Linguistic commentary on unit 5. Silent ‘e’ at the end of words.

1. Words ending in a consonant (except ‘c’, ‘g’) + ‘e’:

   1. If we add a suffix beginning with a vowel, ‘e’ is dropped: time – timing, etc. Exceptions: acre – acreage, dye – dyeing, glue – gluey, mile – mileage.

   2. If we add a suffix beginning with a consonant, ‘e’ is preserved: time – timeless, etc. Exceptions: nine – ninth, whole – wholly, awe – awful.

2. Words ending in a vowel + ‘e’:

   1. If we add a suffix beginning with a vowel, ‘e’ is dropped: argue – arguing, etc.

   2. If we add a suffix beginning with a consonant, ‘e’ is dropped either: argue – argument, etc.

3. Words ending in letter combinations ‘-ce’/‘-ge’:

   1. If the suffix begins with a vowel ‘e’/‘i’/‘y’, ‘e’ is dropped because letter ‘c’ is pronounced as [s] before these letters: notice – noticing, manage – managing. Exceptions: singe – singeing, age – aging/ageing (both variants are possible).

   2. If the suffix begins with a vowel ‘a’/‘o’/‘u’ or a consonant, ‘e’ is preserved not to change the pronunciation: notice – noticeable, manage – manageable, encourage – encouragement.

4. Additional rules:

   1. If a word ends in ‘-ie’, ‘-ie’ is changed into ‘y’ when adding suffix ‘-ing’: die – dying, lie – lying.

   2. If a word ends in ‘-ee’, ‘e’ is preserved (except adding the suffix ‘-ed’): disagree – disagreement, but disagreed.

Letter combinations ‘-ch’/‘-tch’, ‘-ge’/‘-dge’, ‘-c’/‘-ic’ at the end of words.

Letter combinations ‘-ch’ and ‘-ge’ are used at the end of words after:

1. consonants (lunch, cringe);

2. long vowels (speech [i:], huge [ju:]);

3. diphthongs (couch [au], cage [ei]).

After short vowels ‘-tch’ and ‘-dge’ are used: catch [æ], clutch [Λ], dredge [e]. Exceptions: such, much, attach, detach, sandwich, bachelor, pigeon (but here it stands not at the end of the word).

If we form an adjective or an adverb from a noun or an adjective ending in ‘-c’/‘-ic’, we should add ‘k’ before suffixes beginning with a vowel ‘e’/‘i’/‘y’ to preserve pronunciation. For example, panic – panicking, panicked, panicky.

All the other words preserve their regular spelling: dramatic – dramatically, republic – republican.

Unit 6. Suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’. Adding ‘-ly’ to form adverbs.

Exercise 1. Form adjectives from nouns in bold with the help of one of the suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’.

1. Modeling is a glamour profession.

2. Lightning is extremely danger.

3. Japan is a very mountain country.

4. I am reading a humour book.

5. Matthew is a study pupil.

6. Be caution when crossing the road.

7. A dancer’s life demands rigour discipline.

8. Housework is dull and labour.

9. Monkeys are mischief creatures.

10. I am always anxiety to arrive on time.

Exercise 2. Make new words with the help of the suffixes offered.

Curious + ity, hinder + ance, repeat + ition, exclaim + ation, disaster + ous, administer + ate, four + ty, pronounce + ation, waiter + ess, explain + ation, monster + ous, vain + ity, remember + ance, nine + th.

Exercise 3. Insert the missing letter when necessary in the adjectives below.

Anx..ous, contin..ous, synonym..ous. consc..ous, numer..ous, jeal..ous, fam..ous, suspic..ous, ingen..ous (=sincere), ingen..ous (=skilful), spontan..ous, harmon..ous, prestig..ous, prec..ous, industr..ous, grac..ous, caut..ous, monoton..ous.

Exercise 4. Add suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’to the following nouns to form adjectives.

Variety, sulphur, monster, vapour, harmony, monotony, prodigy, felicity, continuity, space, oblivion, malice, anxiety, notoriety, fury, jealousy, curiosity, sonority, grace, suspicion, superstition, mystery, fame, numeral, industry, infection.

Exercise 5. Match words to their definitions.

interested in every little detail	gracious
famous for bad deeds	famous
happy, lucky	superstitious
diligent	furious
worrying about smth.	jealous
elegant	notorious
believing in foolish prejudice	curious
violent about smth., enraged	monstrous
too suspicious + nervous + distrustful	spacious
very well-known	anxious
having much room in itself	industrious
horrible, fearful	felicitous

Exercise 6. Provide the words with transcriptions.

Ingenuous, gracious, felicitous, suspicious, gorgeous, monstrous, furious, infectious, mysterious, notorious, synchronous, scandalous, malicious, sonorous, oblivious, famous, curious, cautious, conscious.

Exercise 7. Insert an appropriate adjective with one of the suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’.

1. –Ann’s husband is a workaholic – I’ve never seen him having a second of rest! –I suppose he’s simply ………. . –Opinions, just as tastes, may differ. I don’t like him in either case. It’s whispered, he never leaves her alone and doesn’t believe her words, makes rows and all sorts of things! –Come on, many people are ………. . And then, someday you’ll wring your neck gossiping like this!

2. She’s perfectly ………. – would make a detour twenty miles long if a black pussy cat crosses the shortest way.

3. I’m ………. about the results of my test.

4. He’s ………. for his abject behaviour.

5. Mary has given shelter to a dog, two cats and a turtle. And at that, a family of storks lives on a maple beside her window. I suspect, one room is too ………. for her alone.

6. ‘Shelter’ is ………. to ‘asylum’, and ‘diligent’ is ………. to ‘……….’.

7. Joe looks so ………. – he must be keeping some scandalous secret all to himself! Let’s go and wheedle it out of him!

8. “Sorry, I can’t come – I’m staying at my granny’s for a week – my brother has caught scarlet fever, and the doctor says he’s ……….”.

9. He’s got a problem with the ………. tenses, always leaving out the conjugated ‘be’.

10. She’s the most ………. painter I’ve ever been acquainted with – a real Master of the Brush!

Exercise 8. Complete the sentences below with the correct form of the adverb.

1. Anne answered all the questions ………. (correct).

2. The cinema is ………. (complete) full.

3. We can eat ………. (inexpensive) in this restaurant.

4. Frank looked at her ………. (unhappy).

5. The magician was ………. (able) assisted by his young son.

6. Their house was ………. (attractive) decorated.

7. The windows in my mother’s car are ………. (electric) operated.

8. My son has been ………. (false) accused of murder.

9. Repairs are ………. (normal) done by the mechanic.

10. Put that down and come over here ………. (immediate).