Suffixes can change a word's class. Adding -ful or -less to a noun makes an adjective: hope, hopeful, hopeless. Adding -ness to an adjective makes a noun: kind, kindness.
Adding -ment to a verb makes a noun: enjoy, enjoyment. Adding -ly to an adjective often makes an adverb: quick, quickly. Adding -able makes an adjective meaning able to be: read, readable.
Watch the spelling: happy becomes happiness and happily (y changes to i).
Worked example
Change “care” into an adjective that means without care.
- Without is shown by the suffix -less.
- care + less = careless.
Answer:careless
Key words
- suffix
- letters added to the end of a word
- word class
- the job a word does, like noun or verb
- derive
- make a new word from another
Practise this
New questions every time.
Common Core-referenced: L.4.4b