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| Sunday, 17 October 2004 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Be alert with... Suffixes
When the suffixes, ition, ion, tion, sion, and action are added to verbs, the words become nouns. Sometimes letters are changed or dropped from the base word. Here are some words with the above mentioned suffixes.definition(define+ ition)The spelling has changed here. attraction (attract+ion) Find more verbs you could change to nouns by adding these suffixes. In many nouns the spelling of the base word does not change when the suffix - ty, dom, ness, or ment is added. But in some words it does, so it's always good to memorise such words. safety, (Safe+ty) Some of the words that have these suffixes are completely, finally, hopeful, peaceful, thoughtless and needless. However the - less in nevertheless is NOT a suffix. Nevertheless is a compound word made up of never, the, and less. Here are the meaning of some suffixes. The suffix - logue means 'speaker'. It is seen in words such as travelogue (a narrated travel film) and monologue (a speech made by one person. Though according to the original meaning of the suffix it was meant to be used to describe a person, today the accepted suffix to do so is - logist and loger (E.g. geologist and astrologer respectively) One of the few words that still describe people with the suffix logue is ideologue. The siffix - ize (to cause to become) is added to many nouns to turn them into verbs. Civilize, politicize, humanize are just three of them among hundreds. The suffix - ism has several meanings such as 'action', ' characteristic behaviour or quality' 'prejudice', and so on. Here are some words with this suffix. Socalism, colonialism, communism and federalism. Another familiar suffice is ware which we see in words such as hardware, software. It means 'things of the same general type or even 'made of the same material.' It seems to have its origin in the Old English word 'waru which means 'goods' The suffix - cide is usually used to give the meaning killing for instance homicide, (killing of a person) suicide (killing oneself) genocide (killing of national, political cultural or racial group) and fillicide (daughter or son). There are many more - Take the dictionary and check them out. |
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Unlike prefixes, when using suffixes you always have to be careful of
spelling mistakes. While prefixes don't change the spelling of a base
word, suffixes may change the spelling of a base word. Build your visual
memory of such words that change by writing the base word in large letters
or colouring it. Suffixes are added to the end of base words.
