Derived Nouns

13 October, 2011

Filed under: Derived Nouns — csa1 @ 23:45

If you know the value of the different suffixes composing nouns, you’ll make a big step ahead in English.

NOUNS with

SUFFIXES :

Verb + er : celui qui fait l’action – singer, teacher, player, baker, driver, film-maker, dress-maker, waiter
Verb + or : actor, protector, sculptor, survivor
Verb+ ar : liar, beggar, burglar
Verb + ress : actress, waitress, heiress
Verb+ment : agreement, accomplishment, disappointment, entertainment
Verb + ion : adoption, selection, abortion, recognition
Verb+ance : acceptance, appearance, acceptance, fragrance
Verb+ ence : absence, occurence, emergence, difference, preference,reference
Verb+ancy : expectancy, pregnancy,
Verb+ency : emergency, currency, fluency, frequency
Verb+(i)our : behaviour, saviour
N+ dom : martyrdom, kingdom, boredom, stardom
N+hood : brotherhood, neighbourhood
N+ ship : relationship, kingship,
N+ acy : democracy, illiteracy,accuracy, privacy
N+ ary: documentary, contrary,
Adj + ness : happiness, kindness, carelessness, politeness,
- ety : society, propriety,
-ity : ability, sensitivity
-ion : evolution,reunion,
-aphy : photography, geography
-ics : physics, phonetics

http://usefulenglish.ru/writing/difficult-suffixes-of-nouns-and-adjectives

COMPOUND NOUNS

The English language is full of compound words ( nouns and adjectives)

- 2 nouns

Compound nouns can be written in 3 different ways :

in one word : sunflower, teabag, teaspoon, ashtray, armchair, blackboard, bookshelf,
in two words : tennis player, swimming pool, horse race, mosquito net (to protect against), hair net ( to fix/set hair), butterfly net ( to catch)
separated with a hyphen : pocket-money, fruit-cake, race-horse, goal-keeper, shop-window, apple-tree, flower-bed (parterre de fleurs),

- 3 nouns

teapot handle

football team

lighthouse keeper

In both cases, the main stress is on the first syllable and the secondary one on the last syllable.

Some nouns composed of simple words in English are translated by scientific words in French :

ex : – an ear, nose and throat specialist : un oto-rhyno-laryngologiste

- stamp-collecting : philatélie

- driving- mirror, rear-view mirror : rétroviseur

- a pea-shooter : une sarbacane

The opposite is more rare :

ex : a catapult : un lance-pierres

In French, basket, goal, puzzle and snack are always translated by compound nouns : basket-ball, goal-keeper, jigsaw puzzle and snack bar.

Some compound nouns are derived from verbs+er :

All the compound words with the suffix -er are not derived from verbs : they are synonyms for 3-element compound words :

hand-shake, shoe-polish

pullover

- The first element does not take “s” at the plural ( tooth-brush, guest-room, cherry-tart) except for :

To be continued …