Sample Words From List
agreement
breathless
emptiness
employment
flawless
politeness
fondness
friendliness
government
priceless
neatness
punishment
Take a look at the sample words.
What do you notice about these words?
They all have suffixes added to the end - -ment, -less, -ness.
What is a suffix?
Letters added to the end of a word that change its meaning.
What do you think politeness means?
(noun) the state of being polite or good mannered
What do you think flawless means?
(adjective) without flaws, defects or problems; perfect
What do you think punishment means?
(noun) the act of punishing; a penalty for doing something wrong
How do you think we could sort these words?
By their suffixes -ment, -less, -ness.
Let's practice sorting the words. Practice Sort
What is the part of speech of all the words in the -ment column?
noun
What is the part of speech of all the base words in the -ment column?
verb
So what happens to a word when you add the suffix - ment?
It changes from a verb to a noun. For example, the word agree is a verb that means - to say you'll do something another person suggests. The word agreement is a noun that means - the act of agreeing.
Can you determine what -less and -ness do?
-less creates adjectives meaning - without and -ness changes adjectives into nouns meaning - a state of being.
What is special about friendliness and emptiness?
When a word ends in a y the y is changes to an i before adding the suffix.