Word Formation : Nouns to Adjectives for class 5

Words can be changed from one part of speech to another by adding or changing the suffix to the main word.

The new formed word or adjective will give more information on the noun.
The most common suffixes used to form adjectives are -ly, -al, -ary, -ical, ous, -ful, -ish, -ic, -less, -y, -like, -ive,-ative, -eous, -ious, -ent, -ance and -ant. For instance, the noun ‘importance’ can be changed into the adjective ‘important’ by adding the suffix -ant.

Example :

In the above sentence, the root noun beauty has been changed to an adjective beautiful by adding the suffix -ful.

Nouns	Suffix	Adjectives	Examples
commerce	al	commercial	She is a commerce student. ↓ She would like to work with a commercial establishment.
fame	ous	famous	The restaurant earned its fame with their unique desserts. ↓ This restaurant is famous for its desserts.
pain, duty	ful	painful , dutiful	It is his duty to look after his parents. ↓ He is a dutiful son.
salt, taste	y	salty , tasty	The food tastes good. ↓ The food was filling and tasty too.
Geography	ic	geographic	I like the subject Geography. ↓ The geographic location of Assam is such that it is often prone to earthquakes.
Child	ish	Childish	She often behaves like a child. ↓ Her behaviour seemed very childish.
interest	ing	interesting	The book didn’t fail to interest me. ↓ It is an interesting book to read.
talent	ed	talented	He has an inborn talent for singing. ↓ He is a talented singer.

Certain suffixes can be used to make adjectives from Noun. Let us have a look at them below with its rules:

Certain suffixes will change a noun into one that modifies another as per the state of being.
For example, the suffix ‘-al’ can be used with the noun ‘accident’ to form the adjective ‘accidental,’ which is the state of being in an accident.

Adjectives that relate a noun to a quality can be formed by using the suffix ‘-ary’ or ‘-ous’.
For example, the adjective ‘poisonous’ is formed from the word ‘poison.’

The suffix ‘-ful’ can be added to some nouns to form adjectives that indicate ‘full’ of the quality expressed by the root word. So ‘beauty’ becomes ‘beautiful’, ‘wonder’ becomes ‘wonderful’, skill becomes ‘skilful’.
However, some formations have their spellings changed. The ‘-y’ in beauty becomes an ‘-i’ when changed to ‘beautiful.’ The ‘-e’ in ‘awe’ is omitted to form the adjective ‘awful.’

Adjectives can also be formed that changes a noun and express a part of its nature. These suffixes include ‘-ical,’ ‘-ic,’ and ‘-ish’.
For example the noun ‘photograph’ can be changed into ‘photographic’ by adding the suffix – ic.
However, some of these nouns need a spelling change. In ‘base’ and ‘athlete’ the final ‘-e’ is dropped before adding the suffix -ic to form the adjectives ‘basic’ and ‘athletic’. The noun ‘history’ has its ‘-y’ dropped before the ‘-ic’ can be added to make it ‘historic’.

The suffixes that indicate how a changed noun is similar to the root word of an adjective are ‘-ly,’ ‘-like,’ and ‘-y.’ Usually no spelling changes occur while using these suffixes.
For example nouns like ‘child,’ and ‘rain’, ‘friend,’, ‘wind’ change into ‘childlike,’ ‘friendly,’ and ‘windy’, ‘rainy’.
Sometimes, minor spelling changes can take place. Sometimes before adding the suffix ‘-y,’ the last consonant is doubled. So ‘fun’ changes into ‘funny’ and ‘spot’ transforms into ‘spotty.’
For nouns like anger, hunger, the e is dropped and the suffix ‘-y,’ is added at the end.

1. If the noun ends with an e, the ‘e’ is dropped, and the suffix used is either -y or -al or -ial to form an adjective.

Examples:

Finance → Financial

Finance → Financeial

Nature → Natural

2. If the noun ends with the letter ‘y’, it is removed, and the suffix-ic or -ful is usually added in its place.

Example:

Tragedy → Tragic

Some of the adjectives might have two kinds of suffix endings: -ic or -ical. However, their meanings do vary. So remember that, whenever you come across a pair like identity/identical,historic/historical, economic/economical,classic/classical.

Examples:

a. identity/identical

Identity – the fact of being what a thing or a person is.

Did you get your identity card?

Identical - same or similar.

Your shirt is identical to mine.

b. economic/economical

Economic - related to industry, trade, or money

Sri Lanka is facing a major economic crisis.

Economical - affordable

Combo meals are usually very economical.

c. classic/classical