Noun Creation

How are nouns created? They are created by using suffixes that are attached at the end of the word. For example, from the adjective happy we can derive the word happiness. That is, we have the root word happy + the suffix ness, and the result is happiness.

How do we know which suffix to use? The fact is that there are no 100% effective rules about this. However, making a generalization about noun creation in English, this is what we have:

Adjective + ness = noun

happiness

Verb + ment = noun

government

Person + hood = noun

boyhood

Noun + ship = noun

relationship

However, there are words that do not fit into these rules provided above. Don’t get surprised to find a lot of exceptions to these rules.

Now, let’s complete the following chart using these suffixes:

-ness, -ment, -hood, -ship, -ty, -dom

Word

Noun

Word

Noun

1. aggressive

11. bad

2. commit

12. improve

3. baby

13. woman

4. sponsor

14. relation

5. man

15. girl

6. anxious

16. bare

7. require

17. achieve

8. star

18. comrade

9. parent

19. bitter

10. penman

20. judge



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