The English Language english language

The Major Parts of Speech

tends to occur in the most frequently used or most over-learned items. As
a result, teachers can assume that native English speaking students know
many of the most frequently used irregular forms, although the irregularities
may vary from dialect to dialect.)

Exercise

1. Provide the inflected plural forms of the following nouns (i.e., apply
   Analytic Test 1): insect, email, hinge, solo, calf, disease, coil, promise,
   daisy. Pay attention to the words’ spelling and consult a dictionary if
   you are uncertain.


2. The following words have undergone zero derivation/conversion:
   rip-off, snap, wipeout, update. To each, apply Analytic Test 1 to show
   that it is (or can be) a noun.

analytic test 2. A word may be a noun if it actually ends in a nominal
derivational suffix.

In English, the last derivational suffix on a word gives a strong clue to the
word’s grammatical class. If the last suffix is one of those listed in Table 2, then
that is a good indication that the word is a noun.

suffix example
-age acreage, mileage
-ance/-ence tolerance, adherence
-ard drunkard
-cy decency
-dom freedom
-er/or teacher, actor
-ess actress
-hood knighthood
-ism existentialism
-ist existentialist
-ity activity
-ment amusement
-ness truthfulness
-th truth
-(a)tion adulation, fruition