Archive Language Point 51
Suffixes

You can make some nouns into adjectives or adjectives into nouns by adding suffixes (extra letters at the end of the word). For example, you can make the noun 'noise' into an adjective by taking off the 'e' and adding 'y' to make 'noisy'. Here is some of the most common suffixes:

-able knowledge - knowledgeable fashion - fashionable comfort - comfortable -al nature - natural accident - accidental music -musical -ous danger - dangerous fame - famous adventure - adventurous -y health - healthy cream - creamy mess - messy

-ce
important - importance
patient - patience
violent - violence

-ity
popular - popularity
formal - formality
regular - regularity

-ness
happy - happiness
lazy - laziness
ruthless - ruthlessness

-y
difficult - difficulty
modest - modesty
honest - honesty

When the adjective or noun ends in -e, -t or -y, sometimes its spelling changes.
For example:
-e
nature - natural
fame - famous

-t
important - importance
patient - patience

-y
happy - happiness
lazy - laziness

to cheer someone up: to make someone feel happier an anniversary: a day that is exactly a year or a number of years after a particular event (for example, It's our 25th wedding anniversary next week) a fancy-dress party: a party where people dress up in costumes (often dressed as famous people)