In this post, I will provide you with some tips and activities to help you understand the word formation process in English and identify words from two different word classes.

The words we’re going to see here are adjectives and nouns.

First things first. Look at the word cloud with words that share the same lexical base. Some of these words are nouns (words that name things, people, animals, and abstract qualities) and some of them are adjectives (words that describe and give us information related to things, people, animals, and abstract qualities). Look at the word cloud and write a list of the adjectives. If you could eliminate those words from the cloud, you would end up with a very different word cloud. Slip the cloud to see if you were right.

If you consult a dictionary to look up the meaning of the words, you will come up with a list like the one below:
Polite – Adjective
Related Noun: Politeness (the quality of being polite)
Caring – Adjective
Base Noun: Care (the feeling of concern or interest)
Confident – Adjective
Related Noun: Confidence (a feeling of self-assurance)
Lonely – Adjective
Related Noun: Loneliness (the state of being lonely)
Proud – Adjective
Related Noun: Pride (a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction)

And so on…

If you are not sure of the meaning, you may wish to revise the vocabulary from an earlier post.

Many of the words from the word cloud have been transformed to fit the context, and this means they have become derivatives. An example is ‘beauty > beautiful’ where beauty is a noun and beautiful is an adjective.

Beauty is only skin-deep.

The house we saw was beautiful.

List of common suffixes for nouns to adjectives

Here you have a quiz where you shall say if the words that appear are nouns or adjectives.

Created by blogdeserena

B2 Word formation -personality & emotion vocabulary

Of the words you can see on the wordcloud, tell me which ones are nouns or adjectives.

 

Activity by Serena

gentle

adjective

noun

gentleness

adjective

noun

---

cruel

adjective

noun

cruelty

adjective

noun

logical

adjective

noun

logic

adjective

noun

Sensitive

adjective

noun

Sense

adjective

noun

Lonely

adjective

noun

proud

adjective

noun

pride

adjective

noun

communicative

adjective

noun

Communication

adjective

noun

enthusiastic

adjective

noun

enthusiasm

adjective

noun

Copy -

laziness

adjective

noun

lazy

adjective

noun

envious

adjective

noun

Your score is

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If you did well, you can now challenge yourself with this word formation activity, where you must decide which of the two words from the dropdown menu is appropriate for the sentence.

Created by blogdeserena

B2 Word formation -personality & emotion vocabulary complete the sentences

If you did well in the previous test, you are now ready to score high in this activity. Choose the best option to complete the sentences.

 

Activity by Serena

_____ can sometimes make it difficult to join in with group activities.

Select an answerShynessShy

I have always been very ____ when meeting new people at parties.

Select an answershyshyness

She felt ___ of her brother's talent, wishing she could sing as well as he could.

Select an answerenviousenvy

_____ can lead to negative feelings, so it's best to focus on your own path.

Select an answerEnvyEnvious

I find him very ______; he always shares his thoughts openly with others.

Select an answercommunicativecommunication

Some people are naturally _____ and may react strongly to criticism or feedback.

Select an answersensitivesense

Being ________ can hurt those who care about you, so it's important to be kind.

Select an answerthoughtlessthought

My _____ on personal identity is that it is influenced by our experiences.

Select an answerthoughtthoughtless

It is _____ to weigh the pros and cons before deciding on a major change.

Select an answerlogicallogic

____ is important when making decisions that affect your life choices.

Select an answerLogicLogical

The students were ______ about the upcoming school trip and shared many ideas.

Select an answerenthusiasticenthusiasm

He approached his new project with _______, eager to see the results.

Select an answerenthusiasmenthusiastic

_____ can be a tough feeling to deal with, especially during holidays.

Select an answerLonelinessLonely

Sometimes, I feel___ even when I am surrounded by other people.

Select an answerlonelyloneliness

My parents are ____ of my achievements, especially my educational success.

Select an answerprideproud

I take ___ in my heritage and like sharing it with others.

Select an answerprideproud

She is very ____ and works hard to reach her objectives every day.

Select an answerambitionambitious

Having ____ is essential if you want to succeed in your career.

Select an answerambitionambitious

Your score is

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In case you would like to learn a little more about word formation, below you have a list of the most common suffixes in English. The list also includes those used for verbs.

It’s quite a challenge to memorize all these suffixes and get them right, but that’s what dictionaries are for. So a great way to learn new words is to consult a dictionary. There are hundreds of good ones out there, so try them out and stick to the one you like best.