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Topic: Derivation

These resources cover the ways in which new words can be formed, for example by joining two words together or adding an ending to a word. These processes increase the vocabulary of our language, and an understanding of these processes can be helpful in expanding our personal vocabulary knowledge.

Word Formation: Noun Derivation 2

Lesson

Starter

Last lesson, you saw how suffixes could make nouns into people or objects that do a job. E.g.

  • Write - writer
  • Boil - boiler

Look at these three other examples. What's different about them? 

  • Arrive - arrival
  • Boy - boyhood
  • Happy - happiness

These three examples all use different suffixes to create abstract nouns.

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Word Formation: Verb Derivation

Plan

Starter

Show learners the first slide with the two example sentences. Ask them to change the bracketed base words into adjectives by using an appropriate suffix. Allow them to try this independently and to share in small groups before checking together as a whole class. Show the second slide and explain how the suffix changes the word class from verb to adjective. 

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Word Formation: Verb Derivation

Lesson

Starter

Read these two sentences. Transform the base word in brackets into a more appropriate word class by adding a suffix.

  1. Her assistant isn't doing a good job since he's so (forget).
  2. We're going down to the river. Is the water (drink)?

What word class did you start with and what did it change into? 

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Compounds: Break apart the words

Break down each of the following words into its meaningful parts. Label each part as either a prefix, a suffix, or a lexical base (a part which can typically be used as a word on its own).

Example: unkindness: un- (prefix) + kind (lexical base) + -ness (suffix)

You can check your work by pressing the buttons to see the answers.

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Identify the word formation process

Identify the word formation process by clicking the correct answer.

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Y6 GPaS Test: Word families

Select the correct word for the blank:

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Word formation processes

New words are being generated at a rapid speed and there has been a huge upsurge in the number of new words being considered for inclusion in dictionaries. A fairly limited number of word formation processes are responsible for these new words. In our suggested mini-project, students look at a range of examples, and try to work out the key patterns of word formation that are responsible. This makes a good starting point for a detailed investigation of new words.

Project aims

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Spelling: Double consonants

If a root word ends in a consonant, adding a suffix will sometimes require that you double the base word’s final consonant. How do you know when to double the consonant?

Consider the following examples, where doubled consonants are underlined.

  • shipment
  • shipped
  • muddy
  • fitful
  • fittest
  • waiting
  • greenest
    •

Now take a look at some larger words, whose base forms have more than one syllable.

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Spelling: Rules

At some point, many of us learned some handy spelling rules that we’ve carried with us for years.

Most people probably remember the mnemonic:

  • I before E except after C.

That’s a very useful rule for remembering how to spell believe and receive. But what about seize and seizure? And what about leisure, either, or heifer?

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Spelling: Spelling and word structure

Many common spelling errors occur with double consonants or vowel combinations, as in the following words:

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Spelling: Suffixes

Suffixes cause many of our common spelling mistakes. One challenge is simply to know which is correct: for example, legible or legable? In fact, −ible and −able serve the same function, and sound the same. As a matter of history, -ible entered English from Latin, while −able entered English from French, but there’s no easy rule for knowing when to use which suffix. Each word with each suffix just requires practice.

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Spelling: Suffixes and 'e'

If an original word ends in a final e, as in manage,adding a suffix will sometimes require that you drop the final e in the root word.

  • Drop the final e: managing
  • Keep the final e: management

How do you know when to drop the final e?

First, consider the following examples, which either drop or keep the final e.

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Spelling: Suffixes and 'y'

When a word ends in y, adding a suffix will sometimes require that we change the y to an i or to an ie. How do you know when to change the y?

Look through the examples below and the rules that follow.

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Word structure

The study of word structure is called morphology. Understanding word structure helps us:

  • improve spelling
  • expand vocabulary

In studying word structure, we start by looking at a few key concepts first:

  • root words
  • prefixes
  • suffixes

Root words are words, or parts of words, that can usually stand alone. The following are all root words:

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Word structure: Compounds

Compounds are combinations of root words, i.e. words that can occur on their own, to form a new established combination. They are sometimes spelt as one word, but also with a hyphen or as two words.

In English compound nouns, e.g. bookcase, laptop, smartphone, and compound adjectives, e.g. dripping wet, tax-free, are very common.

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Word structure: Derivation

Derivation is the process of creating new words. The technical term derivational morphology is the study of the formation of new words. Here are some examples of words which are built up from smaller parts:

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