Form a new word from the root we are not

Suffixes in English: 40 Most Common

как образовывать слова в английском языке

Hey.

Source: https://corp.lingualeo.com/ru/2016/11/16/suffiksyi-v-angliyskom-yazyike/

Formation of adjectives in English

как образовывать слова в английском языке

The formation of adjectives in English is a rather important and interesting topic. Of course, you can speak English at a fairly high level without going into such details, but such information will not be superfluous.

As in Russian, English adjectives can be derived from other parts of speech. These are usually verbs and nouns. Adjectives are formed using suffixes and prefixes. So, first things first.

Formation of English adjectives using prefixes

Prefixes, or prefixes, are added at the beginning of a word and change its meaning. Usually they change the meaning of the adjective to the opposite, negative. A few examples:

  • un— (unlucky)
  • in— (invisible)
  • dis— (discontent)
  • il— (illegal)
  • ir— (irrational)
  • im— (immovable)

There are several prefixes that change the meaning of a word, but without a negative meaning:

  • pre— (pre-emptive)
  • hyper— (hypertensive, hyperactive)

Formation of English adjectives using suffixes

There are a lot of varieties of English adjectives formed in the suffix way. As an example, there is a picture with the main suffixes, as well as a few examples of words.

  • ful (wonderful, graceful)
  • less (pointless, careless)
  • able (vulnerable, tolerable)
  • ible (terrible, permissible)
  • ant (pleasant, hesitant)
  • ent (different, patient)
  • ic (scientific, iconic)
  • ive (active, impressive)
  • y (angry, dirty)
  • ing (interesting, worrying)
  • ed (confused, excited)
  • al (general, typical)
  • (i) an (Victorian, American)
  • You reprise the theme of the  (gorgeous, famous)
  • ish (childish, Irish)

There is also a classification of English adjectives according to the parts of speech from which they are derived. Adjectives can be formed from nouns, verbs, as well as from other adjectives using various suffixes and prefixes, examples of which have already been considered. The very form of the word may also change. For example, the adjective long is formed from the noun length with a change at the root of the word.

Source: https://english-bird.ru/forming-adjectives/

Suffixes in English — types, education, application

как образовывать слова в английском языке

›Learning a language› Vocabulary ›Word formation› Suffixes in English with different parts of speech

Remember those moments in Russian lessons when you were asked to parse a word by defining its prefix, root, suffix and ending? Perhaps this event only caused you headaches, but fear not, everything will be different in English. Let’s not analyze the entire morphological analysis at once, but consider only the suffixes in the English language, which have many interesting features.

A suffix or just the English suffix is ​​a morpheme for word formation in English, which usually comes after the root. In simple words, a suffix is ​​one or more letters, thanks to which a word can change its part of speech, for example, from a verb to a noun:

Verb Noun
read reader (reader)

Or, in general, acquire a different meaning:

Noun / Verb Noun
bruise (bruise / wrinkle) bruiser (fighter)

There are no specific rules regarding suffixes in English. That is, you cannot take one suffix, which, for example, forms nouns, and use it with all words in a row. Suffixes are not always attached to words that look similar or have the same root letter. Nevertheless, a certain logic in their use shines through, and therefore, knowing the suffixes and their functions, you can learn to intuitively form words.

English suffixes: location

As mentioned earlier, English suffixes, like Russian ones, follow immediately after the root:

Root Suffix
length en
lengthen

Suffixes can be followed by an ending:

Root Suffix End
direct or s
Directors

One sentence can contain both a prefix and a suffix:

Console Root Suffix
im patient ly
impatiently

The suffix can change if the word is used in plural:

Singular Plural
opportunity (opportunity) opportunities

Having dealt with the peculiarities of the location and use of suffixes in the word, let’s move on to their types.

Suffixes in English: species

Suffixes can be used to form almost all independent parts of speech. Based on this, they are divided into 5 categories:

  • Noun suffixes
  • Vertex suffixes
  • Adjective suffixes
  • Adverb suffixes
  • Numeral suffixes

Let’s analyze each group separately. Note that there are very, very many suffixes in the English language, and therefore we will consider only the most used of them.

Noun suffixes

The group of suffixes for the formation of nouns is perhaps the most voluminous. It includes:

  • participate in the formation of inanimate nouns from verbs. Table for clarity:
Verb Noun
print printer (a printer)
ventilate ventilationor (fan)
project (project) projector (projector)
  • and also in the formation of nouns expressing a person who is engaged in what the verb denotes. To make it clearer, let’s turn to examples:
Verb Noun
er
chase (to chase) chaser
run runner
call (to call) caller (caller)
-gold
object (object) objector (objector / objector)
compete (to compete) competitor
survive survivor

Often these suffixes are used to form vocabulary words:

rescue rescuer
sail sailor
teach teacher (teacher)
act (play / act) actor (actor)
wait waiter
  • A couple of these professions can be used in conjunction with the -ess (-ress) suffix, perhaps the only feminine suffix used in English:
Masculine nouns Feminine nouns
actor (actor) actress (actress)
waiter waitress (waitress)
steward (steward) stewardess
  • In addition to professions, the following nouns can be changed using the suffix:
Masculine nouns Feminine nouns
God goddess
prince princess
count (count) countess (countess)
lion (lion) lioness (lioness)
  1. — of — a suffix that is used to indicate the person to whom the action is directed, that is, this suffix is ​​the opposite of the -er and -or suffixes:
-er / -or — of
interviewer interviewee (interviewee)
employer employee
addresser (addresser / sender) addressee (addressee / recipient)
  1. -ian — another suffix with which you can express the type of activity. Words are formed from nouns, examples:
Nouns Nouns with -ian
sparrowic (music) musician (musician)
academy academicician (academician)
Physic (medicine) physician
history historian (historian)

The same functions are performed by suffixes:

Nouns Suffixed nouns
-ent
study (study) student
residency (residence) resident
-ant
account accountant
merchantry (trade) merchant
  1. -ist, is usually used with professions related to the scientific field:
Nouns Nouns with -ist
science scientist
zoology zoologist
cynology (cynology) cynologist

And with music:

guitar (guitar) guitarist (guitarist)
cello (cello) cellist
piano pianist (pianist)

Although this suffix is ​​often found in nouns that express supporters of some views and their perception of the world. In this case, the English suffix performs the same function as the Russian suffix -ist, forming almost identical words:

Buddhist
realist
nihilist
atheist
  1. -ism Is another English suffix that is similar to Russian -ism. It denotes concepts related to the ideological currents and beliefs of a person:
Catholicism
liberalism (liberalism)
Marxism

Source: https://speakenglishwell.ru/suffiksy-v-anglijskom-yazyke/

Enjoy learning English online with Puzzle English for free

For knowledge of a foreign language, a wealth of vocabulary is no less important than an understanding of grammar. The more words a person speaks, the freer he feels in a foreign language environment.

The variety of vocabulary is largely determined by the richness of word formation in the English language. The construction of new words is based on general principles. And the one who knows these principles feels much more confident among unfamiliar vocabulary.

The structure of the word and its change

New words are learned gradually. Most often, at first we only understand them in texts or someone else’s speech, and only then we begin to actively use them in ours. Therefore, mastering new vocabulary is a long process and requires patience from the student, active practice of reading, listening and working with a dictionary.

One of the methods to quickly expand your vocabulary is to master the ways of word formation in English. Having understood the principles by which words are built, it is possible to derive the meanings of its cognate words from an already known word.

The building blocks for every word are the root, prefixes and suffixes. The root is the part of the word that carries the main meaning. A word cannot exist without a root. Whereas prefixes and suffixes are an optional part, however, when added to the root, it is they that help form new words. Therefore, when describing word formation in English, we will separate prefix and suffix methods.

All prefixes and suffixes have their own meaning. It is usually quite blurry and serves to change the basic meaning of the word. When a prefix or suffix (or both) is added to the root, their value is added to the root value. This is how a new word turns out.

The formation of new words can lead not only to a change in meaning, but also to change parts of speech. Suffixes are more common in this function. By adding to the root, they translate a word from one part of speech to another, for example, they make an adjective from a verb or a verb from a noun.

So, from one root a whole group can be formed, all the elements of which are interconnected. Therefore, word formation helps learners of English to see the semantic relationships between words and better navigate the variety of vocabulary.

You can get a new word not only through prefixes and suffixes. Another way is compounding, in which two roots are combined into one word, forming a new meaning. In addition, word formation includes the reduction of words and the creation of abbreviations.

Prefixes as a way of word formation in English

A prefix (the term «prefix» is also used) is an element of a word that is placed before the root. Prefix word formation is rarely used by the English language to change parts of speech (as an exception, the prefix «en-» / «em-» for the formation of verbs can be called). But prefixes are actively used to change the meaning of a word. The prefixes themselves can have different meanings, but among them there is a large group of prefixes with a similar function: to change the meaning of a word to the opposite.

1. Prefixes with negative values:

  • un-: unpredictable (unpredictable), unable (unable)
  • dis-: disapproval, disconnection

Source: https://puzzle-english.com/directory/wordbuilding

Features of word formation in English

Good afternoon friends! Today I and the teacher of English, Ekaterina, would like to tell you what word formation in English is. The processes of the emergence of new words can be observed in every language.

And in languages ​​related by origin, the methods of replenishing the dictionary will be very similar, and may even have the same names in the meaning. British and Russian have a number of similar techniques for forming new words.

Let’s dwell on each of them in more detail, and you will see that Word Formation in English is very similar to Russian, and in some respects even simpler.

Plus suffix

Affixing is one of the most common and well-known ways to get new words. You just need to add a suitable suffix or prefix — and the new word is ready.

But if it seems to you that in Russian adding morphemes to the root of a word is very easy, then remember that the most frequent mistakes that we make in spelling words are found in suffixes, and there are a lot of spelling rules for their spelling, not to mention exceptions …

Compared to Russian, the British affixation is very simple: for each part of speech, separate types of morphemes are characteristic:

  •  Verb suffixes — help to form a predicate from adjectives, nouns.

— en or -ize, -ise you add to words in order to give them the meaning of «becoming like the original word»: thick (thick) — thicken (thicken, become thick);
modern (new) — modernize (modernized, modernize);

— ify, fy will help you get a word that means transformation into what the original word said: simple (simple) — simplify (simplify).
— ate is attached to nouns to denote transformation into something or when we show that we are exposed to the initial word: granule (granules) — granulate (granulate).

  • Suffixes of nouns — are needed to get the names of objects, professions, phenomena from words denoting a sign of an object and an action.
  1. By adding -er, -or will get the person doing this action or profession:
    Run (run) — runner (runner), act (play) — actor (actor).
  2. A verbal noun denoting a process can be denoted by using –ing: dance (to dance) — dancing (to dance)
  3. The two suffixes –ness and –ty / -ity will help to form words from adjectives that mean a property or quality, state or condition: kind (kind) — kindness (kindness), major (large) — majority (majority).
  4. Abstract concepts meaning concepts related to the original word can be obtained using a number of suffix morphemes: -ment, — ance (y) / — ence (y), -dom, -ion / -tion / -sion / -ssion, -ure, -hood, -ship, -th: neighbor — neighborhood, move — movement, translate — translation, educate — education , friend (friend) — friendship (friendship).
  5. Nationality or professional identity can be specified using -an / -ian: Italia — Italian (Italian)
  6. It is possible to show that a person belongs to a certain movement or profession by adding –ist — just like in Russian: piano (piano) — pianist (pianist).

The correct use of morphemes to form nouns will help you greatly increase your vocabulary. Often, it is possible to understand which affix should be added at the level of intuition and auditory perception of the language.

Exercises will help you develop these skills. Try the following activity and check your hearing. It is necessary to form new words using the indicated bases and morphemes.

Well, how did it work? If you are in doubt about the correctness of adding an affix, try entering the resulting word into an electronic translator. And of course, try to remember the resulting lexical units.

All these rules will come in handy when preparing for international exams in English.

  1. To indicate a trait, quality or property of an item, you will need the following morphemes:
    -al, -ic, -ical, — ous, -ful, -ly / -y (for nouns), -ant / -ent, -ive, -able / -ible, -ite (for actions), -ary, -ate, -ed.
  2. Lack of quality or feature is always indicated with –less: use — useless.
    • as part of a word in an adjective indicates the similarity bird (bird) — bird- (similar to a bird).
  3. Nationality can be shown by several suffixes, for which there is no specific rule for their use. These are –ish, -ese, -ian / -an: Spain — Spanish.
  4. By adding –ern to the cardinal point, you get the same adjective: south — southern.
    Consider the examples in the table to better understand the principles of adding morphemes:
  • Separately, we can single out the prefix way of forming words. Each prefix has its own meaning, as in Russian:

You also need to know how to form a verb in English, and there is a separate article about this.

Changing nothing

Conversion words are very common in English. This is not a characteristic feature of the appearance of new words for Russian, but it allows you to significantly increase your vocabulary, simply by looking at all the meanings of a word in the dictionary.

Conversion as a way of word formation consists in the fact that the whole word, completely unchanged, passes from one part of speech to another. Therefore, often in the dictionary opposite a foreign word, you can see several translations with the signs adj (adjective), n (noun), v (verb), adv (adverb), which mean different parts of speech.

For example plant (plant, plant) — to plant (plant).

One plus one makes one

Another common way of word formation is word composition. For us to understand its meaning is very simple: merged two roots — got a new meaning: smoke-free (smokeless). These roots can be written together or with a hyphen.

Strokes and sounds

You can get a new part of speech by changing the stress in the word or one of the sounds: export (export) — to export (export).
And you certainly can’t help but stop at the abbreviation, because the British are so fond of abbreviating words and even whole phrases, replacing letters with an apostrophe. As a result of this reduction, we all got the well-known e-mail, which was originally an electronic mail (electronic message).

Now that you have plenty of exercise, sit back and check out the article on England’s coastline with beaches and the Titanic Museum.

Now you see that it is not so difficult to increase your vocabulary, you just need to remember the words you know and try to form other parts of speech from them.

Marina Rusakova’s school will help you improve your English. You will be able to memorize words without memorization by the method of associations, these words you will remember for 10 years, even if you do not learn the language. Understand rules with verbs, prepositions, times. Learn to comprehend English by ear, you will understand what bloggers, anchors in the news are saying and you will understand films.

I hope my story today was helpful to you.

Subscribe and learn languages ​​with us! You will also receive as a gift a basic phrasebook in three languages, English, German and French. Russian transcription will tell you the pronunciation of words, even if you don’t know the language.

I was with you, Natalya Glukhova, I wish you a good day!

Don’t forget to tell your friends about it! You will find new interesting and useful information in my blog.

(2 4,50 of 5)

  • Payments in Germany in connection with the coronavirus for pensioners

Source: https://vivaeurope.ru/languages/english/gramatika/slovoobrasovanije

The ending is ous in English. Suffixes in adjectives in English: the nuances of word-formation definitions

A large number of new words in the English language are formed by attaching suffixes and prefixes to the root of a word.

Suffixing is the process of forming new words using suffixes, prefixing is a similar process where prefixes are involved.

Common noun suffixes:

  1. The suffix -age forms, which show the action or its result (leakage — leakage, coverage — coverage), and nouns expressing the essence of a concept or quantity (acreage — area in acres, voltage — voltage). Due to the ambiguity of some neologisms, the meaning can expand to the name of the place (orphanage — orphanage).
  2. Suffixal added to some verbs to form abstract nouns that denote an action or its result: arrival — arrival, recital — presentation, referral — direction.
  3. The suffix -ance (with its variants -ence / -ancy / -ency), when attached mainly to verbs, forms action names: absorbance — absorption, riddance — elimination.

    This suffix is ​​closely related to -cy / -ce, which are involved in the formation of nouns from adjectives that have suffixes -ant / -ent.

  4. Suffix -ant forms that are related to a person (especially in the technical or business sphere: applicant — candidate, defendant — defendant) or to substances involved in biological, chemical or physical processes: attractant — attractant, dispersant — dispersant.

    Most of the producing words are verbs of Latin origin.

  5. Suffixes -cy / -ce join productively with adjectives ending in -ant / -ent (convergence — interaction, efficiency — efficiency) and nouns ending in -ant / -ent: agency, agency, presidency, presidency.
  6. Suffix -dom semantically similar to -hood and -ship, which denote similar concepts.

    This suffix is ​​attached to nouns to form common nouns, which denote regions, kingdoms or territories: kingdom — kingdom, maoridom — Maori kingdom.

  7. The suffix -ee participates in the formation of nouns, which denote persons who inadvertently appear in a context without volitional action on their part: biographee — the one about whom the biography is being written; standee — a person who is forced to stand (for example, on a bus).
  8. Suffix -eer forms nouns, the meaning of which can be expressed as follows: «a person who has business or is associated with someone / something»: auctioneer — auctioneer, budgeter — budgetary, mountaineer — climber, cameleer — camel driver.
  9. The suffix -er in derivative words indicates that persons from the context are active participants in the events: teacher — teacher, singer — singer.

    Also, this suffix is ​​used to form nouns indicating the place of origin or residence: Londoner — a resident of London, Highlander — Scottish Highlander.

  10. Suffix— (e) ry forms nouns with the meaning of a place where certain actions are performed or specific services can be provided: bakery — bakery, carwashery — washing.
  11. Derivatives with a suffix — (e) ry can also denote aggregate concepts: confectionery — confectionery, pottery — earthenware.
  12. The -ess suffix refers to a small number of derivative nouns that denote female people and animals: princess — princess, tigress — tigress.
  13. Suffix -ful indicates that the noun acts as a divisible object that has a capacity: cupful — a full cup, handful — a handful, tumblerful — 240 ml, a measure of the volume of liquid.
  14. The suffix -hood forms nouns that denote states and aggregate concepts: childhood — childhood, beggarhood — poverty.
  15. Suffix -ism forms nouns from this part of speech and adjectives denoting state, position, attitude, belief, system of theories: Parkinsonism — Parkinsonism, conservatism — conservatism, Marxism — Marxism.
  16. The -ist suffix forms words that in most cases have a matching -ism noun pair.

    Semantically, this suffix denotes a person who is dealing with something: a careerist is a careerist, a fundamentalist is a fundamentalist.

  17. Suffix -ity forms nouns that denote quantity, state or quality and are mainly of Latin origin: curiosity — curiosity, profundity — depth.
  18. The -ness suffix is ​​the most productive in the English language and can be attached to almost any adjective: witness — wisdom, darkness — darkness.
  19. Suffix -ship forms nouns that denote state or position: friendship — friendship, membership — membership.

Verb → noun

-AL Refuse-refusal
-ANCE/ENCE
-ATION/TION Locate location
-SION Impress-impression
-URE Press pressure
-MENT Punish Punishment
-AGE

Source: https://chemistry-gid.ru/kapitanskaya-dochka/okonchanie-ous-v-angliiskom-yazyke-suffiksy-v-prilagatelnyh-v.html

Suffixes in English — Learn All

There can be confusion between suffixes and endings in English (both are often called word endings), besides, English terminology in this matter is slightly different from Russian. Therefore, let’s start with the basic concepts.

The ending is an inflectional morpheme. It changes the form of a word, but not its meaning, and at the same time carries a grammatical load:

  • pencil — pencils (ending indicates plural)
  • work — worked (the ending indicates the elapsed time)

The suffix, in turn, is a derivational morpheme. Suffixes in English create new words, either by changing the meaning of the original one, or by converting one part of speech to another:

  • red — reddish (red — reddish)
  • teach — teacher (teach — teacher)

There are very few endings in English — these are -s (-es), -ed and -ing. There are a lot of suffixes in English. In this article, we will consider only the most common ones.

Profession and occupation suffixes (-er, -ent, -ess)

The -er suffix is ​​perhaps the most common and productive for «doers.» With it, you can form a noun from almost any verb.

  • write> writer — write> writer
  • bake> baker — oven> baker
  • paint> painter — paint> painter

Most modern words denoting the performer of an action are formed precisely with his help. This also applies to inanimate objects.

  • printer — printer
  • scanner — scanner

Many words that come from French and Latin have the -or suffix:

  • doctor — doctor
  • tailor — tailor
  • actor — actor

The English suffix -ist often denotes an activity related to science and medicine:

  • scientist — scientist
  • dentist — dentist
  • biologist — biologist

It also denotes an adherent of any views and beliefs:

  • pacifist — pacifist
  • communist — communist
  • realist — realist

Other suffixes in English of words of Latin and Greek origin:

Suffix -ian:

  • musician — musician
  • librarian — librarian
  • mathematician — mathematician

Suffix -ent:

  • student — student
  • resident — resident, resident
  • agent — agent

Suffix -ant:

  • informant — informant
  • assistant — assistant
  • confidant — confidant

The -ess suffix is ​​one of the few «feminine» suffixes in English:

  • waitress — waitress
  • actress — actress
  • princess — princess

Process, action, phenomenon suffixes (-ment, -ion, -ism)

The suffix in English -ment is needed when forming verbal nouns and means an action or its result:

  • movement — movement
  • entertainment — entertainment
  • concealment — concealment

The -ion suffix also denotes an action, process, or result of that process:

  • revolution — revolution
  • isolation — isolation
  • restriction — restriction

The suffix -ism denotes a system of views, beliefs:

  • racism — racism
  • communism — communism
  • pacifism — pacifism

State, quality, property suffixes (-ance / -ence, -dom, -hood, -ity, -ness, -ship, -th)

The -ance / -ence suffix in a noun usually matches the -ant / -ent suffix in an adjective:

  • different — difference
  • important — importance (important — importance)
  • independent — independence

The suffixes in English -hood and -ship mean a person’s condition associated with his age, social relations, and sometimes activity; or a group of people united by this state.

  • childhood — childhood
  • motherhood — motherhood
  • priesthood — clergy
  • friendship — friendship
  • internship — internship, internship

The suffix -dom means states and properties of a broader meaning:

  • freedom — freedom
  • wisdom — wisdom
  • martyrdom — Martyrdom

The suffix in English -ness means possession of some quality and serves to form nouns from adjectives:

  • kindness — kindness
  • usefulness — usefulness
  • vastness — vastness

The -th suffix more often means physical properties:

  • strength — strength
  • length — length
  • warmth — warm

The suffix -ity means property, quality, and is common for words of Latin origin:

  • brevity — brevity
  • velocity — speed
  • purity — purity

Adjective suffixes

The suffix -ful in English means possession of quality (and is related to the adjective full — «full»):

  • beautiful — beautiful
  • useful — useful

The -less suffix is ​​opposite in meaning to the previous one and means lack of quality:

  • careless — carefree
  • harmless — harmless

The suffix -able, -ible characterizes the property or accessibility for any action:

  • edible — edible
  • portable — portable, portable
  • admirable — admirable

The suffixes -ic and -al mean «related, related»:

  • heroic — heroic
  • mythic — mythical
  • cultural — cultural
  • musical — musical

The -ous suffix also carries a characteristic:

  • dangerous — dangerous
  • nutritious — nutritious

The English suffix -ish has several meanings:

expresses similarity (in terms of appearance, behavior)

  • girlish — girlish
  • childich — childish, childish
  • foolish — stupid

weakens the meaning of an adjective

  • reddish — reddish
  • narrowish — narrowish

means nationality, language or country

  • English — English
  • Swedish — Swedish

The suffix -ive means possession of a property, the ability:

  • attractive — attractive
  • sedative — sedative

The English suffix -y is used to form many simple adjectives:

  • rainy — rainy
  • dirty — dirty
  • sunny — sunny

Vertex suffixes

Verb suffixes are not so diverse and almost all have the meaning of «doing something» or «becoming something.»

Suffix -ate

  • motivate — to motivate
  • activate — activate

Suffix -en

  • lengthen — lengthen
  • strengthen — strengthen

Suffix -ify

  • verify — confirm
  • clarify — to clarify

Suffix -ize, -ise

  • visualize — render
  • neutralize — neutralize

Adverb suffix

Adverbs are formed with just one suffix in English -ly:

  • loudly — loudly
  • beautifully — beautifully
  • politely — politely

We read further:

10 ways to tell an adjective from an adverb in English

What are the types of sentences in English

5 simple rules for word order in English

Adverb, know your place!

Source: https://skyeng.ru/articles/chto-vy-ne-znali-o-suffiksah-v-anglijskom

Formation of nouns in English: suffixes, prefixes, etc.

To do it right assignments 26 — 31 from section «Grammar and Vocabulary» on the Unified State Exam in English, You need to know the most used prefixes and suffixes of nouns. 

I want to say right away that the article will be long, so be patient and read it to the end.

Helpful advice: 

Be sure to learn all the words from this article, as they are selected from real assignments of past years, which were proposed for implementation on the exam in English.

Work separately with each block, spelling out the words, even if they seem familiar to you.

Remember that in assignments 26 — 31 along with your ability to form new words using various affixes, your spelling skills are assessed!

Education model: Verb + er = Noun

When adding a suffix — er to a verb or noun, a noun is formed, denoting a profession, occupation of a person, as well as the names of some objects:

To write — writer, to sing — singer, to drive — driver, to teach — teacher, to examine — examiner, to learn — learner, to build — builder, to loaf — loafer (quitter)

Trumpet — trumpeter (trumpeter), bank — banker (banker), finance — financier (financier)

To contain — container (container), to dust — duster (duster), to grate — grater (grater), to mix — mixer (mixer), to shake — shaker (shaker), to blend — blender (blender), to open — opener (can-opener)

Mince (minced meat) — mincer (meat grinder)

Exception:   to lie (lie) — LIAR   (liar / liar)

Education model:Verb + or = noun

When adding a suffix — or a noun denoting a profession, occupation of a person is formed to the verb (these are mainly nouns of Latin and French origin):

To act — actor (actor), to advise — advisor / —er (advisor, consultant), to animate — animator (animator), to conduct — conductor (conductor), to create — creator (creator), to decorate — decorator (decorator, painter, wallpaper passer), to direct — director (director, director), to educate — educator (teacher), to illustrate — illustrator (illustrator), to invent — inventor (inventor), to invest — investor (investor, contributor), to instruct — instructor (instructor), to translate — translator (translator), to sail — sailor (sailor), to visit — visitor (visitor), to conquer — coqueror (conqueror)

Here are some more nouns with the suffix or, to remember:

doctor, professionalor, sculptureor, sponsor, ancestor (ancestor), tutor, mentor (mentor)

Education model: Noun + ist = Noun

When adding a suffix  -ist a noun is formed to the noun, denoting a profession, occupation of a person:

art — art (artist), cello — cell (cellist), chemistry — chem (chemist, pharmacist), drama — dramat (playwright), ecology — ecolog (ecologist), economics — econom (economist), geology — geolog (geologist), genetics — genetic (geneticist), guitar — guitar (guitarist), journal — journal (journalist), medal — medal (medalist), meteorology — meteorolog (meteorologist), optimism — optim

Source: https://crownenglishclub.ru/dlya-nachinayushhih/obrazovanie-sushhestvitelnyh-v-anglijskom-yazyke-suffiksy-pristavki-i-dr.html

Plural in English — online lessons for beginners

Read the entire lesson and do a short, easy listening exercise (a translation is shown after each assignment). In the second block of the exercise, you will be asked to write the same phrases under dictation, so listen and read carefully the phrases that you compose in the first block.  

  Start exercise  

In most cases, the plural in English is formed very simply — the ending “-s» or «-Is«, which read differently depending on the consonant in front of it — voiced or voiceless:

For words ending in «s, ss, ch, tch, x» (hissing or whistling sounds), the ending «-Is«, Which reads loudly [of].

In a side-by-side exercise (see the main exercise below), an English noun is shown; to see it in the plural, just click on the word.

In the lesson exercise, beginners will be able to compose phrases on their own — click on the English words to translate the phrase proposed in Russian. A few words that we will meet in the exercise:

  • to want [that uOnt] — to want (the verb following the verb «to want» requires the use of a particle «to«- I want to help you — I want to help you) to have [tu hEv] — to have one [uan] — one

Features of the use of plural nouns

Grammatical addition: in English, the plural can be in «countable nouns«. There are a number of nouns that are used only in the singular (we emphasize, in English; the use of words in Russian and English can both coincide and diverge, but we need to get out of the habit of making comparisons with the native language, and plunge into the logic of English):

  • money [mani] — money hair [hea] — hair advice [adv] — advice

A number of other nouns are used only in the plural form:

  • glasses [glAsiz] — glassesgoods [goodz] — goods trousers [trauzez] — trousers people [people] — people (singular, but implies the plural)

A number of English nouns form the plural in a special way:

  • man — men [men] — [men] — man / men, people woman — women [umen] — [wiming] — woman / women (we prepare the organs of speech for pronouncing [y], but immediately pronounce the next sound) child — children [child] — [chIldren] — child / children

A separate lesson will be devoted to these features of the plural in English; now it is important for beginners to remember the basic rule for the formation of the plural.

Plural adjectives

Adjectives in english do not change in the plural and do not change by gender:

  • good guy [good boy] — good boy good boys [good boys] — good boys good girl [good girl] — good girl good girls [good girls] — good girls

A noun before another noun can act as an adjective; in this case, it is not used in the plural:

  • life situations — life situations

▲ Start online exercise

Next: Articles A, AN, THE and a bit of TO. • Tutor: preparation for the exam and exam, passing international exams.
«My day» / «Working day» / «My day off»
TEST elementary / intermediate

Source: http://english.prolingvo.info/beginner/plural.php

Suffixes in English — how to spell English suffixes correctly? — SPEAK ENGLISH

English suffixes, like Russian ones, are the elements of a word following the root. They help us form new words. Some suffixes change the part of speech, for example, turning a verb into a noun. You should also not forget about those suffixes that, changing the form of a word, do not affect its very meaning.

If you have at least a little understanding of the suffixes table in English, then any word-formation «delights» in English will seem like child’s play.

Moreover, having understood the principles of constructing new words using prefixes and suffixes (by the way, prefixes are significantly inferior to suffixes in terms of flexibility and prevalence), a language learner can easily translate masculine nouns into feminine ones, form a nationality or profession.

It turns out that it is not at all necessary to set records for the number of words learned. Indeed, in English, as in Russian, there is the concept of «single-root words» that differ from each other only by suffixes and prefixes. Therefore, knowing, for example, the meaning of the verb paint (to paint, to paint), you will easily understand that a painter is an artist.

Word-building and form-building suffixes: differences

Some English suffixes are considered by Russian speakers as endings. For example, some English textbooks call the suffix -ed an ending. All Suffixes in English are divided into two large groups: form-building and word-building. Thanks to the first, the word does not change its meaning, only the form changes. Compare short and shorter.

Word-forming suffixes in English form a new word with a different meaning, albeit often similar to the meaning of the original word. For example, neighbor is a neighborhood.

Shaping suffixes in english

So, in English, unlike Russian, one word can take not so many forms. This is due to the fact that in English many grammatical meanings of a word, such as gender, verb tense, etc., are expressed not by the word itself, but by various auxiliary elements (articles, auxiliary verbs, etc.).

In Russian, an adjective alone (depending on case, number, gender) can have more than 20 forms. For example, beloved — beloved — beloved — beloved, etc. In English, the adjective favorite (beloved) may not change at all, but we can guess about its exact form from the context (environment): This is my favorite book (This is my favorite book) ).

— He is my favorite writer.

However, in some cases, English words do change shape. And for this, there are five formative suffixes in English that are important to remember: -ed, -est, -ing, -s (-es), -er.

Now it’s worth understanding English words that can take different forms. So, the English suffix -ed is needed in order to form the second and third forms of the regular verb. For example, finish is finished.

The suffixes -er and -est in English are used to form comparative forms of adjectives. We use these suffixes with short adjectives like close (close), big (big), etc. The suffix -er is used for the comparative form, and -est for the excellent one. For example, close — closer — closest.

Among English suffixes, -s and -es are widespread.

They apply in the following cases:

Source: https://ekaterina-alexeeva.ru/nachinayushhim/suffiksy-v-anglijskom-yazyke-kak-pravilno-pisat-anglijskie-suffiksy.html

Word formation. Noun suffixes in English (grade 9)

This is a lesson from the cycle «Word formation in English»  and in it we will consider the common noun suffixes: -er / or, -tion, -ing, -ness, -ence / ance (5). Exercises on word formation of a noun will help you understand how nouns are formed in English using suffixes, as well as prepare for English exams in the form of the OGE and USE.

for posting on other Internet resources is prohibited. EnglishInn.ru.

Basic noun suffixes in English (grade 9)

Remember 5 main noun suffixes. 

  1. er / or (worker)
  2. tion (informaproduction)
  3. ing (reading)
  4. ness (happyness)
  5. ence / ance (difference)

Next, let’s dwell in more detail on each of them.

1. Suffixes of nouns formed from a verb

  1. -er / or (doer suffix) dance — dancer work — workercollect — collector

    invent — inventor

  2. -tion (process suffix) collect — collection

    invent — invention

  3. -ingsuffer — suffering warn — warning

    mean — meaning

Remember three suffixes -er (-or), -tion, -ing, with the help of which nouns are formed from the verb.

2. Suffixes of nouns formed from an adjective

  1. -nessill — illness

    kind — kindness

  2. -ance / -ence (corresponding adjectives have suffixes: -ant / -ent) important — importance

    different — difference

Remember two suffixes: -ness, -ence (ance), with the help of which nouns are formed from an adjective.

Suffixes of nouns in English. Exercises

 Suffixes -ness & -tion Are the most common noun suffixes.
Exercise 1. Suffix -ness. Translate these nouns and indicate the adjectives from which they are derived.

foolishness, happiness, seriousness, illness, readiness, richness, strangeness, carelessness, whiteness, cleverness, greatness, brightness

Note.

Source: http://englishinn.ru/slovoobrazovanie-suffiksyi-sushhestvitelnyih-v-angliy.html

Methods of forming nouns in English

How to replenish vocabulary more than 3 times without memorizing? Adopt this method and — voila! Vocabulary enlarged before our eyes.
This method is word formation. How does this work for nouns?

Briefly — about the main thing Usually the topic is studied indefinitely. There is a more effective method: covering the entire «puzzle» at a time. Seeing a clear picture, you can easily refine the little things without negativity.

So, the formation of nouns in English assumes skills:

  1. convert a noun from a verb and vice versa;
  2. use affixes;
  3. put a different emphasis;
  4. replace the consonant at the root;
  5. form compound words.

Many do not assume how many words they ALREADY know. They simply do not know how to use this wealth competently.
Having learned 5 skills, you can refer to the dictionary just to check it.

1. Conversion

Nouns in English are related to verbs in an interesting way: they can be the same word. This method is called  conversion… This is the first skill. Using it, it is easy to guess about the translation of 60% of English words. Moreover, verbs can be converted not only into nouns, but also into adjectives.

The examples below will help you understand the phenomenon of conversion.

Example: love = to love / love.  

Verb convergent word noun

dream, dream dream dream
call name name, title
lift up lift lift, lift
to send email mail
milk milk milk
pour water water
mind mind mind, opinion

Many are embarrassed that in translation into Russian, both words are not the same root. But the language is different.
It’s funny, but the British created it for themselves! For native speakers, these are absolutely identical words: to milk — milk (milk), to name — name (name — name).

2. Affixation

This «scary» word means suffixes plus prefixes. All prefixes are of two types: negative and significant.
Acquaintance with negative ones has already taken place through borrowing: dysfunction, antispam, deflation. Significant — different in meaning, but amenable to logic.

Prefixes

2 groups of prefixes will allow you to find the meaning of a word by context without a dictionary. If you learn the meaning of each prefix separately, the brain starts to panic, it looks for the right algorithm. It takes time, and speech slows down.

And most importantly, the desire to study the language at all disappears.

Example: everyone knows the prefixes «dis-«, «de-«, «anti-«. But for some reason they do not notice them in English!
An important detail: most negative prefixes of nouns work with verbs.  

Negative prefixes

Console Examples
anti- Antistress, antipode, antispam.
dis- Disharmony, disqualification.
de- Depiction, departure.
mis- Misfortune, misunderstanding.
as- Sedition, separation.
not- Nonconformist, nonstop.

Significant prefixes

Most are present in their native language, in borrowings.

You can check the skill of forming nouns in English using a dictionary, but after an independent attempt.
For example, form words: disqualification, pseudoscience, professional, extraordinary, hyperactive, and others. Such training is enjoyable and helps to understand the language.

Attachment type Examples of prefixes
involvement Anti-, co-, con-, contra-, vice-.
censures

Source: https://www.study.ru/courses/elementary/obrazovanie-sushchestvitelnyh

Plural of Nouns

In English, everything countable nouns * used both in the singular and in the plural.

* Countable Nouns denote items that can be counted (one, two, three, four, five, etc.): one apple, two apples, three apples; one story, two stories, three stories.

Countable and uncountable nouns

The main way of forming the plural

In English, the plural of nouns is formed by attaching an ending -s (-es) to a noun in the singular:

a pen — pens (handle — handles)

a book — books (book — books)

a box — boxes (box — boxes)

Features of attaching the ending -s (-es)

If a noun ends in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -tch, -z, -x, then the ending is added -Is:

a bus — buses (bus — buses)
a glass — glasses (glass — glasses)
a bush — bushes (bush — bushes)
a bench — benches (bench — benches)
a match — Played (match — matches)
a fox — foxes (fox — foxes)

If a noun ends in consonant + y, then -y changes to i, and added -Is:

a baby — babies (baby — babies)
a story — stories (story — stories)
a city — cities (city — cities)

If a noun ends in vowel + y, then the ending is simply added -s:

a toy — toys (toy — toys)
a tray — trays (tray — trays)
a monkey — m (monkey — monkeys)

If a noun ends in -f or -faiththen -f changes to -v, and added -Is:

a leaf — leaves (leaf — leaves)
a thief — thieves (thief — thieves)
a wife — wives (wife — wives)
a knife — knives (knife — knives)

But in some cases, nouns ending in -f, the ending is simply added -s:

a roof — roofs (roof — roofs)
a cliff — cliffs (rock — rocks)
a chief — chiefs (leader — leaders)
a dwarf — dwarfs (gnome — gnomes)

If a noun ends in -o, then the ending is added -Is:

a tomato — tomatoes (tomato — tomatoes)
a hero — heroes (hero — heroes)

In some cases, for nouns ending in -o, the ending is added -s:

a photo — beautiful photos (photography — photographs)
a kilo — kilos (kilogram — kilograms)
a piano — pianos (piano — multiple pianos)
a radio — radios (radio — multiple radio)
a video — videos (video — several videos)
a studio — (studio — studios)

There are also nouns on -o, the plural of which can be formed by adding -s or -Is, while the -es form is used more often:

a memento — mementoes / mements (souvenir — souvenirs)
a mosquito — mosquitoes / Mosquitoes (mosquito — mosquitoes)
a tornado — tornadoes / torandos (hurricane — hurricanes)
a volcano — volcanoes / volcanoes (volcano — volcanoes)
a zero — zeoroes / zeroes (zero — zeros)

Special plural forms of nouns

There are nouns in English, the plural of which must be remembered:

a man [mæn] — men (man — men)
a woman [ˈwʊmən] — women [ˈWɪmɪn] (woman — women)
a child [tʃaɪld] — children [ˈTʃɪl.

drən] (child — children)
a tooth [tuːθ] — teeth [tiːθ] (tooth — teeth)
a foot [fʊt] — feet [fiːt] (foot — feet)
a mouse [maʊs] — mice [maɪs] (mouse — mice)
a goose [ɡuːs] — geese [ɡiːs] (goose — geese)
a louse [laʊs] — face [laɪs] (louse — lice)
an ox [ɒks] — oxen [ˈⱰksn] (bull — bulls)

Remember also nouns in which the plural form coincides with the singular form:

one deer — two deer (one deer — two deer)
one fish — two fish (one fish — two fish)
one sheep — two sheep (one ram — two rams)
one series — two series (one episode — two episodes)
one species — two species (one kind — two kinds)
one aircraft — two aircraft (one plane — two planes)
one spacecraft — two spacecraft (one spaceship — two spaceships)
one salmon — two salmon (one salmon — two salmon)
one cod — two code (one cod — two cod)
one moose — two mosses (one moose — two moose)
one means — two means (one remedy — two remedies)
one offspring — two Offspring (one offspring — two offspring)

 Please note that the same noun can be either countable or uncountable, depending on its lexical meaning. For example, salmon (salmon) in the meaning of «kind of fish» is a countable noun, therefore, has the plural form:

I was very excited when I caught a salmon… — I was delighted when I caught the salmon.
I was very excited when I caught two salmon… — I was delighted when I caught two salmon.

Source: https://myefe.ru/reference/nouns/plurals

Adverb in English

An adverb is a word that defines the meaning of a verb, adjective, other adverb, or noun phrase. Most adverbs are formed by adding the suffix –ly to the adjective.

Rules for the formation of adverbs in English

1. To form an adverb in English from an adjective that ends in — l, you need to add the suffix –ly.
Example: careful-carefully.

2.Adjectives ending in — y, when forming an adverb in English, take the suffix — ily.
Will take: lucky-luckily.

3. The suffix Ble is changed to bly.
Example: responsible-responsibly.

Mode of action adverb

The adverb of the mode of action characterizes the verb. It describes the way in which an action is performed.

Example: She did the work carefully. Carefully characterizes the verb to describe the quality of the action.

Adverb of place or location

The adverb of place indicates where the action takes place.

Example: They live locally. (She lives in this area.)

Adverb of time

The adverb of time indicates when an action is performed or its duration, or how often this action is performed.

Example:

— He did it yesterday. (When) — He did it yesterday. (When)

— They are permanently busy. (Duration) — They are constantly busy. (Duration)

— She never does it. (Frequency) — She never does that. (How often)

Adverb of Degree in English

The degree adverb increases or decreases the effect of the verb.

Example: I completely agree with you. (I totally agree with you.) This increases the effect of the verb, while the adverb `partially` decreases it.

Adverbs characterizing adjectives

An adjective can be defined by an adverb. It usually comes before the adjective, with the exception of the adverb enough, which follows it.

Example:

— That`s really good. (This is really good.)

— It was a terribly difficult time for all of us. (It was a terribly difficult time for all of us.)

— It wasn`t good enough. (It wasn’t good enough.) The word enough follows the adjective.

Adverbs characterizing adverbs

An adverb can define another adverb. As with adjectives, the adverb comes before the adverb it defines, while enough is the exception.

Example:

— She did it really well. (She did it very well.)

— He didn`t come last night, funnily enough. (He didn’t show up last night, which is funny enough.)

Noun adverb

An adverb can characterize a noun to indicate a time or place.

Example:

— The concert tomorrow. (Tomorrow’s concert)

Source: http://www.the-world.ru/narechie

Ways of word formation in English

Learning English vocabulary is much easier if you understand how words are formed and what parts they consist of. Today we will look at the main ways of word formation in English. By understanding the basic principles and ways of forming words, you will not get lost in all the variety of English vocabulary.

1. Affixation

Affixation Is the formation of new words by adding prefixes and suffixes. In linguistics, prefixes and suffixes are called affixes, which is why this method of word formation bears this name. Affixation is the most common way to create new words.

Depending on what exactly is added to the word stem (prefix or suffix), prefix and suffix are distinguished. If both are added, then the method of formation is prefix-suffix.

The advantage of affixing is that suffixes and prefixes give us a lot of information about a word.

Suffixes indicate part of speech. If you carefully analyze English words, then you probably noticed that there are special suffixes for nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, thanks to which you immediately determine which part of speech is in front of you. In addition, suffixes can give additional meanings to words. In this article, I will not dwell on the meanings of all suffixes, but I will give a few examples of how suffixes work in English:

teacher — suffix –Er indicates that the word is a noun, and also that it is the name of a profession or occupation

Beautiful — suffix –Ful indicates that the word is an adjective

Lucky — suffix –Ate also adjective suffix

fortunately — suffix –Ly indicates that the word is an adverb

information — suffix –Ation indicates that the word is a noun

informative — suffix –Ive indicates that this is an adjective

informatively — suffix –Ly indicates that the word is an adverb

stability — suffix –Ity indicates that the word is a noun

stabilizes — suffix –Ise indicates that we have a verb

Please note that not one, but two suffixes can be added to the stem, as, for example, when forming an adverb from an adjective that already has a suffix.

As for the prefixes, they do not change the part of speech, but affect the meaning of the word. For example, they make the word negative:

dishonest — dishonest

irrational — irrational

unimportant — unimportant

In addition to changing the sign from plus to minus, prefixes can give words a variety of shades of meaning. There are a lot of prefixes in English, each of them can be devoted to a separate article. Here I will give just a few examples to illustrate how the set-top boxes work:

prehistoric — prehistoric

overeat Overeat

replace — move

international — international

Knowing the meanings of prefixes and suffixes, you can increase your active and passive vocabulary. Firstly, you will be able to independently form new parts of speech, and change the meanings of words. And secondly, you will easily guess what the new words that you come across mean.

2. Composition

There are many so-called compounds in the English language. These words are formed by the fusion of two stems. A word constructed in this way takes on a new meaning. Many verbs, nouns, adjectives are formed by word composition:

hair + to cut = the haircut — a haircut

driving + license = a driving license — rights

baby + to sit = to babysit — look after the child

brain + to wash = to brainwash — brainwash

well + dressed = well-dressed — well dressed

green + eye = green-eyed — green-eyed

Some adverbs and pronouns are also formed in this way:

every + where = everywhere — everywhere, everywhere

any + time = anytime — Anytime

some+body= somebody — somebody

3. Conversion

Sometimes you know a word and you know it’s a verb. And suddenly you meet him again — and it is a noun. This is how it works conversion — the transition of a word from one part of speech to another. In this case, the spelling and pronunciation of the word does not change. This can be confusing, but the good news is that, although the meaning of a word changes with the transition, it still often remains close to the original word.

There are different types of conversion. The most common of these is the transition from noun to verb and from verb to noun:

an email — to email a host — to host a name — to name to call — a call to visit — a visit (to visit — visit)

to date — a date (to date — the one with whom you are dating: a guy or a girl)

Adjectives can be converted to verbs and nouns:

to empty — empty dry — to dry clean — to clean final — a final

rich — the rich

4. Changing stress

To my surprise, many have never heard of this word formation method and confuse it with conversion. Although some linguists consider it as an example of conversion, in order to avoid mistakes, it is more expedient to consider it separately.

When we perceive a word in a text, at first glance it seems that it simply «passed» into another part of speech, because it is written in the same way as the corresponding verb or noun.

However, not all so simple. Some words do not just convert, but also change the stress! Surprised? Let’s look at some examples, you may have mispronounced many of them:

to permit

Source: https://enginform.com/article/slovoobrazovanie-v-angliyskom

Lecture №3. Productive and Non-productive Ways of Word-formation in Modern English

Productivity is the ability to form new words after existing patterns which are readily understood by the speakers of language. The most important and the most productive ways of word-formation are affixation, conversion, word-composition and abbreviation (contraction). In the course of time the productivity of this or that way of word-formation may change. Sound interchange or gradation (blood-to bleed, to abide-abode, to strike-stroke) was a productive way of word building in old English and is important for a diachronic study of the English language. It has lost its productivity in Modern English and no new word can be coined by means of sound gradation. Affixation on the contrary was productive in Old English and is still one of the most productive ways of word building in Modern English.

WORDBUILDING

Word-building is one of the main ways of enriching vocabulary. There are four main ways of word-building in modern English: affixation, composition, conversion, abbreviation. There are also secondary ways of word-building: sound interchange, stress interchange, sound imitation, blends, back formation.

AFFIXATION

Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout the history of English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a definite part of speech. Affixation is divided into suffixation and prefixation.

Suffixation

The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. (e.g. «educate» is a verb, «educator» is a noun, and music» is a noun, «musical» is also a noun or an adjective). There are different classifications of suffixes :

1. Part-of-speech classification. Suffixes which can form different parts of speech are given here :

a) noun-forming suffixes, such as: —er (criticizer), —dom (officialdom), —ism (ageism),

b) adjective-forming suffixes, such as: —able (breathable), less (symptomless), —ous (prestigious),

c) verb-forming suffixes, such as —ize (computerize) , —ify (minify),

d) adverb-forming suffixes , such as : —ly (singly), —ward (tableward),

e) numeral-forming suffixes, such as —teen (sixteen), —ty (seventy).

2. Semantic classification. Suffixes changing the lexical meaning of the stem can be subdivided into groups, e.g. noun-forming suffixes can denote:

a) the agent of the action, e.g. —er (experimenter), —ist (taxist), -ent (student),

b) nationality, e.g. —ian (Russian), —ese (Japanese), —ish (English),

c) collectivity, e.g. —dom (moviedom), —ry (peasantry, —ship (readership), —ati (literati),

d) diminutiveness, e.g. —ie (horsie), —let (booklet), —ling (gooseling), —ette (kitchenette),

e) quality, e.g. —ness (copelessness), —ity (answerability).

3. Lexicogrammatical character of the stem. Suffixes which can be added to certain groups of stems are subdivided into:

a) suffixes added to verbal stems, such as: —er (commuter), —ing (suffering), — able (flyable), —ment (involvement), —ation (computerization),

b) suffixes added to noun stems, such as: —less (smogless), —ful (roomful), —ism (adventurism), —ster (pollster), —nik (filmnik), —ish (childish),

c) suffixes added to adjective stems, such as: —en (weaken), —ly (pinkly), —ish (longish), —ness (clannishness).

4. Origin of suffixes. Here we can point out the following groups:

a) native (Germanic), such as —er,-ful, —less, —ly.

b) Romanic, such as : —tion, —ment, —able, —eer.

c) Greek, such as : —ist, —ism, -ize.

d) Russian, such as —nik.

5. Productivity. Here we can point out the following groups:

a) productive, such as: —er, —ize, —ly, —ness.

b) semi-productive, such as: —eer, —ette, —ward.

c) non-productive , such as: —ard (drunkard), —th (length).

Suffixes can be polysemantic, such as: —er can form nouns with the following meanings: agent, doer of the action expressed by the stem (speaker), profession, occupation (teacher), a device, a tool (transmitter). While speaking about suffixes we should also mention compound suffixes which are added to the stem at the same time, such as —ably, —ibly, (terribly, reasonably), —ation (adaptation from adapt). There are also disputable cases whether we have a suffix or a root morpheme in the structure of a word, in such cases we call such morphemes semi-suffixes, and words with such suffixes can be classified either as derived words or as compound words, e.g. —gate (Irangate), —burger (cheeseburger), —aholic (workaholic) etc.

Prefixation

Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they are used: prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g. un— (unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met in the language as words, e.g. over— (overhead) (cf. over the table). The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another (bebutton, interfamily, postcollege etc).

Prefixes can be classified according to different principles:

1. Semantic classification:

a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as: in— (invaluable), non— (nonformals), un— (unfree) etc,

b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de— (decolonize), re— (revegetation), dis— (disconnect),

c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as: inter— (interplanetary) , hyper— (hypertension), ex— (ex-student), pre— (pre-election), over— (overdrugging) etc.

2. Origin of prefixes:

a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under— etc.

b) Romanic, such as: in-, de-, ex-, re— etc.

c) Greek, such as: sym-, hyper— etc.

When we analyze such words as adverb, accompany where we can find the root of the word (verb, company) we may treat ad-, ac— as prefixes though they were never used as prefixes to form new words in English and were borrowed from Romanic languages together with words. In such cases we can treat them as derived words. But some scientists treat them as simple words. Another group of words with a disputable structure are such as: contain, retain, detain and conceive, receive, deceive where we can see that re-, de-, con— act as prefixes and —tain, —ceive can be understood as roots. But in English these combinations of sounds have no lexical meaning and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some scientists treat such words as simple words, others as derived ones. There are some prefixes which can be treated as root morphemes by some scientists, e.g. after— in the word afternoon. American lexicographers working on Webster dictionaries treat such words as compound words. British lexicographers treat such words as derived ones.

COMPOSITION

Composition is the way of word building when a word is formed by joining two or more stems to form one word. The structural unity of a compound word depends upon: a) the unity of stress, b) solid or hyphеnated spelling, c) semantic unity, d) unity of morphological and syntactical functioning. These are characteristic features of compound words in all languages. For English compounds some of these factors are not very reliable. As a rule English compounds have one uniting stress (usually on the first component), e.g. hard-cover, bestseller. We can also have a double stress in an English compound, with the main stress on the first component and with a secondary stress on the second component, e.g. bloodvessel. The third pattern of stresses is two level stresses, e.g. snowwhite, skyblue. The third pattern is easily mixed up with word-groups unless they have solid or hyphеnated spelling.

Spelling in English compounds is not very reliable as well because they can have different spelling even in the same text, e.g. warship, bloodvessel can be spelt through a hyphen and also with a break, insofar, underfoot can be spelt solidly and with a break. All the more so that there has appeared in Modern English a special type of compound words which are called block compounds, they have one uniting stress but are spelt with a break, e.g. air piracy, cargo module, coin change, penguin suit etc. The semantic unity of a compound word is often very strong. In such cases we have idiomatic compounds where the meaning of the whole is not a sum of meanings of its components, e.g. to ghostwrite, skinhead, braindrain etc. In nonidiomatic compounds semantic unity is not strong, e. g., airbus, to bloodtransfuse, astrodynamics etc.

English compounds have the unity of morphological and syntactical functioning. They are used in a sentence as one part of it and only one component changes grammatically, e.g. These girls are chatter-boxes. «Chatter-boxes» is a predicative in the sentence and only the second component changes grammatically. There are two characteristic features of English compounds:

a) Both components in an English compound are free stems, that is they can be used as words with a distinctive meaning of their own. The sound pattern will be the same except for the stresses, e.g. «a green-house» and «a green house». Whereas for example in Russian compounds the stems are bound morphemes, as a rule.

b) English compounds have a two-stem pattern, with the exception of compound words which have form-word stems in their structure, e.g. middle-of-the-road, offtherecord, upanddoing etc. The two-stem pattern distinguishes English compounds from German ones.

WAYS OF FORMING COMPOUND WORDS

Compound words in English can be formed not only by means of composition but also by means of:

a) reduplication, e.g. tootoo, and also by means of reduplication combined with sound interchange , e.g. rope-ripe,

b) conversion from word-groups, e.g. to mickymouse, cando, makeup etc,

c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups, e.g. to bloodtransfuse, to fingerprint etc ,

d) analogy, e.g. liein (on the analogy with sit-in) and also phonein, brawndrain (on the analogy with braindrain) etc.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF ENGLISH COMPOUNDS

1. According to the parts of speech compounds are subdivided into:

a) nouns, such as: baby-moon, globe-trotter,

b) adjectives, such as : free-for-all, power-happy,

c) verbs, such as : to honey-moon, to baby-sit, to henpeck,

d) adverbs, such as: downdeep, headfirst,

e) prepositions, such as: into, within,

f) numerals, such as : fiftyfive.

2. According to the way components are joined together compounds are divided into: a) neutral, which are formed by joining together two stems without any joining morpheme, e.g. ballpoint, to windowshop,

b) morphological where components are joined by a linking element: vowels «o» or «i» or the consonant «s», e.g. («astrospace», «handicraft», «sportsman»),

c) syntactical where the components are joined by means of form-word stems, e.g. here-and-now, free-for-all, do-or-die.

3. According to their structure compounds are subdivided into:

a) compound words proper which consist of two stems, e.g. to job-hunt, train-sick, go-go, tip-top,

b) derivational compounds, where besides the stems we have affixes, e.g. earminded, hydro-skimmer,

c) compound words consisting of three or more stems, e.g. cornflowerblue, eggshellthin, singersongwriter,

d) compound-shortened words, e.g. boatel, VJday, motocross, intervision, Eurodollar, Camford.

4. According to the relations between the components compound words are subdivided into:

a) subordinative compounds where one of the components is the semantic and the structural centre and the second component is subordinate; these subordinative relations can be different: with comparative relations, e.g. honeysweet, eggshellthin, with limiting relations, e.g. breasthigh, kneedeep, with emphatic relations, e.g. dogcheap, with objective relations, e.g. goldrich, with cause relations, e.g. lovesick, with space relations, e.g. topheavy, with time relations, e.g. springfresh, with subjective relations, e.g. footsore etc

b) coordinative compounds where both components are semantically independent. Here belong such compounds when one person (object) has two functions, e.g. secretary-stenographer, woman-doctor, Oxbridge etc. Such compounds are called additive. This group includes also compounds formed by means of reduplication, e.g. fifty-fifty, no-no, and also compounds formed with the help of rhythmic stems (reduplication combined with sound interchange) e.g. criss-cross, walkie-talkie.

5. According to the order of the components compounds are divided into compounds with direct order, e.g. killjoy, and compounds with indirect order, e.g. nuclearfree, roperipe.

CONVERSION

Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English word-building system. It is also called affixless derivation or zero-suffixation. The term «conversion» first appeared in the book by Henry Sweet «New English Grammar» in 1891. Conversion is treated differently by different scientists, e.g. prof. A.I. Smirntitsky treats conversion as a morphological way of forming words when one part of speech is formed from another part of speech by changing its paradigm, e.g. to form the verb «to dial» from the noun «dial» we change the paradigm of the noun (a dial, dials) for the paradigm of a regular verb (I dial, he dials, dialed, dialing). A. Marchand in his book «The Categories and Types of Present-day English» treats conversion as a morphological-syntactical word-building because we have not only the change of the paradigm, but also the change of the syntactic function, e.g. I need some good paper for my room. (The noun «paper» is an object in the sentence). I paper my room every year. (The verb «paper» is the predicate in the sentence). Conversion is the main way of forming verbs in Modern English. Verbs can be formed from nouns of different semantic groups and have different meanings because of that, e.g.:

a) verbs have instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting parts of a human body e.g. to eye, to finger, to elbow, to shoulder etc. They have instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting tools, machines, instruments, weapons, e.g. to hammer, to machine-gun, to rifle, to nail,

b) verbs can denote an action characteristic of the living being denoted by the noun from which they have been converted, e.g. to crowd, to wolf, to ape,

c) verbs can denote acquisition, addition or deprivation if they are formed from nouns denoting an object, e.g. to fish, to dust, to peel, to paper,

d) verbs can denote an action performed at the place denoted by the noun from which they have been converted, e.g. to park, to garage, to bottle, to corner, to pocket,

e) verbs can denote an action performed at the time denoted by the noun from which they have been converted e.g. to winter, to week-end.

Verbs can be also converted from adjectives, in such cases they denote the change of the state, e.g. to tame (to become or make tame), to clean, to slim etc.

Nouns can also be formed by means of conversion from verbs. Converted nouns can denote: a) instant of an action e.g. a jump, a move,

b) process or state e.g. sleep, walk,

c) agent of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted, e.g. a help, a flirt, a scold,

d) object or result of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted, e.g. a burn, a find, a purchase,

e) place of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted, e.g. a drive, a stop, a walk.

Many nouns converted from verbs can be used only in the Singular form and denote momentaneous actions. In such cases we have partial conversion. Such deverbal nouns are often used with such verbs as: to have, to get, to take etc., e.g. to have a try, to give a push, to take a swim.

CRITERIA OF SEMANTIC DERIVATION

In cases of conversion the problem of criteria of semantic derivation arises: which of the converted pair is primary and which is converted from it. The problem was first analized by prof. A.I. Smirnitsky. Later on P.A. Soboleva developed his idea and worked out the following criteria:

1. If the lexical meaning of the root morpheme and the lexico-grammatical meaning of the stem coincide the word is primary, e.g. in cases pen — to pen, father — to father the nouns are names of an object and a living being. Therefore in the nouns «pen» and «father» the lexical meaning of the root and the lexico-grammatical meaning of the stem coincide. The verbs «to pen» and «to father» denote an action, a process therefore the lexico-grammatical meanings of the stems do not coincide with the lexical meanings of the roots. The verbs have a complex semantic structure and they were converted from nouns.

2. If we compare a converted pair with a synonymic word pair which was formed by means of suffixation we can find out which of the pair is primary. This criterion can be applied only to nouns converted from verbs, e.g. «chat» n. and «chat» v. can be compared with «conversation» – «converse».

3. The criterion based on derivational relations is of more universal character. In this case we must take a word-cluster of relative words to which the converted pair belongs. If the root stem of the word-cluster has suffixes added to a noun stem the noun is primary in the converted pair and vica versa, e.g. in the word-cluster: hand n., hand v., handy, handful the derived words have suffixes added to a noun stem, that is why the noun is primary and the verb is converted from it. In the word-cluster: dance n., dance v., dancer, dancing we see that the primary word is a verb and the noun is converted from it.

SUBSTANTIVIZATION OF ADJECTIVES

Some scientists (Yespersen, Kruisinga) refer substantivization of adjectives to conversion. But most scientists disagree with them because in cases of substantivization of adjectives we have quite different changes in the language. Substantivization is the result of ellipsis (syntactical shortening) when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute loses its semantically weak noun (man, person etc), e.g. «a grown-up person» is shortened to «a grown-up». In cases of perfect substantivization the attribute takes the paradigm of a countable noun, e.g. a criminal, criminals, a criminal’s (mistake), criminals’ (mistakes). Such words are used in a sentence in the same function as nouns, e.g. I am fond of musicals. (musical comedies). There are also two types of partly substantivized adjectives: 1) those which have only the plural form and have the meaning of collective nouns, such as: sweets, news, finals, greens; 2) those which have only the singular form and are used with the definite article. They also have the meaning of collective nouns and denote a class, a nationality, a group of people, e.g. the rich, the English, the dead.

«STONE WALL» COMBINATIONS

The problem whether adjectives can be formed by means of conversion from nouns is the subject of many discussions. In Modern English there are a lot of word combinations of the type, e.g. price rise, wage freeze, steel helmet, sand castle etc. If the first component of such units is an adjective converted from a noun, combinations of this type are free word-groups typical of English (adjective + noun). This point of view is proved by O. Yespersen by the following facts:

1. «Stone» denotes some quality of the noun «wall».

2. «Stone» stands before the word it modifies, as adjectives in the function of an attribute do in English.

3. «Stone» is used in the Singular though its meaning in most cases is plural, and adjectives in English have no plural form.

4. There are some cases when the first component is used in the Comparative or the Superlative degree, e.g. the bottomest end of the scale.

5. The first component can have an adverb which characterizes it, and adjectives are characterized by adverbs, e.g. a purely family gathering.

6. The first component can be used in the same syntactical function with a proper adjective to characterize the same noun, e.g. lonely bare stone houses.

7. After the first component the pronoun «one» can be used instead of a noun, e.g. I shall not put on a silk dress, I shall put on a cotton one.

However Henry Sweet and some other scientists say that these criteria are not characteristic of the majority of such units. They consider the first component of such units to be a noun in the function of an attribute because in Modern English almost all parts of speech and even word-groups and sentences can be used in the function of an attribute, e.g. the then president (an adverb), out-of-the-way villages (a word-group), a devil-may-care speed (a sentence). There are different semantic relations between the components of «stone wall» combinations. E.I. Chapnik classified them into the following groups:

1. time relations, e.g. evening paper,

2. space relations, e.g. top floor,

3. relations between the object and the material of which it is made, e.g. steel helmet,

4. cause relations, e.g. war orphan,

5. relations between a part and the whole, e.g. a crew member,

6. relations between the object and an action, e.g. arms production,

7. relations between the agent and an action e.g. government threat, price rise,

8. relations between the object and its designation, e.g. reception hall,

9. the first component denotes the head, organizer of the characterized object, e.g. Clinton government, Forsyte family,

10. the first component denotes the field of activity of the second component, e.g. language teacher, psychiatry doctor,

11. comparative relations, e.g. moon face,

12. qualitative relations, e.g. winter apples.

ABBREVIATION

In the process of communication words and word-groups can be shortened. The causes of shortening can be linguistic and extra-linguistic. By extra-linguistic causes changes in the life of people are meant. In Modern English many new abbreviations, acronyms, initials, blends are formed because the tempo of life is increasing and it becomes necessary to give more and more information in the shortest possible time. There are also linguistic causes of abbreviating words and word-groups, such as the demand of rhythm, which is satisfied in English by monosyllabic words. When borrowings from other languages are assimilated in English they are shortened. Here we have modification of form on the basis of analogy, e.g. the Latin borrowing «fanaticus» is shortened to «fan» on the analogy with native words: man, pan, tan etc. There are two main types of shortenings: graphical and lexical.

Graphical abbreviations

Graphical abbreviations are the result of shortening of words and word-groups only in written speech while orally the corresponding full forms are used. They are used for the economy of space and effort in writing. The oldest group of graphical abbreviations in English is of Latin origin. In Russian this type of abbreviation is not typical. In these abbreviations in the spelling Latin words are shortened, while orally the corresponding English equivalents are pronounced in the full form, e.g. for example (Latin exampli gratia), a.m. – in the morning (ante meridiem), No – number (numero), p.a. – a year (per annum), d – penny (dinarius), lb – pound (libra), i. e. – that is (id est) etc.

Some graphical abbreviations of Latin origin have different English equivalents in different contexts, e.g. p.m. can be pronounced «in the afternoon» (post meridiem) and «after death» (post mortem). There are also graphical abbreviations of native origin, where in the spelling we have abbreviations of words and word-groups of the corresponding English equivalents in the full form. We have several semantic groups of them: a) days of the week, e.g. Mon – Monday, Tue – Tuesday etc

b) names of months, e.g. Apr – April, Aug – August etc.

c) names of counties in UK, e.g. Yorks – Yorkshire, Berks – Berkshire etc

d) names of states in USA, e.g. Ala – Alabama, Alas – Alaska etc.

e) names of address, e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. etc.

f) military ranks, e.g. capt. – captain, col. – colonel, sgt – sergeant etc.

g) scientific degrees, e.g. B.A. – Bachelor of Arts, D.M. – Doctor of Medicine. (Sometimes in scientific degrees we have abbreviations of Latin origin, e.g., M.B. – Medicinae Baccalaurus).

h) units of time, length, weight, e.g. f./ft – foot/feet, sec. – second, in. – inch, mg. – milligram etc.

The reading of some graphical abbreviations depends on the context, e.g. «m» can be read as: male, married, masculine, metre, mile, million, minute, «l.p.» can be read as long-playing, low pressure.

Initial abbreviations

Initialisms are the bordering case between graphical and lexical abbreviations. When they appear in the language, as a rule, to denote some new offices they are closer to graphical abbreviations because orally full forms are used, e.g. J.V. – joint venture. When they are used for some duration of time they acquire the shortened form of pronouncing and become closer to lexical abbreviations, e.g. BBC is as a rule pronounced in the shortened form. In some cases the translation of initialisms is next to impossible without using special dictionaries. Initialisms are denoted in different ways. Very often they are expressed in the way they are pronounced in the language of their origin, e.g. ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) is given in Russian as АНЗУС, SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) was for a long time used in Russian as СОЛТ, now a translation variant is used (ОСВ – Договор об ограничении стратегических вооружений). This type of initialisms borrowed into other languages is preferable, e.g. UFOНЛО, CПJV etc. There are three types of initialisms in English:

a) initialisms with alphabetical reading, such as UK, BUP, CND etc

b) initialisms which are read as if they are words, e.g. UNESCO, UNO, NATO etc.

c) initialisms which coincide with English words in their sound form, such initialisms are called acronyms, e.g. CLASS (Computor-based Laboratory for Automated School System). Some scientists unite groups b) and c) into one group which they call acronyms. Some initialisms can form new words in which they act as root morphemes by different ways of wordbuilding:

a) affixation, e.g. AVALism, ex- POW, AIDSophobia etc.

b) conversion, e.g. to raff, to fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules),

c) composition, e.g. STOLport, USAFman etc.

d) there are also compound-shortened words where the first component is an initial abbreviation with the alphabetical reading and the second one is a complete word, e.g. A-bomb, U-pronunciation, V -day etc. In some cases the first component is a complete word and the second component is an initial abbreviation with the alphabetical pronunciation, e.g. Three -Ds (Three dimensions) – стереофильм.

Abbreviations of words

Abbreviation of words consists in clipping a part of a word. As a result we get a new lexical unit where either the lexical meaning or the style is different form the full form of the word. In such cases as «fantasy» and «fancy», «fence» and «defence» we have different lexical meanings. In such cases as «laboratory» and «lab», we have different styles. Abbreviation does not change the part-of-speech meaning, as we have it in the case of conversion or affixation, it produces words belonging to the same part of speech as the primary word, e.g. prof. is a noun and professor is also a noun. Mostly nouns undergo abbreviation, but we can also meet abbreviation of verbs, such as to rev. from to revolve, to tab from to tabulate etc. But mostly abbreviated forms of verbs are formed by means of conversion from abbreviated nouns, e.g. to taxi, to vac etc. Adjectives can be abbreviated but they are mostly used in school slang and are combined with suffixation, e.g. comfy, dilly etc. As a rule pronouns, numerals, interjections. conjunctions are not abbreviated. The exceptions are: fif (fifteen), teen-ager, in one’s teens (apheresis from numerals from 13 to 19). Lexical abbreviations are classified according to the part of the word which is clipped. Mostly the end of the word is clipped, because the beginning of the word in most cases is the root and expresses the lexical meaning of the word. This type of abbreviation is called apocope. Here we can mention a group of words ending in «o», such as disco (dicotheque), expo (exposition), intro (introduction) and many others. On the analogy with these words there developed in Modern English a number of words where «o» is added as a kind of a suffix to the shortened form of the word, e.g. combo (combination) – небольшой эстрадный ансамбль, Afro (African) – прическа под африканца etc. In other cases the beginning of the word is clipped. In such cases we have apheresis, e.g. chute (parachute), varsity (university), copter (helicopter), thuse (enthuse) etc. Sometimes the middle of the word is clipped, e.g. mart (market), fanzine (fan magazine) maths (mathematics). Such abbreviations are called syncope. Sometimes we have a combination of apocope with apheresis, when the beginning and the end of the word are clipped, e.g. tec (detective), van (vanguard) etc. Sometimes shortening influences the spelling of the word, e.g. «c» can be substituted by «k» before «e» to preserve pronunciation, e.g. mike (microphone), Coke (coca-cola) etc. The same rule is observed in the following cases: fax (facsimile), teck (technical college), trank (tranquilizer) etc. The final consonants in the shortened forms are substituded by letters characteristic of native English words.

NON-PRODUCTIVE WAYS OF WORDBUILDING

SOUND INTERCHANGE

Sound interchange is the way of word-building when some sounds are changed to form a new word. It is non-productive in Modern English, it was productive in Old English and can be met in other Indo-European languages. The causes of sound interchange can be different. It can be the result of Ancient Ablaut which cannot be explained by the phonetic laws during the period of the language development known to scientists, e.g. to strike – stroke, to sing – song etc. It can be also the result of Ancient Umlaut or vowel mutation which is the result of palatalizing the root vowel because of the front vowel in the syllable coming after the root (regressive assimilation), e.g. hot — to heat (hotian), blood — to bleed (blodian) etc. In many cases we have vowel and consonant interchange. In nouns we have voiceless consonants and in verbs we have corresponding voiced consonants because in Old English these consonants in nouns were at the end of the word and in verbs in the intervocalic position, e.g. bath to bathe, life to live, breath to breathe etc.

STRESS INTERCHANGE

Stress interchange can be mostly met in verbs and nouns of Romanic origin: nouns have the stress on the first syllable and verbs on the last syllable, e.g. `accent — to ac`cent. This phenomenon is explained in the following way: French verbs and nouns had different structure when they were borrowed into English, verbs had one syllable more than the corresponding nouns. When these borrowings were assimilated in English the stress in them was shifted to the previous syllable (the second from the end). Later on the last unstressed syllable in verbs borrowed from French was dropped (the same as in native verbs) and after that the stress in verbs was on the last syllable while in nouns it was on the first syllable. As a result of it we have such pairs in English as: to af«fix -`affix, to con`flict- `conflict, to ex`port -`export, to ex`tract — `extract etc. As a result of stress interchange we have also vowel interchange in such words because vowels are pronounced differently in stressed and unstressed positions.

SOUND IMITATION

It is the way of word-building when a word is formed by imitating different sounds. There are some semantic groups of words formed by means of sound imitation:

a) sounds produced by human beings, such as : to whisper, to giggle, to mumble, to sneeze, to whistle etc.

b) sounds produced by animals, birds, insects, such as: to hiss, to buzz, to bark, to moo, to twitter etc.

c) sounds produced by nature and objects, such as: to splash, to rustle, to clatter, to bubble, to ding-dong, to tinkle etc.

The corresponding nouns are formed by means of conversion, e.g. clang (of a bell), chatter (of children) etc.

BLENDS

Blends are words formed from a word-group or two synonyms. In blends two ways of word-building are combined: abbreviation and composition. To form a blend we clip the end of the first component (apocope) and the beginning of the second component (apheresis) . As a result we have a compound- shortened word. One of the first blends in English was the word «smog» from two synonyms: smoke and fog which means smoke mixed with fog. From the first component the beginning is taken, from the second one the end, «o» is common for both of them. Blends formed from two synonyms are: slanguage, to hustle, gasohol etc. Mostly blends are formed from a word-group, such as: acromania (acronym mania), cinemaddict (cinema adict), chunnel (channel, canal), dramedy (drama comedy), detectifiction (detective fiction), faction (fact fiction) (fiction based on real facts), informecial (information commercial), Medicare (medical care), magalog (magazine catalogue) slimnastics (slimming gymnastics), sociolite (social elite), slanguist (slang linguist) etc.

BACK FORMATION

It is the way of word-building when a word is formed by dropping the final morpheme to form a new word. It is opposite to suffixation, that is why it is called back formation. At first it appeared in the language as a result of misunderstanding the structure of a borrowed word. Prof. Yartseva explains this mistake by the influence of the whole system of the language on separate words. E.g. it is typical of English to form nouns denoting the agent of the action by adding the suffix -er to a verb stem (speak- speaker). So when the French word «beggar» was borrowed into English the final syllable «ar» was pronounced in the same way as the English —er and Englishmen formed the verb «to beg» by dropping the end of the noun. Other examples of back formation are: to accreditate (from accreditation), to bach (from bachelor), to collocate (from collocation), to enthuse (from enthusiasm), to compute (from computer), to emote (from emotion), to televise (from television) etc.

As we can notice in cases of back formation the part-of-speech meaning of the primary word is changed, verbs are formed from nouns.

23

Prefix + Root Word + Suffix

Please note that all fields followed by an asterisk must be filled in. First Name* E-Mail Address* Country* ACTOR was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in ACTOR? ACTOR was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
an adjective into a noun
PIANIST was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in PIANIST? PIANIST was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a noun into an adjective
DIFFERENCE was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in DIFFERENCE? DIFFERENCE was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
an adjective into a noun
DIFFERENT was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in DIFFERENT? DIFFERENT was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a verb into an adjective
IGNORANCE was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in IGNORANCE? IGNORANCE was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
and adjective into a noun
ISLAMISM was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in ISLAMISM? ISLAMISM was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a noun into another noun
FRIENDSHIP was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in FRIENDSHIP? FRIENDSHIP was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a noun into another noun
RESPONSIBLE was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in RESPONSIBLE? RESPONSIBLE was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a noun into an adjective
CAREFUL was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in CAREFUL? CAREFUL was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a verb into an adjective
HAPPILY was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in HAPPILY? HAPPILY was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
an adjective into an adverb
INDIFFERENT was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in INDIFFERENT? INDIFFERENT was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a verb into an adjective
MISMATCH was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in MISMATCH? MISMATCH was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a noun into another noun
ENCOURAGE was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in ENCOURAGE? ENCOURAGE was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a noun into an adjective
BEFRIEND was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in BEFRIEND? BEFRIEND was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
a noun into an adjective
BEAUTIFULLY was formed by adding a What is the ‘root word’ in BEAUTIFULLY? BEAUTIFULLY was formed by changing
a verb into a noun
a noun into a verb
an adjective into an adverb

Please enter the word that you see below.


  

What is Word Formation?

Word formation process is subject of morphology where we learn how new words are formed. In linguistics, word formation process is the creation of a new word by making changes in existing words or by creating new words. In other words, it refers to the ways in which new words are made on the basis of other words.

Different Forms of Word Formation

Word Formation process is achieved by different ways to create a new word that includes; coinage, compounding, borrowing, blending, acronym, clipping, contraction, backformation, affixation and conversion.

Compounding

Compounding is a type of word formation where we join two words side by side to create a new word. It is very common type of word formation in a language. Some time we write a compound word with a hyphen between two words and some time we keep a space and sometime we write them jointly. All these three forms are common in all languages.

Common examples of word compounding are:

·         Part + time = part-time

·         Book + case = bookcase

·         Low + paid = low-paid

·         Door + knob = doorknob

·         Finger + print = fingerprint

·         Wall + paper = wallpaper

·         Sun + burn = sunburn

·         Text + book = textbook

·         Good + looking = good-looking

·         Ice + cream = Ice-cream

Borrowing

In word formation process, borrowing is the process by which a word from one language is adapted for use in another language. The word that is borrowed is called a borrowing, a loanword, or a borrowed word. It is also known as lexical borrowing. It is the most common source of new words in all languages.

Common Examples of borrowed words in English language are:

·         Dope (Dutch)

·         Croissant (French)

·         Zebra (Bantu)

·         Lilac (Persian)

·         Pretzel (German)

·         Yogurt (Turkish)

·         Piano (Italian)

·         Sofa (Arabic)

·         Tattoo (Tahitian)

·         Tycoon (Japanese)

Blending

Blending is the combination of two separate words to form a single new word. It is different from compounding where we add two words side by side to make a new word but in blending we do not use both words in complete sense but new/derived word has part of both words e.g. word smog and fog are different words and when we blend them to make a new word, we use a part of each word to make a new word that is smog. We took first two letters from first word (sm) from smoke and last two (og) from fog to derive a new word smog.

Some more examples of blending are:

·         Smoke + murk=smurk

·         Smoke + haze= smaze

·         Motel (hotel + motor)

·         Brunch (breakfast + lunch )

·         Infotainment ( information + entertainment)

·         Franglais ( French + English)

·         Spanglish (Spanish + English )

.

Abbreviations

Abbreviation is a process where we create a new word by making a change in lexical form of a word keeping same meaning. There are three main types of abbreviations.

1.    Clipping / Shortening / Truncation

2.    Acronyms / Initialism

3.    Contraction

Clipping / Shortening / Truncation

Clipping is the type of word formation where we use a part of word instead of whole word. This form of word formation is used where there is a long/multi-syllable word and to save time we use a short one instead of that long word e.g. the word advertisement is a long word and we use its short form ad (ads for plural form) instead of whole word.

Here are some examples of clipping:

·         Ad from advertisement

·         Gas from gasoline

·         Exam from examination

·         Cab from cabriolet

·         Fax from facsimile

·         Condo from condominium

·         Fan from fanatic

·         Flu from Influenza

·         Edu from education

·         Gym from gymnasium

·         Lab from laboratory

Acronyms / Initialism

An acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation from the initial letters in a phrase or a multi syllable word (as in Benelux). The initials are pronounced as new single words. Commonly derived word are written in upper case e.g. NATO.

Some common examples of acronyms are:

·         CD is acronym of compact disk

·         VCR is acronym of  video cassette recorder

·         NATO is acronym of North Atlantic Treaty Organization

·         NASA is acronym of National Aeronautics and Space Administration

·         ATM is acronym of  Automatic Teller Machine

·         PIN is acronym of Personal Identification Number

Some time the word is written in lower case (Initial letter capital when at start of sentence)

·         Laser is acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

·         Scuba is acronym of  Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

·         Radar  is acronym of Radio Detecting And Ranging

Contraction

A contraction is a word formed as an abbreviation from a word. Contractions are abbreviations in which we omit letters from the middle of a word or more than one words.

Some common contractions are below:

·         Dr is from Doctor.

·         St is from Saint.

·         He’s from He is.

·         I’ve is from I have.

Affixation

Affixation is the word formation process where a new word is created by adding suffix or prefix to a root word. The affixation may involve prefixes, suffixes, infixes. In prefixes, we add extra letters before root word e.g. re+right to make a new word rewrite. In suffix, we add some extra letters with a base/root word e.g. read+able. In infixes, the base word is changed in its form e.g. the plural of woman is women that creates new word “women”.

1.    Prefixes: un+ plug = unplug

2.    Suffixes: cut + ie = cutie

3.    Infixes: man + plural = men

Zero-derivation (Conversion)

Zero-derivation, or conversion, is a derivational process that forms new words from existing words. Zero derivation, is a kind of word formation involving the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form, which is to say, derivation using only zero. Zero-derivation or conversion changes the lexical category of a word without changing its phonological shape. For example, the word ship is a noun and we use it also as a verb. See below sentences to understand it.

1.    Beach hotel has a ship to enjoy honeymoon.

2.    Beach hotel will ship your luggage in two days.

In first sentence, the word ship is a noun and in second sentence the word ship (verb) is derived from the action of ship (noun) that transports luggage, so the word ship (verb) has meaning of transportation.

Backformation

Backformation is the word formation process where a new word is derived by removing what appears to be an affix. When we remove last part of word (that looks like suffix but not a suffix in real) from a word it creates a new word.

Some very familiar words are below:

·         Peddle from peddler

·         Edit from editor

·         Pea from pease

Coinage / Neologism

It is also a process of word formation where new words (either deliberately or accidentally) are invented. This is a very rare process to create new words, but in the media and industry, people and companies try to surpass others with unique words to name their services or products.

Some common examples of coinage are: Kodak, Google, Bing, Nylon etc.

Eponyms

In word formation process, sometime new words are derives by based on the name of a person or a place. Some time these words have attribution to a place and sometime the words are attributes to the things/terms who discover/invent them. For example, the word volt is electric term that is after the name of Italian scientist Alessandro Volta.

Some common examples of eponyms are:

·         Hoover: after the person who marketed it

·         Jeans: after a city of Italy Genoa

·         Spangle: after the person who invented it

·         Watt: after the name of scientist James Watt

·         Fahrenheit:  after the name of German scientist Gabriel Fahrenheit

Learning root words in English is not only helpful to fetch good marks in the verbal ability section of competitive exams but also help to hone up the English vocabulary skills in general. 

English is one of the important sections of various Government exams like Bank, SSC, RRB, etc. and aspirants preparing for these examinations are required to have a good vocabulary to ace this section. 

Now, the English language being vast and comprehensive, it is difficult to memorise each and every word and their meaning. So, English root words can help you to understand the meaning of all the words easily. 

Therefore, this article will provide the list of root words with detailed explanation. Candidates will also be able to download the root words pdf for convenient preparation.

English Root Words PDF:-Download PDF Here

To understand vocabulary, we need to understand each word and history attached to it. English is considered as a global language because it is a culmination of all popular languages like Spanish, Latin, Greek etc. Learning the root words will make it easy for the aspirants to work out the meaning of the new words as they encounter them.

What is the root word?

A root word is a word that forms the basis of new words by adding affixes (prefixes or suffixes). It is the most basic part of any word. 

The basic structure of roots are either affixed or suffixed and then they become a new word. An understanding of the usual root words will help make a good guess about the meaning of newly known words and will, in turn, strengthen your vocabulary.

Check out General English for competitive exams for various conceptual based topics along with their explanations. 

Let’s check out various root words in English, their combination and different new words formed by them.

Candidates can go through the video on English Vocabulary – Root Words to understand the concept.

English Root Word List

  1. Root Word – Mal – a Latin word, Meaning – bad or evil. 

English words having ‘mal’ root word –

  • Malignment – defame something badly
  • Malice – evil intention
  • Maltreat. – Treat someone/something badly
  • Malfunction – working badly
  • Dismal – A gloomy situation
  • Maleficent – Someone who deliberately try causing harm to someone

*All the words having ‘mal’ root word gives a negative connotation.

Candidates can check the List of Homophones/Homonyms in the given link to prepare for the English section. 

2. Root Word – Phobia, Meaning – Fear or dislike

English words formed of it –

  • Demophobia – demo is people so one who fears public speaking have demophobia
  • Zoophobia – people who fear animals.
  • Theophobia – Thei is God/Religion, so a person who fears religion has theophobia.
  • Pedophobia – Pedo means child, so a person who doesn’t like children has pedophobia.
  • Gynophobia – a person who dislikes girls/women because Gyno is a girl/woman. 

You can check the List of Phobias in the given link which is important for the general awareness section as well. 

3. Root word – Fin – a Latin word, Meaning – to end something, limit, or boundary. 

English words containing ‘Fin’ in them –

  • Infinity – No limit
  • Infinitesimal – immeasurably small
  • Confinement – concluding state of pregnancy
  • Definite – Precise

We can see, the words mean to end or limit something. Examples:  We take a final exam at the end of the course. The one who watches reality TV Shows, see the Finale episode or the final episode of the season.In a race, the Finish line is known as the end of it.

4. Root word – Phil – a Greek word, Meaning – to Love. 

English word with root word ‘Phil’-

  • Bibliophile – the one who loves books
  • Philologist – word lover who is a scholar of language
  • Philanthropist – is a person who loves mankind. 
  • Philosopher – A person who will love wisdom
  • Philodendron – A tree that curls up while growing and are called love trees.

So we can see all the words with root words are associated with love. Did you know the city of Philadelphia actually means the city of brotherly love.

5. Root word – Logy a Greek word, Meaning – to study something

Words formed with the root word ‘logy’ are –

  • Analogy – the study of comparison of two or more things
  • Anthropology – the study of human beings as ‘anthrop’ means human.
  • Theology – ‘theo’ means God/religion so theology is the study of religion
  • Morphology – the study of structures is morphology. Morph means structures.

The above-given examples for ‘logy’ root words form a part of one-word substitution which is again an important topic to study in the English language section. Candidates can go the category-wise list of one-word substitution for assistance in preparation.

6. Root word – Thie, a Greek word – Meaning – God/Religion

English words formed using the root word ‘Thei’ are –

  • Theist – ‘ist’ is follower, so theist is one who believes in God
  • Atheist – A [person who do not believe in God
  • Pantheist – Pan means that is all over, so the person who believes in all God across all religion is Pantheist
  • Monotheist – Mono connotes one, so those who believe in one god are monotheists. 

Also, check the One Word substitution Questions & Answers asked in various government exams.

7. Root word – Fact – coming from the Latin language – Meaning – something that is “made” or “done”. Let’s check the different words with this root word –

  • Factory: is a place where something is “made”.
  • Manufactured: A place where something is made too. Manufactured originally means something that is made in large scale.
  • Artifact – something that is made by human skills
  • Factor – is a “maker”. For example, a beautiful painting done by someone is a deciding factor who gained the rank of a master- painter.
  • Benefactor – Someone who does good for other people
  • Stupefaction –  something that made you completely surprised
  • Petrifaction – a superpower that makes people turn into stones by just gazing at them
  • Malefactor – someone that does evil to human
  • Satisfaction – done enough

All the words formed of the root word ‘fact’ connotes something done or made. 

8. Root Word – Dict/Dic – a Latin word – Meaning– Say

English words containing Dict/Dic in them –

  • Prediction – say something beforehand.  
  • Dictated – say something to someone
  • Verdict – speaking or saying the truth
  • Indicate – make known about something by saying
  • Contradict – say something against
  • Dictionary – a book that tells us how to say a certain word correctly.
  • Addicted – when we want to say or declare that we are in love with certain things. 

Candidates preparing for various government exams can check the following topics for preparation:

  • Idioms And Phrases
  • List of Synonyms and Antonyms
  • Letter Writing Format
  • Active And Passive Voice Rules

9. Root Word – Cide, a Latin word, Meaning a person or something that kills, Act of killing.

There are many words in the English language formed with the root word Cide –

  • Patricide – Patri means Father, so the killing of one’s father is Patricide
  • Uxoricide – Husband who kills his wife, Uxor means Wife. 
  • Maritricide – Marit is husband, so Maritricide is killing of one’s husband
  • Infanticide – Infant is a child, the killing of a child is infanticide. 

So, it can be understood that the words with root word Cide connote killing of someone or something.

10. Root Word – Anti, a Greek word, Meaning – Opposite or against

The English words formed of the root word ‘Anti’ –

  • Antiseptic – working against infection
  • Antidote – working against the effect of the poison
  • Antisocial – opposite to social norms
  • Antioxidants – compounds that work against the chemical reactions that damage the cells of an organism. 

Remember, anything with the root word ‘anti’ is supposed to do against or opposite of something.  

Given below are a few links that give questions and answers of important verbal ability topics that are asked in various government examinations, candidates can check these for practice and revision.

For more such questions and answers on different topics or to get more concepts and rules-based explanations of various topics covered in the Verbal Ability section, check the linked page.  

Root Words That are Common English Words

There are certain root words that form a standalone word of its own or as part of other common words in the English language. Given below are some common English words that are root words as well:

  • Act – meaning – to move or do, other English words-  actor, acting, reenact
  • Crypt – Meaning – to hide, other English words –  cryptic, apocryphal, cryptography
  • Ego – meaning – Self-importance, Other words formed of it egotist, egocentric, egomaniac
  • Legal – meaning – related to the law, other words in English – illegal, legalities, paralegal
  • Form – meaning – shape, words formed from it – conform, reform, formulate
  • Phobia – meaning – fear – words formed from this root word are already discussed above.
  • Norm – meaning – typical, other English words – abnormal, paranormal, normality.

Given below is the Root words list that originates from either Latin or Greek words and forms the basis of different English words. 

Root Words from the Greek Language
Root Words Meaning Examples
meter/metr measure thermometer, perimeter
tele far off television, telephone
psycho soul; spirit psychology, psychic
therm heat thermal, thermometer
techno art; science; skill technique, technological
pseudo not genuine, false pseudonym, pseudoscience
morph form; shape morphology, morphing
photo/phos light photograph, phosphorous
phon sound phone, symphony
hydr water hydration, dehydrate
mono one monologue, monotonous
mis/miso hate misanthrope, misogyny
micro small microbe, microscope
hetero different heteronym, heterogeneous
scope viewing instrument microscope, telescope
hypo below; beneath hypothermia, hypothetical
homo same homonym, homogenous
chron time chronological, chronic
gram thing written epigram, telegram
auto self autobiography, automobile
dyna power dynamic, dynamite
bio life biology, biography
dys bad; hard; unlucky dysfunctional, dyslexic
phobia fear claustrophobia, phobic
logy study of biology, psychology
graph writing graphic, phonograph
nym name antonym, synonym
anthrop man; human; humanity anthropologist, philanthropy

Candidates preparing for various government exams can check the relevant links given below:

  • Free Online Mock Tests For Government exams
  • Previous Year Question Papers WIth Solution For Government exams

The table below gives the English root words taken from the Latin language:

English Root Words From the Latin Language
Root Words Meaning Examples
aqua water aquarium, aquamarine
bene good benefactor, benevolent
circum around circumference, circumstance
duc/duct to lead conduct, induce
cent one hundred century, percent
mal bad malevolent, malefactor
mater mother material, maternity
form shape conform, reform
ambi both ambiguous, ambidextrous
dict to say dictation, dictator
mit to send transmit, admit
fort strength fortitude, fortress
fract to break fracture, fraction
struct to build destruction, restructure
scrib/scribe to write inscription, prescribe
ject throw projection, rejection
multi many multimedia, multiple
fac to do; to make factory, manufacture
aud to hear audience, audition
sect/sec to cut bisect, section
jud judge judicial, prejudice
mort death mortal, mortician
pater father paternal, paternity
port to carry portable, transportation
contra/counter against contradict, encounter
rupt to break bankrupt, disruption
voc voice; to call vocalize, advocate
spect to look inspection, spectator
vid/vis to see video, televise
sent to feel; to send consent, resent

English Root Words List:-Download PDF Here

Candidates preparing for the various government exams can refer to the detailed exam syllabus in the links given below:

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