ARTICLES USING WITH NOVELTY

English Articles

 English articles often receive little attention from learners of the language and yet this is where many students could make some real improvements in their use of English.

English Articles: definite 'the'

'The' is used before singular and plural nouns. The nouns are specifically related to a member of a group.

    Ex: The dog is on the kitchen floor.

    Ex: The dogs are in the back yard.

English Articles: indefinite 'a'/'an'

Indefinite articles are used before singular nouns. The specifically relate to any member of a group.

    Ex: A dog is a domestic animal.

 English Articles: portative 'any' / 'some'

    Ex: "Would you like some coffee?"

    Ex: "Do you want any milk or sugar in your coffee?"

Difficulties and Exceptions when using English articles...

Use 'an' instead of 'a' when it comes before a vowel sound NOT just before a word that begins with a vowel.

    Ex: We say; "It's an honor to meet you," NOT "It's a honor to meet you."

    Ex: We say; "My dad belongs to a union."

Is the 'H' sounded or silent? -- Plus -- where's the accent?

The 'h' can cause some problems if you don't know the following. Words beginning with 'h' can be preceded by 'an' or 'a' depending on where the accent in the word is...

    Ex: I have a history lesson at 10:00am. (First syllable in history accented)

          It was an historic occasion. (Second syllable in historic accented)

or... depending on whether the 'h' is silent or sounded.

    Ex: An honor to meet you. (Silent)

          Is that a hypothetical question? (Sounded)

Acronyms and abbreviations can cause problems when you don't know the above.

    Ex: A CNC lathe. (Pronounced see en see)

          An MRI. (Pronounced em ar eye)

Many languages use the article before certain nouns, whereas in English we don't always use the article

Definite Article: 'THE' basics

'The' is used before singular and plural nouns. The nouns are specifically related to a member of a group. 'The' may also be used with count or non count nouns.

    Ex: The child is playing in the back yard.

    Ex: The children are in the street.

    Ex: The information you gave me is wrong. 

Since languages are 'living' there are occassions when certain useages do, or can, cause problems. Most problems with the definitive article are caused by not knowing when to NOT use, or omit, it.

In some cases the article is used and in others it is not (without any specific rule or reason) other than, perhaps, user preference. Tendecies tend to reflect differences between place and institution.

    Ex: When I was at University (institution) = 'the' ommitted

    Ex: The match is at the University (location) = 'the' used

Likewise, there tends to be a couple of differences between American English and British English regarding the use of the definite article.

    Ex: British speakers may "go to hospital." (both location and institution)    Ex: American speakers "go to the hospital." (both location and institution)Difficulties and 'exceptions' with English Language articles...Use 'an' instead of 'a' when it comes before a vowel sound NOT just before a word that begins with a vowel.

    Ex: We say; "It's an honor to meet you" NOT "It's a honor to meet you."

    Why? Because the 'h' in honor is silent.

    Ex: We say; "My dad belongs to a union" NOT "My dad belongs to an union."

    Why? Because 'union' is pronounced (you nee un.) 

'H' sounded or silent? -- plus -- where's the accent?

The 'h' can cause some problems if you don't know the following. Words beginning with 'h' can be preceded by 'an' or 'a' depending on where the accent in the word is...

    Ex: I have a history lesson at 10:00am. (first syllable in history accented)

    Ex: It was an historic occasion. (second syllable in historic accented) 

OR... depending on whether the 'h' is silent or sounded.

    Ex: An honor to meet you. (silent)

    Ex: Is that a hypothetical question? (sounded)

Indefinite article with abbreviations

Acronyms and abbreviations can be problematic for those who don't know the above. Depending on how the acronym is pronounced, it can be preceded by either a or an.

    Ex: A CNC lathe. (pronounced see en see)

    Ex: An MRI. (pronounced em ar eye)

    Ex: A UNC basketball game. (pronounced you en see)

What is a suffix?

A suffix, in short, is a word ending. It is a letter, or group of letters, added to the end of a word or word root. When you add a suffix to a word root you often change the meaning of the word.

    talk - talking where 'ing' is an inflectional suffix added to the word 'talk.'

    talk - talkative where 'ative' is a derivational suffix added to the word 'talk.'

Now, as seen in the example above, there are two basic types, or kinds, of suffixes that answer the 'what is a suffix' question.

Inflectional suffixes basically change the word within its syntactic category. From present to past and from singular to plural.

Derivational suffixes change the word from one part of speech into another. From verbs to nouns or from adjectives to adverbs thereby making 'derivatives.'

Some examples of inflectional suffixes are:

s third person singular... talk, talks           s plural... boy, boys         ing continuous or progressive

ed past tense                    en plural (irregular)                         er comparative

est superlative                  n't negative

Some examples of derivational suffixes are:

Fy           ly             able / ible            ize / ise                 ive                          ful                           ness

Ist           al             ish                          ess                         ism                         ment

Most English suffixes can tell you the type of word you're dealing with. For instance, most people know that when a word ends in ly they are dealing with an adverb.
Adverbs typically tell you the how of something.
As an example, let's say that you are a nice singer. To change nice into an adverb and to say how you do something we would add one of the English suffixes -- in this case "ly" -- and say not only are you a nice singer, but that you sing (how?) nicely.
Thankfully, there aren't that many suffixes to learn in the English Language, but they are important and certain rules do apply.

Verb Suffixes

ize, ise	to make	criticize, hypnotize
ate	to make	consecrate, mitigate
en	cause to become	strengthen, weaken, lengthen
fy	make	simplify, testify, fortify
ced, cede	to go, to give in	intercede, recede
duc, duct	to lead	induct

Adverb Suffixes

ly, (y)

like

neatly, quietly

English Suffixes - Adjectives

able, ible	capable of	understandable
ac, ic	like, pertaining to	cardiac, metallic
acious, icious	full of	delicious, audacious
ant, ent	full of	militant, delinqent
ary, ery	like, connected with	ordinary, dictionary, bravery
escent	becoming, in process	adolescent
fic	making, doing	terific, scientific
iferous	producing, bearing	vociforous
il, ile	pertaining to, capable of	infantile
ive	like	imaginative, redemptive
less	lacking	timeless
oid	resembling, like	negroid, ovoid
ful	full of	stressful, resentful
ose	full of	verbose, morose
ous	full of	spacious

English Suffixes - Nouns

ation	that which is	justification
cy	state of being	democracy
eer, er, or	the person who	mountaineer, teacher
graph	to write	phonograph, lithograph
ism	doctrine, belief	statism
ist	dealer, doer	scientist
ity	state of being	calamity
ment	act or state of	refinement, confinement
ory	having quality of	advisory
osis	condition	osmosis
ous	full of	generous
tude	state of	gratitude

When considering suffixes and their meanings, it's important to remember that in the other languages from which English has ‘borrowed’ heavily, there were feminine, masculine, and neutral genders.
In English, we have typically preserved the masculine suffix meanings although the other genders can still be found.

Suffix Meanings 

able, ible	capable of (adjective suffix)
ac, ic	like, pertaining to
acious, icious	full of
al	pertaining to
ant, ent	full of
ary	like, connected with
ate	to make (verb suffix)
ation	that which is (noun suffix)
ced, cede	to go, to give in
cy	state of being (noun suffix)
duc, duct	to lead
eer, er, or	the person who (noun suffix)
escent	becoming (adjective suffix)
fic	making, doing (adjective suffix)
fy	to make (verb suffix)
ful	full of
graph	to write
iferous	producing, bearing (adjective suffix)
il, ile	pertaining to, capable of (adjective suffix)
ism	doctrine, belief (noun suffix)
ist	dealer, doer (noun suffix)
ity	state of being (noun suffix)
ive	like (adjective suffix)
ize, ise	to make (verb suffix)
less	lacking
ment	act or state of
ness	quality of
oid	resembling, like (adjective suffix)
ose	full of (adjective suffix)
ory	having quality of
osis	condition (noun suffix)
ous	full of (adjective suffix)
tude	state of (noun suffix)
pose	to place
scrib, script	to write
spect	to appear, to see
ship	art or skill of
some	full of like
tact	to touch
ten, tent, tain	to hold
tend, tens, tent	to stretch
tract	to draw
tude	quality of, ability to
ven, vent	to come
ver, vert, vers	to turn

suffixes list meaning use

able, ible	capable of (adjective suffix)	drinkable - able to be drank legible - able to be read
ac, ic	like, pertaining to	Zodiac - pertaining to animals, life democratic - pertaining to democracy
acious, icious	full of	audacious - full of daring, avaricious - full of greed
al	pertaining to	beneficial - bringing benefit logical - pertaining to logic
ant, ent	full of	eloquent - fluid, effective speech. ardent - full of passion
ary	like, connected with	revolutionary - some one connected with a revolution temporary - connected with time or duration
ate	to make (verb suffix)	desecrate - to ruin, make unholy mitigate - make less severe
ation	that which is (noun suffix)	irritation - that which is irritated
cy	state of being (noun suffix)	democracy - ruled by people obstinacy - obstinate state, stubbornness
eer, er, or	person who (noun suffix)	engineer - designs engines teacher - person who teaches advisor - person who advises
escent	becoming (adjective suffix)	evanescent - tending to vanish pubescent - arriving at puberty
fic	making, doing (adjective suffix)	fantastic - arousing great wonder terrific - arousing great fear
ity	state of being (noun suffix)	sagacity - state of being wise
fy	to make (verb suffix)	magnify - to enlarge petrify - turn to stone
iferous	producing, bearing (adjective suffix)	pestiferous - carrying disease vociferous - having a loud voice
il, ile	pertaining to, capable of (adjective suffix)	civil - polite docile - easily taught or led
ism	doctrine, belief (noun suffix)	monotheism - belief in one God deism - belief in God but not religion
ist	dealer, doer (noun suffix)	realist - one who is realistic dentist - works with teeth
ive	like (adjective suffix)	quantitative - concerned with number or volume
ize, ise	to make (verb suffix)	harmonize - make harmonious revolutionize - make revolutionary
oid	resembling, like (adjective suffix)	ovoid - like an egg anthropoid - resembling a human
ose	full of (adjective suffix)	verbose - full of words
osis	condition (noun suffix)	psychosis - diseased mental condition hypnosis - induced sleep
ous	full of (adjective suffix)	nauseous - full of nausea ludicrous - foolish
tude	state of (noun suffix)	fortitude - state of strength servitude - state of serving

Prefixes Suffixes

 Most prefixes suffixes change the meaning of the word they are attached to.

Spelling rules can vary and make things a little confusing, but I've included spelling rules on other pages within this site to help eliminate any confusion.

The majority of prefixes and suffixes come to English via the Latin and Greek languages, but I'm sure there are many other languages represented as well.

What's interesting to note is just how common prefixes suffixes are. Look at any newspaper article and take a paragraph or two and underline just the prefixes.

Prefixes Suffixes Meanings Use

a, an ab able, ible ac acer, acr ad age al ambi an, ian ance, ancy, ence, ency ant, ent, er, or, eer, ier, ante anthropo anti aqua ar, ary, ory arch aud auto bene bibl bio brev cede, ceed chron cide circum cis clar co, con, com cogni counter, contra cred crypt cycl de dent derm dia dic, dict dis dom dox duc, duct dyna dys ee ego en epi ese eu ex extra fort frater fy gamy gen geo graph, gram gress gyn hetero homo, homeo hydr hyper hypo ic, ical il, im, in, ir inter intra ion, sion, tion ish ism ist junct less logy macro magn mal man mater mega ment meter, metr micro mis mis, miso mit, miss morph mort multi nav neb non nym omni ortho pan para pater path ped, pod pel per peri phil phobia phon photo poly pon, pos port post pot pre pseudo psych pyr re rupt scrib, script scop se sect semi simil soph spect sub super syn, sym tech tele ten tend terra therm tort trans tudo ultra un under viv voc vor	without, not away (from) capable of characteristic of sour, bitter to, toward state of relating to both belonging to act of, state of one who acts before man, mankind against, opposed water relating to chief, principle hear self well, good book life short go, move time killing around cut clear together, with know against, opposite believe secret, hidden circle from, away tooth skin through, apart say apart, from, out, state, domain of praise, belief lead power hard, ill, with difficulty person who is I, self to make, become on, outer relating to well, good out, from beyond, outside strong brother to make marriage race, origin, kind earth write go, move woman other, different same, like, similar water excessive, over, above, under, below, beneath of, like in, into, on, within, not, between within state of, condition of like doctrine, practice of person who join without study of large large, great bad hand mother big state of being measure small wrong, ill hatred send form, shape death many ship, sail hazy, cloudy not name all straight, right all beside father feeling, suffering foot push, drive through, completely around love, like fear sound light many place carry after strength, ability before false mind, soul fire back, again break write see, look away, from cut half like wise see, look under over, above with, together art, skill far hold stretch earth heat twist across quality, state, result beyond, excessively not, opposing, reverse below, beneath life call, voice eat greedily	atypical absent, abstract portable, edible cardiac acerbity, acrid adhere marriage annual ambivalent suburban, Canadian assistance, dependence farmer, sailor, auctioneer anteroom, antebellum anthropoid antipathy, antisocial aquatic similar, imaginary archenemy auditory, auditorium automatic beneficial Bible autobiography brevity proceed, recede chronological pesticide, homicide circumference excise clarity cooperate, conspiracy recognize counteract, contrary credential, credible cryptic cyclical depart dentist dermatitis diagonal dictate, dictation distract kingdom orthodox aqueduct dynamic dyslexia employee, trainee egoist shorten epigram journalese euphemism, euphoria exhale, exit extracurricular fortress, forte fraternity fortify monogamy Genesis geography graphology progress gynophobia, gynecology heterogeneous homogeneous hydroplane hyperfunction hypodermic manic, numerical illegal, infiltrate interfere intrastate tension childish plagiarism dentist conjunction careless biology macroeconomics magnify malpractice, maladjusted manicure maternity megaphone improvement thermometer, speedometer microscope misinform, misanthrope transmit, missile amorphous mortality multitude naval, navigate nebulous nonadjustable pseudonym pandemonium orthopedics pandemonium parallel paternal apathy pedal, podiatrist propel perforate perimeter philanthropy claustrophobia phonics photostat polygamy opponent, position porter, protable postpone potential preamble pseudoscience psychology pyromania return, redo rupture transcribe, scripture telescope seclude, segregate dissect semiprivate similar sophomore spectator submarine supersonic, supervisor synchronize, symphony technology telephone tenacity, tendon extend terrier, terrace thermal distort, contort transport servitude ultramodern unlawful underground vivacious vocation omnivorous, voracious

Greek Prefixes Meanings Usage

a, an	opposite, not, against	atypical, anarchy
ana	up, again, throughout, against	analogy, anode
anti	against, opposite	antichrist, Antarctic, antivirus
apo	from, away from	apocalypse
cata	down, across, opposite, under	cataract, catastrophe
di	two, double, twice	digress, dichotomy
dia	through, going through	diagonal, diameter
dys	hard, difficult	dysfunctional, dyslexia
ec, (ek) ex	out of	eclectic, exit
ecto	outside, outermost	ectoderm, ectodomain
exo	outside, outward	exodus
en	in	entrance, entrails
eu	good, well, easy	Eucharist, eulogy
hemi	half	hemisphere
hyper	above, over	hyperactive, hyper-critical
hypo	below, under	hypodermic, hypocrite
meta	after, with, beyond	metaphysics, metamorphosis
opistho	behind, backward, back	opisthotonos
palin	again	palingenesis
para	along side, contrary, against	paralegal, parallel
peri	around, near	perimeter, perinatal
pro	before, in front of	prolog, progenitor
pros(o)	moving towards, onwards	proselytize, prosodemic
syl	together, with	syllable
sym	together, with	symphony
syn	together, with	synagogue, synergy

Latin Prefixes Meanings Usage

ab, abs				away, away from	abnormal, abstract
ad				to, towards, at	adhere, admire, admit
am				around	amputate
ambi				both	ambivalent, ambidextrous
ante				before	antediluvian, antecedent
bi				two	bifocals, bicameral
circum				around	circumnavigate, circumcise
co com con col				with, together	co-worker compress conjoin collate
contra				against	contradict
de				down, away from	decrease, descend
dis				away	distract
ef ex				out out of	effluent exit
endo				within	indoctrinate
epi				on, upon	epicenter
extra				beyond	extraterrestrial
il in im ir				against, opposite	illegitimate insufficient impolite irregular
infra				below	infrared
inter				between	intercollegiate
intro				within	introspection
ob				against	object, obstruct
non				not	nonlethal
per				through	perfect
post				after, behind	post-modern, post script PS
pre				before	prenatal, prelude
re				back, again	rewind, retreat
retro				backward	retrofit, retrospect
sin				without	sincere
semi				half	semisphere
sub				under, below	substandard, subpar
super				above, over	superman, supermarket
trans				across	transcontinental
ultra				beyond, above	ultrathin, ultraviolet