Suffixes

Word endings that change word class: -tion, -ness, -able, -ly, -ment

intermediate

When to Use

•-tion/-sion: verb → noun. educate → education, decide → decision.
•-ness: adjective → noun. happy → happiness, sad → sadness.
•-able/-ible: verb → adjective. enjoy → enjoyable, access → accessible.
•-ly: adjective → adverb. quick → quickly, happy → happily.
•-ment: verb → noun. develop → development, agree → agreement.

How to Form

Affirmative (+)

Base word + suffix (may require spelling changes)

Negative (-)

Same structure

Question (?)

Same structure

💡 Spelling changes: drop -e before vowel suffix; change -y to -i before suffix.

Examples

✓happiness

✗happyness

Change y to i before -ness.

✓easily

✗easyly

Change y to i before -ly.

✓lovable

✗loveable

Drop -e before -able (though loveable is also accepted).

Common Mistakes

💡 Practice Tips

• -tion/-sion: makes nouns (information, decision).
• -ness: makes nouns from adjectives (kindness, darkness).
• -able/-ible: makes adjectives (readable, visible).
• -ly: makes adverbs (slowly, carefully).

prefixes adverbs-manner adjectives-ed-ing 📝 spelling-intermediate 📝 suffixes-quiz

Suffixes

When to Use

How to Form

Examples

Common Mistakes

💡 Practice Tips

Related

Suffixes

When to Use

How to Form

Examples

Common Mistakes

💡 Practice Tips

Related

When to Use

How to Form

Examples

Common Mistakes

✗beautyfull

✗arguement

✗truely

💡 Practice Tips

Related

When to Use

How to Form

Examples

Common Mistakes

✗beautyfull

✗arguement

✗truely

💡 Practice Tips

Related