Linguistic commentary on unit 2. Adjective endings -able/-ible.

The adjective endings -able/-ible are often confused as they have the same meaning and pronunciation. However, -able is more commonly used as it is one of the modern productive English suffixes.

Both suffixes were borrowed from Latin –bilis which added to the verb formed an adjective.

-Able is usually added to complete nouns and verbs to make adjectives: enjoy – enjoyable, reason – reasonable. On the other hand, if a word was borrowed from Latin, you won’t be able to identify the word it was formed of: capable, inevitable, vulnerable.

The rule: if a word ends in ‘e’ and this ‘e’ is preceded by the letters ‘g’ or ‘c’, the ‘e’ is preserved when adding suffix ‘-able’ to preserve pronunciation. In all the other cases ‘e’ is dropped. For example, notice – noticeable, manage – manageable, like – likable, but agree – agreeable.

NB! If a word ends in consonant + ‘y’, ‘y’ will change into ‘i’ when adding ‘-able’: rely – reliable. Sometimes when adding ‘–able’ the final consonant is doubled to preserve pronunciation (for further information see UNIT 4): regret – regrettable, forget – unforgettable.

-Ible is usually added to parts of words to make adjectives but sometimes it can be added to the whole stems (don’t forget that in modern English this suffix is a non-productive one). It usually occurs after -ss,-s, -rr, -ince, -ige,-pt, -st: possible, responsible, horrible, convincible, intelligible, corruptible, digestible. But: disposable, indispensable, excusable, usable, acceptable, adjustable, detestable, etc.

Not to confuse suffixes -able/-ible it is advisable to memorize the words spelt with –ible as they are less numerous.

NB! The word soluble is the only word which has neither ‘a’ nor ‘i’.

Prefixes of negation in-/im-/ir-/il-/un-/dis-/mis-.

When adding prefixes, no letters of the words or prefixes are dropped: mis + spell =misspell, etc.

Prefixes in-/im-/ir-/il-/un- show that the word has the opposite meaning and mean non-. Prefixes im-/ir-/il- are variants of the prefix in-: informal. Im- is usually used with words starting with ‘m’, ‘p’: immoral, impolite. Ir- is used with words starting with ‘r’: irresponsible. Il- is used with words starting with ‘l’: illegible. Un- is the most frequently used prefix: unmanageable.

Dis-, apart from giving the opposite meaning (disobedient), can also give the meaning of deprivation (disarm).

Mis- shows either the lack of something (mistrust) or something incorrect (misunderstand).

Unit 3. Adding suffixes to words ending in ‘y’. Words with endings –s/-es.

Exercise 1. Guess the words. All of them end in ‘y’ and are given either in plural, if they are nouns, or in the 3d person singular, if they are verbs. The number of letters contained in the form you need is given in brackets.

1. Large buildings where things are made (9 letters).

2. Real or imaginary events told to you (7 letters).

3. Things that are not true (4 letters).

4. His mother ……… about him when he goes parachuting (7 letters).

5. People who try to discover another country’s secrets (5 letters).

6. Animals with long ears, often thought to be lazy and stupid (7 letters).

7. Another word for ‘floors of the building’ (7 letters).

8. Insects that carry a lot of diseases (5 letters).

9. Joe is musical and ……… the guitar and the piano (5 letters).

10. Ships that carry people and cars across the sea (7 letters).

11. My sister ……… at Sussex University (7 letters).

12. Tree-climbing animals with long tails that look similar to us (7 letters).

13. He ……. on a different hat every week but he never buys anything (5 letters).

14. That woman always ……….. ‘Good morning!’ to us (4 letters).

15. Large vehicles that carry many things around the country (7 letters).

16. He loves being with children, so he …………. helping at the local school (6 letters).

17. Needed to open your locked doors (4 letters).

Exercise 2. Make the words plural.

Activity, enemy, dictionary, key, trolley, convoy, ally, valley, display, century, essay, fly, reply, cherry, abbey, toy holiday, body, opportunity, galaxy, journey, delay, party, factory, bully.

Exercise 3. Make as many forms and derivatives of the words given below with the help of different suffixes as you only can. Pay special attention to the spelling of the new words.

Worry, destroy, hurry, employ, mystery, happy, sly, tidy, lazy, crazy, dry, glory, beauty, busy, carry, easy, economy, gay, heavy, joy, lucky, pay, pity, shy, vary.

Exercise 4. Write the third person singular of the Present Indefinite and the Past Indefinite form for the verbs listed below.

Cry, imply, try, enjoy, lay, pay, fry, employ, repay, play, delay, beautify, destroy, supply, stay.

Exercise 5. Write and pronounce the Present Participle form of the verbs listed below.

Vary, copy, pity, worry, tidy, hurry, study, empty, marry, fancy.

How would it be necessary to pronounce these words if the y's were not kept?

Exercise 6. Write the forms of the comparative and superlative degrees for the following adjectives:

Busy, shy, sly, easy, dry, gay, pretty, angry, witty, early, lucky, tidy, lovely, lazy, heavy.

Exercise 7. Nine of these words are misspelled. Correct mistakes.

Fried, replied, dirtiness, said, paid, plaid, laid, mislaid, delaid, happiness, shiness, easily, dayly, coyly, icily, wrily, various, plentious, furious, pitious, mysterious, arrage, luggage, passage, fairitale, ready-made, philologist, copyist.

Exercise 8. Here is a page from a student’s homework book. There are ten words that are wrongly spelt. Find them and correct them.

My brother David lives in Sydney where he workes for a Japanese computer company. They make office machines such as typewriteres and word processors. He deals with the workers’ pay conditions.

His wife Sandy is a nurse who helps old people. Sometimes she visites them in their homes and sometimes she takes them to the hospital. Their daughter Zoe is seven yeares old. She goes to school every day but when she comes home she likes playing with the dog and cat. After she finishs her homework she usually watches TV.

On Sundays my brother playes hockey. Sometimes Sandy, Zoe and the dog go to watch one of his matchs. Afterwards David drives to one of the beachs nearby. Everybody swims except for the dog who runs along the sand and barkes at the waves.

Sometimes Zoe thinks she is a dog too and copys him until my brother gets angry and shouts at them both to stop.

Exercise 9. In the poem below put nouns ending in ‘o’ in plural.

If I were a Martian and I lived in outer space

I’d like to visit Earth one day and look around the place.

I’d like to meet an Eskimo and visit his igloo,

Then travel to Australia to see a kangaroo.

I’d roam the vast and grassy plains to find the buffalo

And tremble at the bottom of a fiery volcano.

I’d suffer from mosquito bites in hot exotic lands

And I’d learned to play the piano and I’d march with big brass bands.

I’d have a little vegetable patch where I could dig and sow,

Then watch potato and tomato plants take root and grow

And just in case one day I should forget the things I’d done

I’d be sure to take a photo of each and every one,

So when the time came to return to work on my space-station

I should always have these souvenirs of my earthly vacation.

Exercise 10. Put the words in bold in plural.

1. It took him three puff to blow out the candles on his birthday cake.

2. “Put on the scarf, take a handkerchief, and behave yourself,” their mother said.

3. The hoof of the galloping horses thundered over the race course.

4. Deciduous trees shed their leaf every year.

5. The team played badly in both half of the match.

6. The thief blew open all the safe and escaped with treasures worth millions.

7. It is said that cats have nine life.

8. The shelf were stacked with loaf of bread of all shapes and sizes.

9. At night in the mountains, they could hear wolf howling.

10. King Henry VIII had six wife.

11. Some very modern cars come with sun roof.

Exercise 11. Make the words in bold plural.

1. I fell asleep on the bus and ended up at the terminus.

2. In the basket of mushrooms I had picked was a poisonous fungus.

3. Another name for a grub that turns into an insect is a larva.

4. My birthday cake was a huge, creamy, chocolate gateau.

5. I looked at the test and realized we had been taught the wrong syllabus.

6. CO2 is the chemical formula for carbon dioxide.

7. The worst thing to do in a crisis is panic.

8. People’s lives can be changed by the medium of television.