attendee, referee, grantee
-ent	correspondent, respondent
-(e)er	engineer, manager
-ian	librarian, historian
-ic	mechanic, paramedic
-ician	mathematician, politician
-or	supervisor, survivor
-ist	Marxist, capitalist (followers of philosophies)

• I don’t think I am a good writer.
• She works as a biologist for a research company.

2. Nouns describing devices

Suffix	Example
-er	condenser, opener
-or	alternator, razor

•  Today we can’t live without computers.

3. Nouns describing abstracts

Suffix	Example
-age	mileage, percentage
-al	disposal, proposal
-ance/-ence	appearance, attendance, dependence
-ation	information, transformation
-dom	freedom, kingdom
-iety	society, variety
-ism	capitalism, idealism (philosophies)
-ity	density, diversity
-ment	agreement, statement
-ness	usefulness, weakness
-ship	membership, relationship
-sion	conclusion, explosion
-ure	exposure, failure
-th	breadth, length

• I do not like taking public transportation in this city.
• No one knows what happiness really is.
• Equality between different groups is important for the future of the country.
• His preference for tea over coffee surprised me.

 

Spelling Tips

 

Often, the suffix causes a spelling change to the original word. The following changes may occur:

1.  Dropping letters

The final -e is dropped:

• argue – argument.

2.  Changing ‘y’ to ‘i‘

In words that end in ‘-y’, the ‘y’ becomes an ‘i’:

• deny – denial
• happy – happiness

3. Changing ‘-le’ to ‘-il’

• able, possible + -ity → ability, possibility

4. Changing ‘-t’ to ‘-ss’

• permit, omit + -ion → permission, omission

 

Suffixes can help expand your vocabulary. For example, if you know the word ‘happy’ or ‘create’, you can use that to understand and use new words like ‘happiness’ and ‘creativity’.