3. The enlargement of words
Reflexión
What do these nouns have in common?
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| By niznoz, C. Commons |
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Solved exercise: suffixes
Suffixes are letters attached at the end of words that modify their usage or their meaning.
We can create countless nouns thanks to suffixes. In this unit, we are going to study the following ones:
-dom: wisdom, kingdom, freedom...
-ity: quality, necessity, possibility...
-ment: argument, agreement, disappointment...
-sion/-tion: television, information, celebration...
-ness: happiness, Scottishness, heaviness...
-ance/-ence: appearance, difference, independence...
-er/-or: teacher, visitor, inventor...
-ist: scientist, pianist, capitalist...
The only problem with suffixes is that we don't know what suffix matches each word if we have never heard that word before. That's why we need to know them by heart.
Make nouns from these words with the suffixes above :
- act
- agree
- bored
- move
- violin
Curiosity
You already know you can create countless words in English thanks to suffixes. One such example is the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, used in the song with the same name in the musical film Mary Poppins.
We can find another example in North Wales, where there is a village with the longest name in the United Kingdom.
| Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch |
Surprising, isn't it? It is a Welsh name, artificially created in the 1860's with the purpose to attract more visitors to the town.
Click on the video to listen to its pronunciation!
Pregunta de Selección Múltiple
You are going to practice with suffixes now. From the given word, decide which suffix can be used to make a noun:
1. Independent.
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| By jakedobkin, C. Commons |
a. ness
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b. ence
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c. tion
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a. ance
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b. ist
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c. ness
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a. ance
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b. sion
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c. tion
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a. er
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b. tion
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c. ance
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a. ity
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b. ment
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c. ness
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Important
It is very important to watch videos or films in English in order to learn the language. Nowadays, it is very easy to watch DVDs in English, maybe with subtitles so that it's a bit easier for you. And don't forget the Internet is also a very useful tool to find anything you like in English!
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By C.P.Storm, C. Commons
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