Learn English Noun and Adjective Endings

By knowing typical endings of words that identify nouns, adjectives, or adverbs, students can improve their vocabulary quickly and easily. This will also greatly improve reading comprehension. If you are reading, and come across a word that you don't know, follow these steps:

1. try to identify the part of speech (noun, adjective, adverb, verb, preposition, conjunction, pronoun, or interjection).
2. look at the root for similarities to known words.
3. if possible, try to determine if the word is adding something positive or negative to the sentence.
4. don't forget about your native language since English and may other languages share Greek and Latin roots.
5. look at the prefix for added meaning (I will cover this in a future article).
6. use context clues to aid in comprehension.

Don't give up so easily when you see new words.  With a little thought, time, and effort, I have seen many students answer their own question: "Teacher, what does ______ mean?"

Use the following list as a general guide to help you identify and form nouns and adjectives.  Adverbs often end in -ly, but some words can have the same form for different parts of speech.  For example, fast is both an adjective and an adverb.

Here are some typical endings used for nouns and adjectives:

Nouns

• er – player
• ice – justice
• ness – happiness
• sion – division
• ance – finance
• ment – government
• hood – neighborhood 
• dom – freedom
• cy – hesitancy
• ist – florist
• ity – charity
• ship – friendship

Adjectives

• ful – wonderful
• eous – gorgeous
• y – funny
• ish – childish
• ble – workable
• ial – dictatorial
• ent – different
• less – useless
• ng – exciting
• ly – friendly
• ar – familiar
• ive – abrasive

PERSISTENCE OVERCOMES RESISTANCE!

By Thomas

Thomas Williams is a teacher at EC San Diego

Choose the correct word needed to complete each sentence:

 LInk: Prefixes

Link: Verb, Noun, Adjective or Adverb?

• It is not ___ to cross the street without looking both ways.
  
  safe
  safety
  safely
  
  
• The ___ should be completed by next month.
  
  construct
  constructible
  construction
  
  
• My son played very ___ yesterday.
  
  good
  nice
  well
  
  
• There was a lot of ___ coming from the neighbor's house.
  
  noisy
  noisily
  noise
  
  
• I need to give this decision some more ___.
  
  thought
  thoughtful
  think
  
  
• How ___ is the table?
  
  length
  lenghty
  long
  
  
• What is the ___ of the table?
  
  wide
  widely
  width
  
  
• To be successful you need to have a lot of ___.
  
  confident
  confidence
  confidently
  
  
• His ___ was unexpected.
  
  died
  dead
  death
  
  
• I am very ___.
  
  studious
  student
  study
  
  
• I like to ___.
  
  studious
  student
  study
  
  
• The ___ lit room is too bright.
  
  brightly
  brightness
  bright
  
  
• My friend is very ___.
  
  lucky
  luckily
  luck
  
  
• I never have any ___.
  
  luck
  lucky
  luckily
  
  
• I like to ___ a lot.
  
  talker
  talkative
  talk
  
  
• Jeff was being ___ at work.
  
  funniest
  funny
  fun
  
  
• I always have a lot of ___ at work
  
  fun
  funniest
  funny
  
  
• I am ____ certain that the correct decision was taken.
  
  fairly
  fairness
  fair
  
  
• I want to live my ___ very lively.
  
  lively
  live
  life
  
  
• Justin gave me a bonus because he was ___ I made the sale.
  
  happily
  happiness
  happy
  
  
• He always makes a ___ effort.
  
  commitment
  committed
  commit
  
  
• My teacher told me I was very ___.
  
  teacher
  teach
  teachable
  
  
• When two people have a talk, they ___ with each other.
  
  converse
  conversational
  conversation