What are the most common academic suffixes?
This is the third and final chapter about Suffixes. To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding.
– Outline the most commonly used suffixes in academia
– Provide academic suffixes for adjectives, adverbs and nouns.
– Use example words and suffixes to assist comprehension
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Chapter 3
The final chapter on the topic of suffixes focuses specifically on those suffixes which are used most frequently in academic writing. By determining whether these suffixes are attached to adjectives, adverbs or nouns, we can most efficiently separate these into groups so that you can easily recognise and use these suffixes in your own academic speech and writing.
1. Adjectival Suffixes
Certain suffixes may be used to form adjectives either from nouns or from verbs. While there may be much variation here, there are certainly some suffix patterns that are fairly common, such as when changing nouns into adjectives:
There are also some patterns for when creating adjectives from verbs:
With these suffixes in mind, do remember to be careful of adjectives which have similar base forms but different suffixes, such as the following examples:
2. Adverbial Suffixes
Unlike adjectives and nouns, adverbs have a far smaller number of suffixes to choose from and should therefore be easier to remember. The following three suffixes are used to form adverbs from adjectives:
While these two suffixes turn nouns into adverbs:
3. Nominal Suffixes
The final group of suffixes is the largest, which is unsurprising seeing as nouns are also the largest word class. By practising and memorising the following suffixes and their meanings, you should in the future be able to quickly expand your academic vocabulary. The first set worth discussing is used to change verbs into nouns:
The second converts adjectives into nouns:
Now that you have a good understanding of what a suffix is, why these pieces of words are important, and which different types may be selected, and have also studied the most common academic suffixes that can be used, if you would like to check your understanding of this topic then consider downloading and completing our beginner-, intermediate– and advanced-level worksheets on this topic.
To reference this reader:
Academic Marker (2022) Suffixes. Available at: https://academicmarker.com/grammar-practice/affixes/suffixes/ (Accessed: Date Month Year).
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Once you’ve completed all three chapters about suffixes, you might also wish to download our beginner, intermediate and advanced worksheets to test your progress or print for your students. These professional PDF worksheets can be easily accessed for only a few Academic Marks.
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