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The suffix -ing also has other uses in English, although these are less common. It may be used to form derivative nouns (originally masculine) with the sense "son of" or "belonging to", used as patronymics or diminutives. Examples of this use include surnames like Browning, Channing and Ewing, and common nouns like bunting, shilling, and farthing.
Historically, the -ing suffix was attached to a limited number of verbs to form abstract nouns, which were used as the object of verbs such as like. The use was extended in various ways: the suffix became attachable to all verbs; the nouns acquired verb-like characteristics; the range of verbs allowed to introduce the form spread by analogy ...
Historically, however, English prepositions have been formed from the prefixes a-and be-. [18]: 190–191 This a- prefix originally contributed the meaning "on" or "onto" but is no longer productive; that is, it is no longer used to form new words. The preposition aboard, for example, can be paraphrased as "on board of". [24]
For example, the noun aerobics has given rise to the adjective aerobicized. [3] Words combine to form phrases. A phrase typically serves the same function as a word from some particular word class. [3] For example, my very good friend Peter is a phrase that can be used in a sentence as if it were a noun, and is therefore called a noun phrase.
The following is an alphabetical list of Greek and Latin roots, stems, and prefixes commonly used in the English language from A to G. See also the lists from H to O and from P to Z . Some of those used in medicine and medical technology are not listed here but instead in the entry for List of medical roots, suffixes and prefixes .
For example, NPST non-past is not listed, as it is composable from N-non-+ PST past. This convention is grounded in the Leipzig Glossing Rules. [2] Some authors use a lower-case n, for example n H for 'non-human'. [16] Some sources are moving from classical lative (LAT, -L) terminology to 'directional' (DIR), with concommitant changes in the ...
When suffixes are added to words ending with a hard or soft g (such as -ed, -ing, -er, -est, -ism, -ist, -edness, -ish(ness), -ily, -iness, -ier, -iest, -ingly, -edly, and -ishly), the sound is normally maintained. Sometimes the normal rules of spelling changes before suffixes can help signal whether the hard or soft sound is intended.
Search for List of English suffixes in Wikipedia to check for alternative titles or spellings. Start the List of English suffixes article , using the Article Wizard if you wish, or add a request for it ; but please remember that Wikipedia is not a dictionary .