Suffixes
Suffixes are a group of letters added to the end of a word. Today we are going to focus on these suffixes: ‘ful’ and ‘less’.
Can you explain how adding these suffixes changes the meanings of the words:
colour thought hope
Can you think of any other words which could have the ‘ful’ or ‘less’ suffix added to the word? Include some of these words in a sentence.
Dear Miss Carruthers,
Please find my answers below.
Regards,
Sophia
Colourful: something has lots of colours (for example a rainbow)
Colourless: it is all dull (for example snow)
Thoughtful: you care about others and you do something nice for them (for example, if I tidy my toys away before mummy has to ask me to do so)
Thoughtless: you do not care of another person’s feelings (for example: you ask someone to help you and they say no)
Hopeful: you hope something good is going to happen (for example: I am hopeful that the school will open again)
Hopeless: 2 meanings:-
you think you are not good at something (for example: She is hopeless at arts).
– you think something bad will happen and it won’t get any better (for example: The virus goes on forever).
Other words:-
Some people are homeless.
That is a very dreadful rug.
God is powerful.
This room is windowless.
Brilliant examples Sophia! I am also hopeful that school will open again soon.
If you add ‘ful’ to these words, the meaning doesn’t change very much. It becomes a way of describing someone or something, but if you add ‘less’ it becomes the opposite.
wonder, wonderful
plenty, plentiful
love, loveless
The weather is wonderful.
The cake is very plentiful.
The ogre was loveless.
A great definition Rex, well done.
Can you explain why in ‘plentiful’ you had to change the ‘y’ to and ‘i’?
Dear Miss Carruthers
Colourful means it is bright or has lots of colours.
Colourless means it is dull or has no colours.
Thoughtful means you are kind to people.
Thoughtless means you are not kind.
Hopeful means that you realy hope that you can do this.
Hopeless means that you have no hope in you.
My arm was painful because I slipped and I used it to stop me hitting my face.
Babies are clueless about the world until they learn.
I am grateful for my family.
Well done for coming up with your own examples in sentences.
Colour: Red is a colour and it’s also in a rainbow, that is colourful.
Colourless can be Black and White.
Thought is when you think in your head, mind or brain . Thoughtless is when you don’t care and thoughtful is when someone would care about their friend.
Hope is when you can see someone who is hurt but you want them to get better. Hopeful is when you are looking forward to something. Hopeless is when you quit.
Challenge:
Help, helpful
Home, homeless
Pain, painful or painless
Beauty, beautiful
It was so painful when I fell on the floor. My mum is a beautiful person. There can be lots of homeless people on the streets.
Great definitions, well done!
Can you explain why in beauty, you changed the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding -ful?
my words : beautiful, helpful, useless, homeless
my sentences:
You were wearing beautiful clothes.
You were helpful for the whole day.
My knife was broken so that means it was useless.
Someone who lives in the street is homeless.
Dear Miss Carruthers,
When we add ful or less to a noun the noun becomes an adjective.
There was a colourful rainbow.
There was a hopeless ghost who couldn’t scare anyone.
I have a hopeful mummy at home.
The careless wizard kidnapped the princess.
P.S. I don’t know why the y in beauty becomes i in beautiful. Could you please help me to understand? Thank you.
There is a special rule when words in Y.
The Y rule: When a word ends in y, change the y to i when adding a suffix (easy + est = easiest; happy + ness = happiness). Exceptions: Keep the y if a vowel comes before it (play + er = player; joy + ful = joyful).
This is the rule for adding any suffix on the end.
Dear Miss Carruthers
My answers are below.
If you add ful to a word it only changes the word a little bit but it is like putting so before the word. If you add less to a word it means the opposite of what it was before.
Here is what I wrote.
Colourful: something that is covered in colour (for example the school rainbow).
Colourless: something that doesn’t have colour (for example your real hair).
Thoughtful: someone who thinks about everything (for example if I make my bed before my parents ask me to I am being thoughtful).
Thoughtless: You don’t care about anything (for example someone kindly asked you something and you say no).
Hopeless: you are really bad at something (for example she is Hopeless at maths).
Hopeful: you hope something good will happen (for example I hope my birthday is still fun with the coronavirus).
Great sentences – well done!
I am hopeful that you and Anna still have an enjoyable birthday. I’m sure you will!
When you add ful or less it changes the meaning of the word.
1 The lion is fearless.
2 The food is tasteless .
3 Super heroes are powerful.
4 Music makes me feel joyful.
5 Mo salah is a resourceful player.
6 What he said was very tactless.