Skill 16
Recognize Suffixes and Their Meanings

A suffix is a letter or a group of letters added to the end of a word that alters its meaning in some way. There aren’t as many suffixes as prefixes, but they are important to know.

Here are some examples of suffixes and how they can change word meanings.

• Adding the suffix -ful to the root word joy makes the new word joyful, or “full of joy.”

• Adding the suffix -able to the root read creates the new word readable, meaning “able to be read.”

• Adding the suffix -ly to the adjective quick makes the adverb quickly, meaning “in a quick way.”

Here is a listing of common suffixes. It may be helpful for you to memorize this list.

Here are some suffixes used in sentences in the reading passages in previous chapters in this book. They are bolded for you to see.

• The way to score points is for a player to physically carry the ball over the goal line.

• It is a very friendly dog and is good with families.

• Although the use of high-speed Internet is growing faster among older people, the percentage of high-speed users is larger in the younger generation.

• The amount of material injected into the stratosphere, however, differed greatly.

• A bluish haze of sulfur aerosols all over Iceland destroyed most summer crops in the country.

• The Scarecrow himself, however, had four new wrinkles and was exceedingly melancholy.

• He chatted cheerily with his companions until the train was clear of Charleston.

• So given that, it doesn’t seem like the way he looked now was sparkling, clown-like, or happy.

Test Yourself!

For each of the following suffixes, think of some additional words that include the suffix. Write the words in the column at the right.