Level 3 Affixes

Question 1

-er

Examples: teacher, leader, carrier, runner, cooker

Answer 1

Function: Makes nouns from verbs.

Meaning: The person/thing acts as the verb.

Example:
- Compute (Verb): to calculate something.
- Computer (Noun): A device that can do calculations.

E.g.: The whole process is run and monitored by computer.

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Question 2

-ness

Examples: Blueness, foolishness, productiveness

Answer 2

Function: Makes nouns from adjectives.

Meaning: The quality of being …..

Example:
- Good (Adjective): of high quality or an acceptable standard.
- Goodness (Noun): the quality of being good.

E.g.: We like to think that goodness exists in everyone.

Question 3

-able

Examples: Suitable, unbelievable, enjoyable, agreeable

Answer 3

Function: Makes adjectives from verbs.

Meaning: Adding the meaning “able to be done” to the verbs.

Example:
- Agree (Verb): to say ‘yes’ or agree to something.
- Agreeable (Adj): to be agreed by most people.

E.g.: The deal must be agreeable to both sides.

Question 4

-ish

Examples: childish, selfish, greenish, reddish, newish.

Answer 4

Function: Makes adjectives from nouns.

Meaning: Adding the meaning “like something” to the nouns.

Example:
- New (Adjective): recently made.
- Newish (Noun): like new, slightly new.

E.g.: She’s renting a newish apartment.

Question 5

-less

Examples: Careless, doubtless, needless, meaningless, voiceless.

Answer 5

Function: Makes adjectives from nouns.

Meaning: Adding the meaning “not having something” to the nouns.

Example:
- Care (Noun): recently made.
- Careless (Adjective): not giving attention.

E.g.: A careless worker/driver.

Question 6

-like

Examples: businesslike, ladylike, lifelike, ghostlike.

Answer 6

Function: makes adjectives from nouns.

Meaning: “having the qualities of” the noun.

Example:
- Child (Noun): A son or daughter of any age.
- Childlike (Adjective): Like a child.

E.g.: He reads the book with childlike excitement, eager to learn and explore.

Question 7

-ly

Examples: probably, actually, usually, exactly.

Answer 7

Function: makes adverbs from adjectives.

Example:
- Recent (Adj): that happened a short time ago.
- Recently (Adv): not long ago

E.g.: We received a letter from him recently.

Question 8

-th

Examples: sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh.

Answer 8

Function: makes ordinal numbers.

Example:
- hundred -> hundredth
- million -> millionth

E.g.: The company celebrated producing their millionth car with a special ceremony.

Question 9

-y

Examples: funny, lucky, hungry, scary, healthy, sunny, lazy

Answer 9

Function: makes adjectives from nouns.

Example:
- luck -> lucky
- health -> healthy

Eg: He is a lucky boy.

Question 10

un-

Examples: unclear, unfortunately, unemployed, unable, unlike

Answer 10

Function: makes negatives with adjectives and adverbs.

Example:
- usually -> unusually
- safe -> unsafe

E.g.: Drinking water from the river can be unsafe.

Question 11

non-

Examples: nonstop, nonsmoking, nonstandard, nonhuman, nonexistent

Answer 11

Function: makes negatives with nouns.

Example:
- profit -> nonprofit: do not make a profit.
- sense -> nonsense: do not make sense.

E.g.: The story he told was complete nonsense and didn’t make any sense.

Note: there are many hyphenated forms e.g. non-smoking