English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate » Unit 72: Suffixes: forming adjectives

Word List
  • annual
  • brake n, v
  • careful
  • careless
  • chat n, v
  • comfortable
  • cultural
  • cure n, v
  • dream n, v
  • electrical
  • enjoyable
  • famous
  • fashionable
  • give sb a hug
  • guess n, v
  • musical
  • national
  • normal
  • painful
  • painless
  • peaceful
  • personal (opinion)
  • reliable
  • significance
  • sociable
  • suitable
  • traditional
  • unbelievable
  • uncomfortable
  • unfashionable
  • unforgettable
  • unreasonable
  • unreliable
  • unsociable
  • unsuitable
  • useful
  • useless
Exercises

72.1 ‣ Correct the spelling mistakes. Be careful: one word is correct.

  1. enjoiable
  2. carful _____
  3. relyable _____
  4. peaceful_____
  5. confortable _____
  6. anual _____
  7. unforgetable _____
  8. reasonable _____
  9. unbeleivable _____

72.2 ‣ Match the words on the left with the words on the right.

  1. a national
  2. a useful _____
  3. a painful _____
  4. fashionable _____
  5. a careless _____
  6. an electrical _____
  7. an unsociable _____
  8. a reasonable _____
  1. a) injection
  2. b) mistake
  3. c) price
  4. d) holiday
  5. e) man
  6. f) bit of advice
  7. g) clothes
  8. h) fault

72.3 ‣ Write an adjective formed from these nouns or verbs. 11–15 are not on the opposite page, but you can find them in the index if you don’t know them.

  1. tradition
  2. attract _____
  3. person _____
  4. cloud _____
  5. colour _____
  6. fame _____
  7. electricity _____
  8. politics _____
  9. enjoy _____
  10. nation _____
  11. wind _____
  12. danger _____
  13. create _____
  14. emotion _____
  15. fog _____

72.4 ‣ Complete the sentences.

  1. You must be very when you drive in wet weather.
  2. She told us an _____ story about a dog that could speak.
  3. The tourist information office was very _____, and told us everything we needed to know.
  4. The festival is an _____ event, held on the first Monday in September.
  5. It was very _____ when I hit my leg against the corner of that table.
  6. This bag is _____; it’s too small for me to put anything in it.
  7. We’ve never had any problems with our TV in ten years; it’s been very _____.
  8. Most people agreed with it, so I think it was a _____ decision.
  9. This is just my _____ opinion; others may not agree.
  10. Travelling round China and the Far East was an _____ experience.
  11. Children perform _____ dances at the ceremony, as they have done for hundreds of years.
  12. Do you think this dress is _____ for a wedding?
Answer Key

Common suffixes that form adjectives include: -able (comfortable), -al (musical), -y (cloudy), -ous (famous) and -ive (attractive).

A ‣ -al

Adjectives ending -al are usually formed from nouns, and often mean ‘relating to the noun’ , e.g. a musical instrument (from music), a political issue (from politics), an electrical fault (related to electricity), a personal opinion (the opinion of one person).

SHICHI-GO-SAN

Shichi-Go-San (meaning 7, 5, 3) is an annual ceremony in Japan for three-and seven-year-old girls, and three-and five-year-old boys. It is on November 15, but it is not a national1 holiday, so people often have it on the nearest weekend. Seven, five and three are seen as important years in the growth of a child, and the numbers also have cultural significance2 because odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.) are lucky in Japan. This is one of the special days when the older boys and girls are allowed to wear traditional3 clothes: a kimono for girls and hakama trousers for boys. Now it is quite normal4 for children to wear western-style clothes at this ceremony. The children visit a shrine and are then given special sweets called Chitose-Ame by their parents.

1 a holiday for the whole country
2 they are important in Japanese culture
3 in a style that has continued for many years
4 usual

B ‣ -able /əbl/

This suffix forms adjectives from nouns and verbs, and the prefix un- often forms the opposite:
an enjoyable party [something that you enjoyed]
a comfortable chair (opp uncomfortable)
a suitable word or phrase [right/correct for a particular situation; opp unsuitable]
a reliable service; reliable information [able to be trusted or believed; opp unreliable]
fashionable clothes [popular now with many people; opp unfashionable]
a reasonable decision or price [fair; not a bad decision or price; opp unreasonable]
a sociable person [enjoys being with people; opp unsociable]

Sometimes the opposite form is the more common adjective:
an unforgettable experience [something that cannot be forgotten]
an unbelievable story [something that is very surprising and very difficult to believe]

C ‣ -ful and -less

The suffix -ful often means ‘full of’ or ‘having the quality of the noun’, e.g. a colourful room has a lot of colour in it; a helpful person gives a lot of help; a peaceful place is calm and quiet.

The opposite meaning is sometimes formed by adding the suffix -less to the noun.

a useful machine [having a lot of uses; opp a useless machine]

a painful injection [giving pain and being unpleasant; opp a painless injection]

a careful driver [drives with care and attention; opp a careless driver]

Common mistakes

The suffix is -ful (NOT full), so useful and careful (NOT usefull or carefull).

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