Verb & Adverb Suffixes

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Verb & Adverb Suffixes

To complete this series of posts on word building we’ll look at verb and adverb suffixes.

 You can find a list of other posts on prefixes and suffixes on the First Exam Corner page.  

Adverb Suffixes

Adverbs are the simplest types of words to form. To create many adverbs we  add -ly to an adjective form.  

For example

  • Quick -ly  We just add -ly to the adjective.
  • Careful -ly  We now have two ‘l’s  but only with the adverb.
  • Happi -ly   We need to change the form of the adjective first so y->i.

Irregular adverbs

There are also a number of adverbs which have a different form and meaning.

  • -ate
  • -en
  • -ise/-ize
  • -fy

activate
brighten
apologise/ize
justify

Verb Suffixes

  • -ate
  • -en
  • -ise/-ize
  • -fy

activate
brighten
apologise/ize
justify

Verb Suffixes using -en

The meaning of the suffix -en is to “make” and we  use adjectives or nouns +en to create new verbs.

For example

bright -> brighten

dark -> darken 

Note: We can also use en as a prefix. For example the verb ensure means to make sure. 

Here are some further examples

  • sweet
  • light
  • deep
  • red
  • white
  • deaf

In this group of adjectives we use the noun form to create the new verb  

  • strong -> strength -> strengthen
  • long -> length -> lengthen
  • high -> height -> heighten
[WpProQuiz 18]