BGC Senegal

One of the greatest gifts of language is the ability to express our thoughts and feelings to others. Unlock the hidden powers of words by employing suffixes to expand your vocabulary. A suffix is a type of affix, or a word element added to the end of the root word. Suffixes often change the part of speech of the root word and can add shades of meaning or specificity. For instance, adding the suffix -ly to the word ‘care’ transforms it from a verb to an adverb: ‘carefully’. Similarly, with the same verb, the suffix -less can create an adjective: ‘careless’. Learning the common suffixes used in the English language and exercising them in your speech can help you become a more precise communicator. In turn, this will open up a whole new world of rich, meaningful language for you to discover and enjoy. Open the power of words by using suffixes to expand your vocabulary today! As someone learning English, it is important to be able to use variety of words to express yourself effectively. A great way of increasing your English vocabulary is to learn how to add suffixes to existing words to make new words. Suffixes are groups of letters that are added to the end of a word to change the meaning or make a new word.

Some common suffixes in English include -s, -ed, -ing, -er, -est, -ly, -ment, and -able. Let’s look at each of these in more detail and how to use them correctly.

1) The suffix -s:

The most common suffix is -s. It is used to form the plural of nouns (more than one). For example:

Book > Books
Child > Children

2) The suffix -ed:

The suffix -ed is used to form the past simple and past participle of verbs (actions). For example:

Walk > Walked
Start > Started

3) The suffix -ing:

The suffix -ing is used to form the present participle of verbs (actions). For example:

Run > Running
Swim > Swimming

4) The suffix -er:

The suffix -er is used to compare something. It is used after to form the comparative form of adjectives and adverbs. For example:

Big > Bigger
Loud > Louder

5) The suffix -est:

The suffix -est is used to form the superlative form of adjectives. For example:

Tall > Tallest
Sweet > Sweetest

6) The suffix -ly:

The suffix -ly is added to adjectives to create adverbs (words used to describe an action). For example:

Soft > Softly
Quick > Quickly

7) The suffix -ment:

The suffix -ment is used when forming nouns (people, places, things etc.) from verbs. For example:

Agree > Agreement
Decide > Decision

8) The suffix -able:

The suffix -able is used form adjectives. For example:

Enjoy > Enjoyable
Speak > Speakable

Learning and practicing how to use different suffixes is an effective way of expanding your English vocabulary. With practice, you will be able to use suffixes correctly with ease.

If you put the power of suffixes to work, you can keep expanding your vocabulary and unlocking your creativity. So, as the old adage goes, when you know your suffixes, you know your power!