TDC 1 - Word Forms

TDC 1Pedagogical GrammarWord Forms

Word Forms- It can be hard for ELLs to learn to understand / use

different word forms because word endings are not so straighfoward.

- Examples: To change a noun into an adjective, ... 1) beauty + ful, 2) danger + ous 3) hero + ic 4) rain + y ...

- Ideally, an ELL’s first learning goal regarding word forms would be to be able to recognize the part of speech of a word by recognizing its suffix.

- Second, they should learn to produce the correct form of a word by adding the correct suffix.

Word Forms

Typical ELL Errors

- Members of the book club automatically receive preferentially prices.

- Siberia has a substantial number of nature resources.- Second language readers’ very limited vocabulary

knowledge hinders their ability to make fully use of context clues as well.

- Politics debates are part of the democratic process.- Olympic clocks must be very accuracy to be useful.

Word Forms- Suffixes can be used to create four of the eight parts of

speech:

1) verbs2) adjectives3) adverbs4) nouns

Adjective Verb Adverb Noun

final finalize finally finalization

Word Forms – Verb EndingsEnding Meaning Example

-ate to cause, to become, to supply with

motivate, oxygenate

-en to make something have a certain quality

darken, lighten

- ify to cause or make into something

identify, solidify, unify

-ize to become generalize, finalize

- Spelling Changes1) vowel dropped: clear + -ify = clarify2) vowel added: different + -ate = differentiate

Word Forms – Adjective EndingsEnding Meaning Example

-able, -ible

having a particular quality confortable, reversible

-al of or related to something musical, occasional

- an, -ian

relating to someone or something from a place; relating to someone who has a certain knowledge or belief

American, vegetarian

-ant, -ent

having the quality of defiant, persistent

-ary belonging to planetary


-ate having, containing, or having to do with something

compassionate

-ative, -itive

having the quality of talkative, primitive

-ed past participle confused-en past participle stolen, written-en made of wooden-ese of a country Chinese-ful full of beautiful-ic of or relating to a

particular thingperiodic


-ing present participle confusing-ish having qualities of, or tending to be childish-ive having a particular quality expensive-less without something useless-like similar to childlike-ly having qualities of manly-ory relating to obligatory-ous, -ious

having qualities of dangerous, delicious

-proof protected from waterproof-y having the character/form of curly, funny

Word Forms – Adverb EndingsEnding Meaning Example

-ly in a particular way or at times easily, occasionally

- Not all words that end in –ly are adverbs.

early adjective Gary is in his early twenties.

adverb Carlos has to wake up early.

daily adjective Our library subscribes to four daily newspapers.

adverb Kumiko exercises daily.

oily adjective Irma doesn’t like oily foods.

lonely adjective Ronald was a very lonely child.

friendly adjective She is such a friendly person.

Word Forms – Noun EndingsEnding Meaning Example

-al the act of doing something rehersal, denial-ence, -ance, -cy

action or process; quality confidence, performance, lunacy

-ent, -ant

someone or something that does something

president, resident

-er, -or, -ar, -r

someone or something that does something

teacher, elevator, registrar, writer

-hood having a quality or state brotherhood, childhood

-ity, -ty having a quality equality, specialty

Word Forms – Noun EndingsEnding Meaning Example

-tion, -ion

act or result of doing something

attention, impression

-ism a belief or set of ideas capitalism-ist a person who performs a

specific action; a person with certain beliefs

typist, capitalist

-ment a result of doing something; a place of action

development, department

-ness state or condition happiness-ure an act or process failure, pressure-ship a state or quality; an art or

skillfriendship, sportsmanship

Word Forms- The lack of consistency for the use of word endings in

English to indicate the part of speech of a word can be a problem for ELLs.

- This difficulty is bigger because sometimes the same word spelling is used for a different number of parts of speech.


photographicPhotographical

photograph photographically photograph


English ----- ----- English

Word Forms- Also, some words do not follow the pattern of suffixes,

making it even more difficult for ELLs to grasp them.

Noun Verb Adjective Adverb

sadness to sadden a sad story sadlydecisiondeciding

to decide a decisive ending decisively

a talktalking

to talk a talk showa talkative persona talking dog

talkatively

an explanation to explain an explanatory note ----a struggle to struggle a struggling actor ----

Word FormsNoun Verb Adjective Adverb

a city ---- a city problem citywidea nation ---- a national problem nationallywoodwoodenness

---- wooden woodenly

lovelovability

to love a love storya loving cata loved storyloveable

lovinglylovably

- Comparing the groups following the nouns city and nation, what are the similarities and differences?

- What can we say about it? What can we conclude?

Word FormsPortuguese InterferenceIn Portuguese, the suffix commonly used to change adjectives into adverbs is –mente. ELLs sometimes confuse this suffix with the English suffix indicating nouns –ment.Brazilian ELLs tend to generalize the rule used to form adverbs.

Word Forms – Lesson PlanObjective - Students will be able to understand how some adjectives are formed in English. They will also be able to use the forms studied in talking about friends.

Word Forms – Lesson Plan- Students will first read the text “A Creative

Friendship” and answer some comprehension questions.

- Comprehension Questions:1) How old were Picasso and Matisse when they met?2) How did they influence the work of each other?3) Why was theri friendship special?

- Then, students will read the text again to find adjectives in the text that end in -ous.

- Answers:1) ambitious, famous, jealous

- Then, students will match the three adjectives with their definitions.

- Task:1) unhappy because someone...2) someone a lot of people know about...3) determined to do well...

Word Forms – Lesson Plan- Students will now use the suffix –ous to make

adjectives from a number of words given.- Words:1) religion2) humour3) mystery

- Then, students will describe a friendship that is important to them, trying to use the adjectives ending in -ous.

- Questions:1) How long have you been friends?2) How did you meet?3) How would you describe your friends? (Use

adjectives ending in –ous.)4) Have your ever had disagreements?5) What is the nices thing your friend has ever done to

you?

Homework

•Workbook, pages 181 (Exercise 3.13.3), 184 (Exercise 3.13.10), and 185 (Exercise 3.13.11)

Education

TDC 1 - Word Forms