Suffixation

Comparatively not large quantity of suffixes gave ten thousand of derived words: nation - national, nationality_, nationalize, nationalization, nationalist, nationalism.

Besides forming a new word a suffix also forms a corresponding part of speech. Thus the main classification of suffixes keeps this in view. In Modern English the most widely spread are the following suffixes:

1. Suffixes of nouns:

age - marriage

ance/ence - distance, difence

ancy/ency - constancy, tendency

ant/ent - assistant, student

dom - freedom

er - writer

ess - actrees

hood - motherhood

ing - building

ion/tion/sion/ation - rebellion, creation, tension, explanation

ist - novelist

ism - communism

ment - government

ness - tenderness, greatness

ship - friendship

ty - honesty

2. Adjective-forming suffixes:

able/ible/uble - unbearable, soluble

al - formal, local

ic - public

ical - ethical

ant/ent - dependent, rependant

ary - revolutionary

ate/ete - accurate, complete

ed/d - wooded

ful - delightful

ian - Australian

ish - Irish

ive - active

less - useless

like - lifelike

ly - manly

ous/ious - tremendous, curious

some - tiresome, wholesome

у - cloudy, dressy, handy

 

3. Numeral suffixes:

fold - twofold

teen – fourteen

th - seventh

ty - sixty

 

4. Verb - forming suffixes:

ate - facilitate, instigate

er - glimmer, glitter

en - shorten

fy/ify - terrify, beatify

ise - organize

ish - establish

 

5. Adverb - forming suffixes:

ly - coldly

ward - upward, north-wards

wise - likewise