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The process of adding letters to the beginning or ending of words to make new words is called morphology. Words are morphed into new words using affixes.
Additions to the beginning of root words are called prefixes and at the end are suffixes. Here is a breakdown on the spelling, rules and meanings of affixes. Sometimes the final consonant is doubled, the final -e is dropped, the final -y is changed and then there are regular plurals and irregular plurals.
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Prefixes
A prefix is placed before a root word to make a new word. There are several types of affixes that can be attached to the beginning of words to change the meaning.
il-, im-, in-, ir-, un-, non- mean NOT. e.g. illegal, imperfect, inadequate, irresponsible, unnecessary, non-negotiable
re- means BACK. e.g. reverse
di-, dis- mean SEPARATE. e.g. divert, disassemble
de- means REMOVE. e.g. deactivate
mis- means WRONG. e.g. mislead
co-, com-, con- mean TOGETHER. e.g. co-worker, companion, congregate
all- is spelt with one ‘l’ when added to words e.g. altogether, although, also
Suffixes
A suffix is placed after a root word to make a new word. There are several types of affixes that can be attached at the end of words to change the meaning. There are many rules to know when adding suffixes.
Double the consonant
Double the final consonant after a vowel in a word with one syllable. e.g. stop – stopped, run – running, fun – funny
The final ‘l’ is doubled in a word with more than one syllable. e.g. cancel – cancelled, propel – propeller, control – controlling
Don’t double the consonant
If a word ends in a consonant and a suffix begins with a consonant, don’t double the consonant. e.g. sad – sadness, entertain – entertainment, regret – regretful, help – helpless, faithful – faithfully
When a word with one syllable ends with more than one consonant, don’t double the consonant. e.g. start – started, ring – ringing, fight – fighter
If the last syllable in a word is not stressed, don’t double the consonant. e.g. benefit – benefited, offer – offering, reveal – revealing
Drop the ‘e’
When the suffix begins with a vowel, drop the ‘e’. e.g. make – making, use – user, store – storage, adore – adorable
If a word ends in ‘le’ and the suffix is -ly, drop the ‘e’ and add ‘y’. e.g. simple – simply, bubble – bubbly
Keep the ‘e’
When a word ends in ‘ce’ or ‘ge’, keep the ‘e’. e.g. notice – noticeable, change – changeable
If a word ends in ‘ee’, keep the ‘e’. e.g. see – seeing, agree – agreeing
If a suffix is -ful or -ly, keep the ‘e’. e.g. peace – peaceful, love – lovely
Keep the ‘y’
When a word ends with ‘y’ and has a vowel before it, keep the ‘y’. e.g. boy – boys, play – playing, buy – buyer, enjoy – enjoyed, joy – joyful
If the suffix starts with ‘i’, keep the ‘y’. e.g. carry – carrying, fly – flying
Drop the ‘y’
There are very few instances when the ‘y’ comes after a vowel and is dropped to add an affix. e.g. pay – paid, lay – laid, say – said
Change ‘y’ to ‘i’
If a consonant comes before the ‘y’, change ‘y’ to ‘i’. e.g. happy – happiness, lady – ladies
Change ‘ie’ to ‘y’
If a word ends in ‘ie’ and the suffix is -ing, change ‘ie’ to ‘y’. e.g. lie – lying, die – dying
Plurals and adding affixes
Add -s or -es
Add -s or -es to some words ending in ‘o’. e.g. piano – pianos, hero – heroes
-es to words ending in -s, -ss, -z, -ch, -sh and -x. e.g. gas – gases, business – businesses, quiz – quizzes, watch – watches, bush – bushes, fox – foxes
-s to words ending in two vowels and ‘f’. e.g. roof – roofs, chief – chiefs
Change ‘f’ to ‘v’
Change ‘f’ to ‘v’ and add -es in some words. e.g. thief – thieves, leaf – leaves, loaf – loaves
Add either -s or -ves to some words ending in ‘f’ e.g. dwarf – dwarfs or dwarves, scarf – scarfs or scarves
Add -s to ‘ff’
Adds -s to words ending in ‘ff’. e.g. cliff – cliffs, sniff – sniffs
Vowels are changed
Change the vowels e.g. foot – feet, tooth – teeth, goose – geese, man – men, woman – women
Spelling is changed
Change the spelling of the word e.g. mouse – mice, child – children, person – people
Same for singular and plural
Leave words the same e.g. sheep – sheep, shrimp – shrimp, aircraft – aircraft
-us ending is changed to –i or -ai
Change -us ending to -i in words e.g. alumnus – alumni, fungus – fungi, syllabus – syllabai
-is ending is changed to -es
Change -is ending to -es in words e.g. basis – bases, crisis – crises
-on ending is changed to -a
Change -on ending to -a in words e.g. phenomenon – phenomena, criterion – criteria
-um ending is changed to -a
Change -um ending to -a in words e.g. bacterium – bacteria, datum – data, memorandum – memoranda
-ix ending is changed to -ices or add -es
Change -ix ending to -ices or add -es e.g. appendix – appendices or appendixes, matrix – matrices or matrixes
-ex ending is changed to -ices or add -es
Change -ex ending to -ices or add -es e.g. index – indices or indexes
See also:
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