Welcome and some suffixes
Hello Taru!
Welcome to the BBC Learning English blog! I’m sure that you’ll find it is a very friendly place to practise writing in English. I’ll be your ‘teacher blogger’ for this week and then I’ll hand over to someone else at the weekend.
I really look forward to learning more about Finland, your studies, work and family. I’ve done a little bit of teaching in a Swedish university, but never been to Finland. Though I did have a Finnish pen pal when I was at school!
I have just done an internet search for Rovaniemi and found out that tomorrow the sun rises at just before 2 a.m. and sets at half past midnight there. So you have only 90 minutes of darkness? Wow! My children grew up in Indonesia, near the Equator, where the sun sets at six o’clock in the evening every day, all year round. When we moved back to the UK, they found it very difficult to sleep in the summer. “But it’s still light!” they would say when I insisted they go to bed!
Your English is great by the way and I look forward to working with you for the rest of this week. I’m going to talk today about word formation, because there are lots of correct examples in your writing and one example which needs attention.
Here we go…. Sometimes new words come into English from other languages (for example, these food words: pizza, salsa, satay, tapas, chapatti). But more frequently, new words are formed from existing words in one of four main processes: adding a prefix (pro-Europe, decriminalise); adding a suffix (ageism, stardom, booklet); changing a word from one word class to another (a visit to Finland is an absolute must – verb to noun, can we microwave it – noun to verb); and compounding (helpline, award-winning, lifelong).
I want to focus on suffixes here. You correctly use several suffixes in your post to change the class of a word. For example:
properly = in a suitable or correct manner. Here the suffix changes the word proper from an adjective to an adverb (see also: slowly, quietly)
vocational = preparing for a job. Here the suffix changes the word vocation from a noun to an adjective (see also: criminal, traditional)
suitable = the right type or quality for a particular person, purpose or thing. Here the suffix changes the word suit from a verb to an adjective (see also: readable, workable)
management = the practice of managing a business or money. Here the suffix changes the word manage from a verb to a noun (see also: tourism, education, competition and employee)
It’s also possible to use a suffix to change the meaning of the base word. For example:
employer, interviewer = person or organisation that does the action
employee, interviewee = person or organisation that has the action done to them
host, actor = male
hostess, actress = female (though today most people use the ‘male’ form for both genders, or use a non-gender specific phrase, for example flight attendant instead of air steward and air stewardess)
booklet, kitchenette = small book, kitchen
So by now, you’ve probably guessed what my correction is! Instead of:
When I got the reply from the employee I was shocked.
you need,
When I got the reply from the employer I was shocked.
OK, that’s all for today. I look forward to hearing more from you soon Taru!
Rachel
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Comments on the comments:
Ana Paula (from Brazil) – I am glad to have found a desk-organisation-style soulmate! Actually, one of my piles of papers fell over today, so now my desk has a fresh new look for June. Hurrah! Hope your exam went well!
James Wu (from Taiwan) – glad you liked the videos! I always enjoy reading your comments.
Vladimir (from Ukraine) – I’d like to hear you imitating the accents you’ve picked up on your travels! The study of attitudes to accents is an academic field called perceptual dialectology. There is a lovely website about research into US attitudes to different accents here: Perceptual Dialectology in the USA.
Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a brilliant book, isn’t it? Partly because she is so good at representing the speech of her characters; reading her book is almost like eavesdropping on her characters' lives.
Toni (from Barcelona, Spain) – thanks for your comments!
Marianna (from Slovakia) – I agree with you and also agree that you deserve to go to the ball!
Comments
Hi and Namaste ! I am 35 years old man, I can't joint any school and college, i learn myself little English but not properly spike so I want to learning spiking English language how to learn? please give me suggestion. Thanks
Hi Rachel! There is no doubt you’d read introduction (including brain surgeon’s tough speech) of the linguistic web site, you posted link to. That’s the case I completely agree with. The cleverer you speak the smarter you appear. Site is interesting indeed. As for performance of my skills to imitate rural Ukrainian accents, I’m not quite sure that it’s worth to make a documentary out of innocent joke. I’m not ready enough to go Utube, for example. Thank you for asking, may be some time...
Hi Rachel, As English is an international language and is extensively used. I guess different people living in different countries have different accents. As far as we are speaking correctly, we don't have to go on accents. What's your opinion?
Thank you Rachel your comments. About Sun and Summer here. It is not 90 minutes darkness at all it is 90 minutes dawn if there is dawn at all. And it can make people crazy. When I moved here 20 years ago, I had three courtains on windows to keep lightness outside. But on the other hand it is unbearable dark on winters... Thank you of your interest to my issue, see you!
It's great reading something from you again. Your comments about suffixes are very useful again. Talking about accents were fantastic.And the video from the bouncy castle listening your daugther's explanations was quite pretty. Thanks a lot.
Hi Rachel! Opening your post you have made my day. Even, two years of watching this space on after you gave an answer on my inquiry. The booklet and kitchenette, sufixess which can change the word to diminutive form exist in English too. It is really handy to have a teacher who does open my eyes. Did you have sufficient sleep after posting the blog? Regards!
Hi Rachel! Your simple and efficient points of English grammar are more handy and valuable for me because I don’t like to read or study English grammar bookS minutely. I’ve tried endless times to finish English grammar books but I only managed to fail. Therefore, I’d love to thank you for the great grammar points from my heart! I think it’s a bit late to bring the subject of having an accent. But If you can bear with me for a second, I’d love to talk about it now. Some people judge other’s characters by accents, and sometimes it causes local feelings in my country. As a result, people try to adjust themselves to standard languages. I take issue with the idea because using adopted language can be deadly dull to listen to whenever you meet new person or people. On the other hand, having typical accents can be identified who you are and where you’re from and so on. It doesn’t matter at all to me what accent people have, as long as it is comprehensible to each other. That’s all for now, and I’m really really looking forward to next English grammar hot tips from you.xx
thank you so much!
Hi Rachel As usual your explaination about how new words are formed is superab. Every day before I start my work, I check the bbc learning english to see if there is any new entry from you. As Hyoshil mentioned it is easier to learn gramatical english here than read about it in the books. I also enjoyed the new video your daughter made. The University seem to be really good. I get the impression that the University is quite old. I love visiting old places. We have a very old palace in Northern Ireland and I am always facinated by it whenever I visit it. You mentioned that you lived in Indonasia. Would you be able to tell us how your experience in Indonasia was? Did you find it very different from UK and how your overall experience was? Did you have to learn the Indonasian language? How was the food? Also tell us about your growing up there. Do they still remember it? I guess, I am asking too many questions. But I am curious to know whether you had to face the same problems that I faced when I first came to UK. I was so hard for me to understand Irish accent but I gradually got used to it. My children are all brought up here and they don't speak their mother tounge. I am worried about them. Did you also have these kind of problems? Looking forward to your life story in Indonasia. I hope you have time to reply to me as there are only a couple of days left. Look after yourself and your family. Rabail UK
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