Word Formation: Adjective Derivation 2

Starter

Read these four sentences. Each one has a base word in brackets you need to transfrom into an adjective by adding an affix.

What do the examples have in common? Where do they differ?

1. The crowd was listening to the (beard) man giving a speech.
2. She was (hope) that the weather would change soon.
3. The (fury) child ran out the room.
4. He picked up the old clock which was broken and (dust).

All these sentences use different suffixes to turn nouns into adjectives. The adjectives express having what the noun denotes. There are many different suffixes used to form adjectives.

1. The crowd was listening to the bearded man giving a speech.
2. She was hopeful that the weather would change soon.
3. The furious child ran out the room.
4. He picked up the old clock which was broken and dusty.

Sometimes, they require spelling changes such as fury - furious

Activity 1

In the next activity, match together the base noun with the right suffix to form an adjective. 

Drag the cards together to connect and double-click to separate. There are twenty total examples to try!

Write out a list of all twenty. How many require spelling changes? 

The words which need spelling changes are: 

• envy - envious
• glory - glorious
• harmony - harmonious
• juice - juicy

Choose ten adjectives from your list and write a sentence for each. 

Activity 2

There are more suffixes we can use to change nouns into adjectives. Read these two sentences. Use a suffix to transform the base noun in brackets into an adjective.

1. The teacher searched online to find some (education) materials for their class.
2. The girls received an award for her (hero) behaviour.

In both these sentences, the adjective expresses the quality denoted by the base noun.

1. The teacher searched online to find some educational materials for their class.
2. The girls received an award for her heroic behaviour.

There are many more suffixes which are used to convert nouns into adjectives. 

Read this list of ten base nouns. Then, choose the correct suffix to transform each into an adjective. Watch out for any spelling changes! Finally, write a sentence for each one.

1. allergy
2. alphabet
3. culture
4. fact
5. government
6. metal
7. nonsense
8. philosophy
9. region
10. revolution

Compare with a partner. What sentences did you come up with for each word?

1. allergic
2. alphabetical
3. cultural
4. factual
5. governmental
6. metallic
7. nonsensical
8. philosophical
9. regional
10. revolutionary

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