1. Identifying the Word's Part of Speech:
* -ing: Indicates a verb (e.g., "walking", "singing") or a noun (e.g., "feeling", "painting").
* -er/-or: Often indicates a noun that describes a person or thing performing an action (e.g., "teacher", "actor").
* -ly: Often indicates an adverb, modifying a verb (e.g., "quickly", "slowly").
* -tion/-sion/-ment: Often indicates a noun, often related to an action or process (e.g., "creation", "decision", "movement").
2. Determining the Word's Meaning:
* -able/-ible: Indicates something can be done (e.g., "readable", "visible").
* -ful: Indicates something is full of (e.g., "helpful", "joyful").
* -less: Indicates the absence of something (e.g., "hopeless", "careless").
* -ness: Indicates a state or quality (e.g., "kindness", "sadness").
3. Understanding Relationships Between Words:
* -ize/-ise: Often indicates a verb related to a noun (e.g., "modernize", "formalize").
* -ity/-ty: Often indicates a noun related to an adjective (e.g., "clarity", "beauty").
Example:
Imagine you encounter the word "beautify". You may not know its meaning, but the suffix "-ify" indicates that it's a verb related to the noun "beauty". You can then infer that "beautify" means "to make beautiful".
In Conclusion:
Suffixes act like mini-dictionaries, providing hints about the word's part of speech, meaning, and relationship to other words. By learning to recognize and interpret suffixes, readers can improve their vocabulary and comprehension skills.