Word Formation & Affixation

Word Formation and Affixation

One of the problems facing any language learner is the vast number of
words to learn.
As we learn, we notice various patterns in words. For example, we learn the
word able, and then, sometime later, meet the word ability. We read the
word possible and then also come across possibility.
When we know that able and possible are adjectives, and ability and
possibility are nouns, we can form the hypothesis that some adjectives
ending in -ble change -ble to -bility to form nouns.
When we come across probability, we can guess that the adjective ends in
-ble probable.
Noticing patterns is a good way to learn a language.
How does this help us, or our students?
1. When we know the rules of word formation, we can increase our
receptive vocabulary.
If we read or listen to a word we do not know, but we recognize the ending,
we can make an educated guess about what the word means.
In this sentence:
Carbon has the capability to form long chains of its own atoms.
Capability might be a new word for us, but we can guess it is the noun from
capable.
2.

We can increase our productive vocabulary..

If we have noticed that -ness often occurs at the end of nouns, such as
happiness, sadness or usefulness, we can make nouns of our own, for
example, carelessness (from the adjective careless).
When we know that un- is often used to show the negative of an adjective,
we can make the adjective unreliable from the positive adjective reliable
3. By knowing about these endings (called suffixes) and beginnings
(called prefixes) we can learn vocabulary more quickly.

4. When we want to refer to both prefixes and suffixes together, we use

the word affixes.
Lets take a word like develop.
It takes time and effort to remember the word and its meaning, how to say
it and when to use it. IBut if we learn not only develop but also all the
words we can make from this root or base, it takes less time and effort
than if we learn each word separately.
From develop we can get:
Development
Developer
Developed
Developable
developed)
Undeveloped
Underdeveloped
Overdeveloped
.....

(the abstract noun)

(the person who develops)
(the adjective showing something is already developed)
(the adjective showing that something could be
(negative adjective)

All these words, formed from the root develop, are derivatives. They form a
Word Family.
Tips on Word Formation
It is useful to identify the root of any new word we learn, because it can help
us form other members of the Word Family..
Advise (verb) is the root of all these derivatives.
advisable
inadvisable
advisability
inadvisability
advisor
advice

(adjective)
(-ve adjective)
(adverb)
(-ve adverb)
(person who advises)
(noun)

Note that adverbs are built on the adjective rather than directly on the root:
(noun)
(adjective)
(adverb)
science
scientific
scientifically
history
historic
historically
geography
geographic
geographically

mathematics

mathematical

mathematically

Notice how frequently -ic was used to form the adjective, and -ically to
form the adverb. Mathematical is used here because we cannot add another
-ic to Mathematics.
In the text a number of words were in bold they are all derivatives.
When we group the derivatives under the Part of Speech they belong to, we
see some very common affixes:
Noun
(people)
teachers
specialists
students
learners

Noun

Adjective

correctness
pronunciation
confidence
dictionary
guidance
phonics
spelling
recording
definition
marker

individual
phonetic
useful
stressed
practical
helpful
comparative

-ve
Adjective
unsure
unstressed

Recording Vocabulary
Word Families can be recorded in the form of Mind Maps, which is known to
help learners remember more vocabulary.

In the table below are the most common affixes, together with some more
uncommon ones which are used for science subjects, for example:
exoexosphere,
endo -

exothermic, exocrine, exodermis, exoskeletal,

endothelial, endoblast, endothermic, endometrium,

hypo-

hypothermia, hypothesis, hypodermis, hypoallergenic

hyperhyperglycemia, ..

hyperacidity, hyperbola, hyperconcentration,

Typical Affixes for Word Formation

Noun
(people)
-or (visitor)
-er (teacher)
-ist (artist)
-(i)an
(politician)
-ant
(dependant)

Abstract Noun

Adjective

Prefixes

-ment
(argument)
-tion (attention)
-(a)tion
(civilization)
-(i)tion
(rendition)
-sion
(permission)
-(i)ty (poverty)
-ance
(importance)
-ence
(independence)
-ry (misery)
-ness (sadness)
-al (arrival)
-age (shortage)
-ism (racism)
-dom (freedom)
-hood
(childhood)
-ship
(leadership)

-ive (attractive)
-ical (practical)
-(i)ous
(generous)
-ful (helpful)
-y (happy)
-ar (popular)
-ised
(centralised)
-ly (weekly)
-ic (economic)
-en (wooden)
-ent (absorbent)
-(a)tory
(contradictory)
-ing (interesting)
-ed (interested)
-able/-ible
(capable)
-less (homeless)
-proof
(waterproof)
-ish (yellowish)
-th (fifth)

un- (unhappy)
in- (inability)
im- (impractical)
ir- (irregular)
il- (illegal)
de- (de-ice)
dis- (disappear)
pre- (preheat)
re- (redo)
mis-(misinterpret)
over- (overheated)
ex- (ex-Yugoslavia)
sub- (subnormal)
non- (nonsense)
co- (co-exist)
hypo(hypothermic)
hyper(hyperactive)
a- (atypical)
inter- (interact)
exo- (exothermic)
endo(endothermic)
anti- (anti-war)
pro- (pro-life)
bi- (bipolar)
tri- (triangle)
post- (post-war)
semi- (semidetached)
counter(counteract)
super- (superheated)

Miscellaneou
s
-ite (bauxite)
-ide (chloride)
-ine (chlorine,
bromine)

Verb

-en
(strength
-ate
(estimate
-ify
(quantify
-ise/ize
(criticize)

Stress in derivatives
The stress in a derivative might not be the same as in the root or in other
derivatives:
photograph
photographer
Ooo

photography
photographic
oOoo

oOoo

ooOo

It is always best to check a dictionary to see where the main stress is.

Remember that affixes are never stressed in English.

Special Cases
1. Adjectives derived from verbs
We can often make adjectives from verbs by adding -ing or -ed to
the verb:
Verb

-ing adjective

interest
bore
tire

interesting
boring
tiring

-ed adjective
interested
bored
tired

Look at the sentence:

The lesson was very interesting.
interesting describes the lesson the lesson is creating the interest
an active adjective.
Compare this to:
I was interested in the lesson.
I am not creating the interest. I am being passively affected by the
lesson a passive adjective.
Examples from the text are:
high-pitched
stressed

unstressed

Some other ing adjectives can be derived from nouns, for example
enterprising, and neighbouring.
2. Nouns derived from verbs
In the text we had the words spelling and recording. These are
nouns from the verbs spell and record. To name an activity, we often
make nouns from verbs. We call these Gerunds.
Other examples of Gerunds are:
listening, working, studying and learning
3. Comparatives and Superlatives

In the text we read:

Stressed syllables are slightly louder, longer and more highpitched than unstressed syllables.
The words louder and longer are formed from the adjective loud
and are used to compare the properties of one noun to other nouns.
Notice how we add -er to the adjective to show more the
comparative.
High-pitched is a long word, so we do not add -er. Generally, words
with 3 or more syllables take more instead of -er.
Look at this sentence from the text:
In a similar way, the suffixes which we use to make the comparative and
superlative forms of adjectives are unstressed, for example new, newer
(Oo), newest (Oo).
Here newer is the comparative and newest is the superlative. The
superlative is used when we want to say that something has a property
which is the greatest possible:
the highest mountain
most expensive car

the hardest test

the

Note that:
1. We add -est to short words and the most to longer words.
2. We use the because the superlative describes a unique property there
is nothing greater than it.
The comparative and superlative are used for adverbs as well as adjectives:
Adjective
hard
tragic
interesting
little
few
good
bad
Adverb
well
badly

Comparative
harder
more tragic
more interesting
less
fewer
better
worse
Comparative
better
worse

Superlative
the hardest
the most tragic
the most interesting
the least
the fewest
the best
the worst
Superlative
the best
the worst

(adv)
(adv)

Spelling Tips
If the adjective has a consonant vowel consonant pattern, double the
consonant and add er/-est:
wet
wetter
wettest
big
bigger
biggest
If it ends in a y, change the y to i and add er/est:
happy
happier
happiest
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