The English Language english language

The Major Parts of Speech

Table 5 lists some typical verbal derivational affixes:

suffixes examples
-ify magnify
-ize/-ise canonize, advertise
-en lighten
-ate participate, fluctuate

table 5: typical derivational verb suffixes

Exercise

1. Using the list of affixes in Table 5, show that the following words
   are verbs: traumatize, customize, sanitize, stupefy, electrify, brighten,
   darken, anticipate, punctuate.


2. Check a dictionary for the meanings and grammatical characteristics
   of each of the suffixes in Table 5.


3. For each italicized word below, add, remove, or change one or more
   derivational affixes to make it into a verb. Double-check your answer
   by using inflectional criteria. Assassin (noun), tight (adjective), criti-
   cal (adjective), alive (adjective), fat (noun, adjective), extermination
   (noun), harmony (noun).

analytic test 6. A word may be a verb if it can be immediately preceded by
words that typically precede verbs.

Verbs have the potential to occur immediately after several classes of other
words:

a. auxiliaries (be, have, and do)
b. modals (will, would, can, could, may, might, shall, should, and must)
c. to (infinitival) (e.g., to have and to hold)

We can create test frames based on these patterns, for example, [to__]
(e.g., to be), [VPdo___] (e.g., did endure).