Structure 1 - Common word families from LSC1103 readings
Many words in English have more than one form.
We change words to make them nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs.
Which would you use?
I don’t think marry/married/marriage is as important to young women as it was in the past.
I think obese/obesity people should see their doctors as soon as they can for help on losing weight.
Some people worry about the grow/growth/growing of social media but I think it is ok.
I don’t think teachers should take attend/attendance at a college level.
It is not always easy for people to eat health/healthy/healthily when they are busy.
The verb is usually the base form of the word (the shortest version). Sometimes word endings tell us what form a word is in. For example, -ment at the end means that the word is a noun (government, punishment, environment.) This is not always a fact but it can be a good clue*.
Take a look at the words on the next page and try testing yourself. Cover up some of the columns with a piece of paper and try to complete the other forms of the word.
-ment, -tion, -ity, -ness, -ance/ence / -y, -ous, -less, -ful, -ive, -ed*/-ing*, ant/ent / base form / adjective +ly
health / healthy / X / healthily
obesity / obese / X / X
agreement / agreeable / agree / agreeably
marriage / married / marry / X
imagination / imaginative / imagine / imaginatively
control / controlled/controlling / control / X
discussion / X / discuss / X
thought / thoughtful / think / thoughtfully
attendance / X / attend / X
X / informal / X / informally
requirement / required / require / X
education / educated / educate / X
engagement / engaged/engaging / engage / engagingly
concentration / X / concentrate / X
acceptance / acceptable / accept / acceptably
increase / increased/increasing / increase / increasingly
growth / growing / grow / X
relation/relationship / related / relate / relatedly
independence / independent / X / independently
identification/identity / X / identify / X
organisation / organised / organise / X