8. Common suffixes

Growing your vocabulary

One way to significantly grow your vocabulary is to learn about word parts like prefixes and suffixes.  

What is a prefix?  Click to show the answer. a word part that goes at the beginning of a word and changes the meaning  (We practiced some of the most common prefixes before.)

What is a suffix?  Click to show the answer. a word part that goes at the end of a word and changes the part of speech (but usually not the meaning)

Like this:

Here’s an example. What is the prefix? What is the suffix? What do they mean? 

What is the prefix in the word above?

Click to show the answer. The prefix is “trans”.

What is the suffix?

Click to show the answer. The suffix is “er”

What do they mean?

Click to show the answer. ”Trans” means “across” and “er” means “person/thing that does sth”.

The three most common suffixes in English are -ly, -er/-or, and -ion. Suffixes often change the part of speech of the root word.

Which suffixes change the part of speech...

• from a verb to a noun?
• from an adjective to an adverb?

What does this suffix do: -ly

Click to show the answer. Adding -ly changes an adjective to an adverb.

What does this suffix do: -er/-or

Click to show the answer. Adding -er/-or changes a verb to a noun.

What does this suffix do: -tion/-sion/-ion

Click to show the answer. Adding -tion/-sion/-ion changes a verb to a noun.

Which suffixes mean “a person who…” (or “a thing that…”)?

Click to show the answer. Adding -er/-or changes a verb to mean “a person who…” (or “a thing that…”).

A race!

How many of each suffix word can you think of? First take a minute to think… Next, start a list like the one below. Then, set your timer for two minutes. Race to write as many words as you can in each column.

Check your answers with your teacher.