Suffixes -AL, -IVE, -IC 👩‍🎓 Learn Word Parts in English 👨‍🎓 Build Vocabulary Skills

Hi everyone! It's Jennifer. I was wondering if everyone likes getting a compliment. Do you?

How do you usually respond to a compliment?

Personally, I think it depends on what someone is complimenting me on and whether I believe it to be true.

For example. if someone said, "Jennifer you look great. You look like you still could be a university student."

I'd laugh and say, "No, I look old enough to be the mother of a university student."

But if someone said, "Jennifer, your videos are very informative,"

then I'd be pleased.

I'd say thank you and accept the compliment.

That's because it's truly my goal to create videos that are helpful for language learners.

You likely know the words "informative" and "helpful."

What parts of these words help us identify them as adjectives?

Even without seeing them or hearing them in a sentence.

Their endings or what we call suffixes, right?

The suffix -IVE and the suffix -FUL

are common endings and adjectives.

In this lesson, I'd like to study a few different suffixes that help us form adjectives. By knowing these word parts and

understanding their meanings, you'll have an easier time dealing with new vocabulary and making accurate word choices.

Does that sound like a lesson worth learning? I hope so. Let's begin.

So based on what I said earlier.

Can you tell which statement is just a comment with no opinion and which statement sounds more like praise?

Take a look.

Both sentences sound fine to me, but I'll smile even bigger if you use "informative."

That's because informative videos are videos that give useful information.

You'll be saying that my videos successfully informed people.

Here's how I understand the difference. "Informational" describes the type or the nature of videos.

There are videos that entertain and there videos that inform. I make informational videos.

I call each video a lesson and they're designed to teach.

For that reason, we can also call them instructional videos.

All my digital materials have instructional purposes.

The suffix -al helps us characterize someone or something.

What's their nature?

So the suffix -al helps us describe the nature of someone or something.

Help me form a couple of these adjectives.

I go to conventions to develop in my profession, so what kind of development do I receive?

Professional development.

When I teach lessons about greetings,

weddings, games, I'm teaching more than language, right? I'm also teaching culture.

So my lessons can have what kind of aspect?

A cultural aspect.

Can you quickly form other adjectives with the suffix -al?

Something that wasn't done on purpose, but was an accident can be described as

accidental.

Things that relate to the world or the globe are

global.

Anything related to one's nation is

national.

If something isn't about theory but more about practice, what kind of nature does it have?

It's practical in nature.

Issues related to race are

racial.

Activities that are purely for recreation are

recreational.

Things that you can rent are described as

rental as in a rental car, a rental unit.

Please remember that there are nouns that end in -al, like a TV commercial or someone's refusal.

But in general, many adjectives end in -al and they characterize the nature of someone or something.

So what about informative?

The suffix -ive is usually less about nature and more about what someone or something is capable of doing.

Not every informational video is informative,

right?

So informational videos simply have information.

Informative videos are able to inform and educate. They have the tendency to be useful.

The suffix -ive can have these variations:

-tive, -ative, -itive.

Helped me form a couple of adjectives with the -ive ending.

Do you like to shop for a good price?

I like to shop online and read reviews. I like when sellers compete for my money.

What kinds of prices do they offer?

Competitive prices.

Those prices compete with others.

Companies, businesses, they're always looking for a competitive edge, right?

Something that will help them be better able to compete with others.

You may know that I took taekwondo lessons for a while, so I learned how to attack and I learned how to defend.

A position that's used for defense can be described as what kind of position?

Defensive position.

A defensive position, a defensive block, a defensive stance... these are also used in sports.

Can you quickly form other adjectives with the suffix -ive?

Words that abuse are

abusive.

Someone who is able to confidently make their voice heard they know how to assert themselves they are

assertive, which is positive.

Certain behavior or an event can cause a disruption. If it disrupts, it is

disruptive, as an disruptive behavior.

Childhood has a big influence on us. They say those years form our personality.

Those years are

formative.. formative years.

If something has the tendency to impress, it is

impressive, like impressive work, impressive skills.

Things that are very big have a lot of mass. They are

massive.

People who want control may try to manipulate others they are

manipulative. They're capable of manipulation.

Note just as some nouns end in -al, there are nouns that end in -ive. "Adjective" is one example.

Some words ending in -ive can be a noun or an adjective.

For example, explosive,

alternative,

positive.

negative

This topic by the way was requested by at least two different viewers. One of them asked about the difference between

educational and educative.

We can compare these words to

informational and informative.

But here's an interesting difference: I believe that

informational and informative are both fairly common words.

I use informative more often, though. In the case of

educational and educative, I definitely use

educational much more often.

Honestly, I cannot recall the last time I even used educative. That should tell you something about its frequency.

For example, we can talk about an educational game or an educational app. But if I want to describe it as

being good and it's able to educate, I still wouldn't use it "educative." I would simply say. "it's good."

"It's useful." If I really wanted to use an adjective with the suffix -ive,

I would choose "effective." It's an effective learning tool.

Believe, it's only in more formal discussions that professional educators talk about educated practices

Personally, I talk more about teaching practices.

But the difference between educational and educated is basically the same as the difference between

informational and informative.

The -al adjectives describe the nature of something. The -ive

adjectives describe an ability or tendency.

So here's another challenge for us now that we understand the suffix -al.

How can we understand the difference between

adjectives like

historical and historic,

electrical and electric?

This is tricky because both suffixes allow us to talk about the nature of something, what something relates to.

But here's what I understand.

"Historical" is rather abstract.

Anything that relates to history is historical. If it's about history, it's historical.

For example, historical fiction these are made up stories about history or based on history.

They're stories that are set in the past.

Here's another example.

When I travel, I often buy souvenirs, and I like to buy souvenirs with cultural or historical importance.

Do you like to buy historical souvenirs?

"Historic" can have more specific meanings.

First, it can mean very old, as in historic homes.

Homes that have stood around for a long time, many decades, or a few centuries.

Maybe some of you live in historic homes.

Second, "historic" can refer to events of significance, so it means very important.

So if something was or is important to history its historic.

Here's an example.

There was a historic meeting of women in Seneca Falls,

New York in the 1800s. They began to organize a woman's rights movement in the U.S.

Because of that historic occasion,

work began and eventually women won many rights, including the right to vote.

So based on what we just talked about, can you guess which adjective completes each sentence - electric or electrical?

Electrical with that suffix -al will probably be more abstract and will refer to things that generally have to do with electricity.

Here are the answers do you notice a pattern?

Electrical engineering and electrical storms are categories. They have to do with electricity .

In contrast, electric blankets and electric coffee makers use electricity to do something.

We use "electric" to talk about things that run on electricity. The meaning is very specific.

Now let me throw this last challenge your way. Would you use electric or electronic in the following sentences?

Here's what I'd say.

Electric bill refers to the bill that you pay to run different devices in your home. These devices use electricity.

An electronic reminder or an electronic device use electricity in a more complex way.

Things done online are often electronic.

What's an evite?

An electronic invitation. It's an invitation sent electronically, a virtual invitation.

Okay. Time to sum up. We have three common adjective endings -al, ive, and -ic.

We can't assume that all words that end with these suffixes are adjectives. There are nouns that share these endings for example,

refusal

negative

mechanic.

Nevertheless, knowing these suffixes will help us identify a word as an adjective.

Look for them before a noun or after a linking verb.

-Al adjectives refer to the nature of something or someone.

Educational videos, electrical engineering,

historical romance.

-al adjectives can be broad or abstract in their meaning.

-ive adjectives often refer to capability or a tendency.

Offensive remarks,

effective methods, impressive work.

-ic adjectives can help us explain what something relates to.

Their use is a bit more specific in nature compared to -al adjectives.

Electric cars, historic sites,

organic foods.

Please know there are other suffixes for adjectives worth learning. At the beginning of this lesson, I used the suffix

-ful in useful and helpful...

things that are full of use full of help.

I chose to focus on the suffixes -al, -ive, and -ic because they can create confusion

for native and non-native speakers.

Thank you to the viewers who posted questions about these suffixes,.I hope all of you found this lesson to be very informative.

If you'd like more of my educational videos, please subscribe and remember to like this video.

As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

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