Formation of adjectives

There are no rules to help you recognize adjectives by their forms. But many adjectives are formed from other words by adding prefixes or suffixes.

Suffixes

Suffixes are added to the end of words and change grammatical category of the words. Here are some examples of suffixes:

Suffix	Examples
-able/-ible	admirable, acceptable, visible, horrible
-al	musical, historical, comical, magical
-ful	beautiful, forgetful, colourful, powerful
-ic	scenic, economic, romantic, Arabic
-ical	political, historical, satirical
-ish	Swedish, childish, Spanish, foolish
-ive/-ative	attractive, creative, imaginative
-less	friendless, meaningless, effortless
-ous	dangerous, poisonous, mountainous
-y	angry, dusty, cloudy, sticky
-ed	bored, excited, talented, tired
-ing	interesting, exciting, tiring

Adjectives can be made from nouns or verbs.

Noun to Adjective

beauty	beautiful
friend	friendless
danger	dangerous
dust	dusty

Verb to Adjective

break	breakable
use	useful
create	creative
wash	washable

Prefixes

Prefixes are added to the beginning of adjectives to change their meanings. The prefixes un-, in-, ir-, im-, and il- are often confused because they all mean not and opposite of.

Prefix	Examples
un-	unhappy, unimportant, unrealistic
in-	incomplete, infinite, inactive
ir-	irrelevant, irregular, irrational
im-	impossible, improper, immature
il-	illegal, illogical, illegible

Suffixes and spelling rules

Change the y to i before the suffix -ful

• beauty → beautiful
• plenty → plentiful

If the adjective ends in a vowel+y, do not change the y.

• joy → joyful

Drop the y before the suffixes -ous/-ious and-ic.

• mystery → mysterious
• history → historic

Grammar Cards