Inflectional Endings:
* Purpose: To modify a word's grammatical function or meaning without changing its core lexical meaning.
* Examples:
* Pluralization: "cat" becomes "cats" (adding "-s").
* Tense: "walk" becomes "walked" (adding "-ed").
* Possessive: "dog" becomes "dog's" (adding "-'s").
* Comparative/Superlative: "big" becomes "bigger" or "biggest" (adding "-er" or "-est").
* Effect: They change the form of the word to fit its grammatical context, not its meaning.
Suffixes:
* Purpose: To change the word's meaning or grammatical category, creating a new word with a different meaning.
* Examples:
* Noun Formation: "teach" becomes "teacher" (adding "-er").
* Adjective Formation: "beauty" becomes "beautiful" (adding "-ful").
* Verb Formation: "strong" becomes "strengthen" (adding "-en").
* Effect: They create new words with distinct meanings and often belong to a different word class.
Key Differences:
* Function: Inflectional endings modify grammar; suffixes change meaning.
* Word Class: Inflectional endings don't change the word class; suffixes often do.
* Example: "walking" uses the inflectional ending "-ing" to indicate the present participle, while "walker" uses the suffix "-er" to create a noun meaning "someone who walks."
In short: Inflectional endings are grammatical tweaks, while suffixes are word-building tools.