Suffixes -ness & -ity

Neil
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I’m Neil…

Catherine
And I’m Catherine. And it’s very good to see you back at work today, Neil.

Neil Thanks, it’s nice to be back. I hate being off sick.

Catherine We’ve missed you… we have missed you. And there has been a lot of sickness in the office this week, and sickness is one of the words that we’re looking at in today’s show.

Neil Yes. Today we’re talking about the suffixes -ness and -ity .

Catherine In the world of vocabulary, suffixes are two or three letters at the end of a word. They can tell you what type of word it is. The suffix -ness , spelt n-e-s-s , at the end of the word sickness tells you that the word is a noun, which comes from the adjective sick .

Neil In this programme we’ll give you lots more examples of words with the suffix -ness and also we’ll find about the suffix -ity , spelt i-t-y …

Catherine That’s right. And we’ll have a quiz…

Catherine …and we’ll leave you with a top tip for learning vocabulary. So let’s get started by hearing from Arjuna. And he’s talking about how he feels about being a nurse.

Neil While you listen, think about this question: How does Arjuna often feel at the end of the day?

INSERT Arjuna I have a lot of responsibility . Sometimes it’s upsetting, like telling someone there’s a possibility they have a serious illness . The hours are long and tiredness can be a problem at the end of the day. But the rewards are there too, like the happiness of a mother holding her newborn baby. And of course there are the cards and gifts - I’m always touched by the kindness and generosity of the patients.

Neil
So we asked you: How does Arjuna feel at the end of the day?

Catherine
And the answer is: he feels tired. In fact, he says that ‘ tiredness can be a problem’.

Neil The word tiredness comes from the adjective tired . Nouns with the suffix - ness , spelt n-e-s-s , like tiredness , describe the feeling or state of the original adjective.

Catherine So tired - ness is the feeling of being tired.

Neil Exactly. Ill - ness is the state of being ill. Sick - ness , which we heard at the start of the programme, is the state of being sick .

Catherine Poor you, Neil. Let’s hear some more examples of this suffix.

INSERT Arjuna But the rewards are there too, like the happiness of a mother holding her newborn baby. And of course there are the cards and gifts - I’m always touched by the kindness and generosity of the patients.

Catherine So we had happiness …

Neil …from the adjective happy …

Catherine And kindness …

Neil …from the adjective kind .

Catherine In kindness , the suffix -ness makes a noun that is a quality. The suffix -ity , spelt i-t-y , which we heard in the word generosity there, also changes an adjective into a quality.

Neil Generosity comes from the adjective generous. It means: the willingness to give things.

Catherine And Arjuna thinks his patients are generous because they give the nurses cards and gifts. Let’s hear some more words with the suffix -ity .

INSERT Arjuna I have a lot of responsibility . Sometimes it’s upsetting, like telling someone there’s a possibility they have a serious illness .

Neil We had responsibility , which comes from the adjective responsible . It means: being in charge of someone or something, or making sure certain things happen.

Catherine We also heard possibility , which comes from the adjective possible and means that something might happen.

IDENT
6 Minute Vocabulary from BBC Learning English.

Neil And we’re talking about the suffixes - ness and -ity , which change adjectives into nouns.

Catherine Great. Now it’s time for a quiz. Choose the correct word. Ready? Number one. Mr Smith will not be attending the meeting, due to a) illity b) illness c) ill.

Neil And the answer is b) illness .

Catherine Number two. To succeed in high-level management, you have to accept a lot of a) responsibleness b) responsity c) responsibility.

Neil And the answer is c) responsibility .

Catherine Number three. Listening to 6 Minute Vocabulary whilst drinking a glass of wine at the end of the day brings me a lot of a) happiness b) happity c) happinessity.

Neil And the answer is a) happiness , of course!

Catherine
That’s right. And that’s the end of the quiz. Well done if you got them all right.

Neil
And now, here’s today’s top tip for learning vocabulary: when you come across a word that you don’t know, look to see if you can work out the root of the word - if there is a prefix or a suffix that you know, it will help you to understand the meaning.

Neil There’s more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Both
Bye!