Wit and Humour
Suffixes
Learn how suffixes change words, using words from the play.
Look at four words from the play: humorous, hilariously, coming, beautiful. Each is a root word + an ending: humour + -ous, hilarious + -ly, come + -ing, beauty + -ful.
These endings are suffixes. A suffix usually changes the job a word does in a sentence (noun, adjective, adverb ...), and sometimes its meaning.
Two spelling tips:
- if the root ends in e, the e usually drops: come + -ing = coming (not comeing)
- if the root ends in consonant + y, the y usually becomes i: beauty + -ful = beautiful (not beautyful)
What common suffixes do:
| Suffix | Makes a ... | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -ly | adverb | quiet → quietly, glad → gladly, hilarious → hilariously |
| -ous | adjective | courage → courageous, humour → humorous |
| -ance | noun | tolerate → tolerance, guide → guidance |
| -er | person who does it | bank → banker |
| -ed | past tense | stop → stopped |
| -est | superlative (the most) | tough → toughest |
| -es | plural | tomato → tomatoes |
Two with meanings of their own:
- -logy = the study of: biology (life), sociology (society)
- -ward = direction: backward, forward, homeward
Break words apart and see how they're built: gladly = glad + -ly; banker = bank + -er; guidance = guide + -ance; quietly = quiet + -ly; walking = walk + -ing.
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