Prefixes and Suffixes

Let's Play Jeopardy! 
Review the previous lesson on Forming Plurals.  I will give the answer and you give the question!  Here we GO!

1.To form the plural of most English words that end in –x, you add this ending.
    What is _____________? 
2. To form the plural of most English words that end in a consonant plus –y, you must make this change before adding this ending.
    What is _________?
3. To form the plural of most English words that end in –f or –fe, you must make this change before adding this ending.
     What is _____________?

Forming Prefixes and Suffixes
1. Words that end in –x don’t change when a suffix is added to them:
 fax = faxing, hoax = hoaxed, mix = mixer
2. Words that end in –c don’t change when a suffix is added to them if the letter before the c is a, o, u, or a consonant:
 talc = talcum, maniac = maniacal
3. Words that end in –c usually add k when a suffix is added to them if the letter before the c is e or i and the pronunciation of the c is hard:
 picnic = picnickers, colic = colicky, frolic = frolicking
4. Words that end in –c usually don’t change when a suffix is added to them if the letter before the c is e or i and the pronunciation of the c is soft:
 critic = criticism, clinic = clinician, lyric = lyricist
5. Words that end in a single consonant that is immediately preceded by one or more unstressed vowels usually remain unchanged before any suffix:
 debit = debited, credit = creditor, travel = traveled
Of course, there are exceptions, such as these:
 program = programmed, format = formatting, crystal = crystallize
6. When a prefix is added to form a new word, the root word usually remains unchanged:
 spell = misspell, cast = recast, approve = disapprove

In some cases, however, the new word is hyphenated. These exceptions include when the last letter of the prefix and the first letter of the word it is joining are the same vowel; when the prefix is being added to a proper noun; and when the new word formed by the prefix and the root must be distinguished from another word spelled in the same way but with a different meaning:
 anti-institutional, mid-March, re-creation “(versus recreation)
7. When adding a suffix to a word ending in –y, change the y to i when the y is preceded by a consonant:
 carry = carrier, irony = ironic, empty = emptied
Note that this rule doesn’t apply to words with an –ing ending:
 carry = carrying, empty = emptying
This rule also doesn’t apply to words in which the –y is preceded by a vowel:
 delay = delayed, enjoy = enjoyable
8. Two or more words that join to form a compound word usually keep the original spelling of each word:
 cufflink, billfold, bookcase, football, payday
9. If a word ends in –ie, change the –ie to –y before adding –ing:
 die = dying, lie = lying, tie = tying
10. When adding –full to the end of a word,  change the ending to –ful:
 armful, grateful, careful, useful, colorful


Excerpt From: Susan Thurman & Larry Shea. “The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need.” iBooks.