The -ion suffix: Grow Your Vocabulary With Simple English Videos

I have a question. If a word ends in -ion, what kind of word is it? It's probably a noun,

a thing. We often add -ion to verbs to create nouns.

Competition. Persuasion.

So compete is the verb. We add -ion and we get competition, the act of competing. Persuade

is the verb. Add -ion and we get persuasion. The act of persuading.

-ion is a very common suffix and it might be spelled with a t or an s. Let's look at

some more -ion words. A decision.

Construction. Destruction. Discussion.

Meditation. Can you tell if -ion is spelt with a t or

an s? No, not really. Sometimes looking at the base verbs can help. So discuss becomes

discussion with an s. Meditate becomes meditation with a t. But usually you need to learn the

spellings one by one. Check on the web or in a dictionary.

We pronounce this suffix in two ways. Shun and Zhun. So either with an unvoiced sound,

sh, shun, or a voiced sound, zh, zhun. Voiced, zhun, decision, zhun. Unvoiced, shun, construction, shun.

An explosion. Vacation.

Unvoiced, shun. Vacation, shun. Voiced, zhun. Explosion, zhun.

But the really important thing about pronunciation is the rhythm. -ion syllables are always unstressed.

It doesn't matter how long the word is, the syllable in front of -ion gets the stress.

So say -ion very quickly and focus on stressing the syllable in front of it. Let's practise

together. Say some words with me. Action. DA-da. Action. DA-da. Action.

Attention. da-DA-da. Attention, da-DAH-da. Attention. Levitation. da-da-DA-da. Levitation. da-da-DA-da. Levitation.

Communication. da-DA-da-DA-da. Communication. da-DA-da-DA-da. Communication.

Great! To help you get the rhythm of some more -ion words, I've made a video of a song

for you. Its a classic Beach Boys number with lots of -ion words, so you can watch and sing along.

I'll put the details here and below as well. Or maybe you'd like to learn about

another prefix or suffix? If so, click on our prefix and suffixes playlist. And have

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