Grammar Topic 16 - Different Forms of a Word

Grammar – Topic 16
Different Forms of a Word

This post is about using the correct form of a word. For example, do you say,

‘He was anger’            or                     ‘He was angry’ ?

‘The compassionate girl does volunteer work’        or      ‘The compassion girl does volunteer work’  ?

The correct answers are:

He was angry. (‘Angry’ is an adjective and it is used to describe the person.)

The compassionate girl does volunteer work. 
(‘Compassionate’ is an adjective and it is used to describe the girl.)

There are many words in the English language that take different forms. We use them in different ways when we form sentences.

For example,

ease (noun)

The toddler managed to tie his shoelaces with ease.

easy (adjective)

Skateboarding is easy.

easily (adverb)

The active elderly man climbed up the steep slope easily.

Read the dialogue below.

Jane: We had such an enjoyable time at the park yesterday. We flew a kite, had a picnic and went on the slide.

Ben: I enjoy going to the park too.

The word ‘enjoyable’ is an adjective. It describes the time at the park.

The word ‘enjoy’ is a verb. It states what Ben likes.

Questions that require you to change the form of a given word might be found in the Editing Section and the Synthesis and Transformation Section of Paper 2 of the PSLE English paper.

Here is a list of words and the different forms.

Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
ability	able	-	ably
admiration	admirable	admiring	admiringly
anger	angry	-	angrily
anxiety	anxious	-	anxiously
application	applicable	apply	-
approval	approving/approved	approve	approvingly
assistance/assistant	assistant	assist	-
attendance	-	attend	-
attentiveness	attentive	-	attentively
authenticity	authentic	-	authentically
beauty	beautiful	-	beautifully
behaviour	behavioural	behave	behaviourally
bravery	brave	brave	bravely
caution	careful	-	carefully
civilisation	civilised/civil	-	-
comfort	comfortable/comforting	comfort	comfortably
compassion	compassionate	-	compassionately
competition	competing/competitive	compete	competitively
confidence	confident	-	confidently
convenience	convenient	-	conveniently
cooperation	cooperative	cooperate	cooperatively
courage	courageous	-	courageously
creation	creative	create	creatively
cruelty	cruel	-	cruelly
curiosity	curious	-	curiously
decision	decisive	decide	decisively
defence/defensiveness	defensive	defend	defensively
departure	departed	depart	-
description	descriptive	describe	descriptively
destruction	destructive	destruct	destructively
determination	determined	determine	determinedly
disappointment	disappointed	disappoint	disappointedly
eagerness	eager	-	eagerly
encouragement	encouraged/encouraging	encourage	encouragingly
enjoyment	enjoyable	enjoy	enjoyably
enthusiasm	enthusiastic	-	enthusiastically
expectation	expected	expect	expectedly
explanation	explanatory	explain	-
failure	failed	fail	-
fame	famous	-	famously
fear	fearful	fear	fearfully
freedom	free	free	freely
gentleness	gentle	-	gently
growth	grown	grow	-
happiness	happy	-	happily
hatred	hate	hate	hatefully
health	healthy	-	healthily
hesitation	hesitant	hesitate	hesitatingly
honesty	honest	-	honestly
hunger	hungry	-	hungrily
imagination	imaginary	imagine	imaginatively
information	informed	inform	informatively
instruction	instructive	instruct	instructively
invasion	-	invade	-
invitation	invited/inviting	invite	invitingly
judgement	judged	judge	judgingly
knowledge	knowledgeable	know	knowingly
laughter	laughing/laughable	laugh	laughingly
loyalty	loyal	-	loyally
pleasure	pleased	please	pleasingly
pride	proud	pride	proudly
punctuality	punctual	-	punctually
readiness	ready	-	readily
reality	real	-	really
refusal	-	refuse	-
reluctance	reluctant	-	reluctantly
removal	-	remove	-
response	-	respond	responsively
responsibility	responsible	-	responsibly
safety	safe	save	safely
scarcity	scarce	-	scarcely
slowness	slow	slow	slowly
strength	strong	-	strongly
sympathy	sympathetic	sympathise	sympathetically
truth	true	-	truthfully
uncertainty	uncertain	-	uncertainly
value	valuable/valued	value	-
vanity	vain	-	vainly
warmth	warm/warming	warm	warmly
weakness	weak	weaken	weakly

Let’s Practise.

Underline the wrong word in each sentence and write the correct word.

1.      It was his vain that led to his downfall.

2.      The counsellor smiled sympathies at me and told me that she understood what I was going through.

3.      The child took the ice cream from the stranger without hesitate.

4.      Do you know what the weakly of the opposing team is?

5.      The child glanced at his mother uncertainty.

6.      Before the dinner, the supervisor will instruction the waiters on what they are supposed to do.

7.      Furniture removing can only be done by professional movers.

8.      What is the valued of this antique watch?

9.      The people of the town were willing to fight for their freely.

10.   The actor enjoyed famous and fortune during the ten years of his career.

Answers:

1.      vanity

2.      sympathetically

3.      hesitation

4.      weakness

5.      uncertainly

6.      instruct

7.      removal

8.      value

9.      freedom

10.   fame

Let’s Practise

Join the sentences using the given words. Your new sentence must not change the meaning of the original sentences.

1.       The student behaved rudely. She shocked her teacher.

The teacher was ____________________________________________________  

2.       Everyone except John has been to the art museum.

With the __________________________________________________________

3.       My sister was reluctant to lend me her new blouse. I was disappointed.

___________________ by my sister’s ___________________________________

4.       I was eager to wait for the arrival of the pop star. I went to the airport.  

It was with great ____________________________________________________

5.       We managed to complete the project on time. Our teacher assisted us.

____________________________ with _________________________________

6.       Dan enjoys playing the piano more than the violin.

Dan finds playing the piano more ______________________________________

7.       She saw the stray dog. She ran away.

At the ____________________________________________________________

8.       The microwave oven is a useful household appliance. Almost all households have one.

___________________________ because of _____________________________

9.       Joel won the lucky draw. He could not believe it.

Much to ___________________________________________________________

10.    He was loyal to his friend. He did not give away her secret.

Out of _____________________________________________________________

                            

Answers:

1.   The teacher was shocked by the student’s rude behaviour.

2.   With the exception of John, everyone has been to the art museum.

3.   I was disappointed by my sister’s reluctance to lend me her new blouse.

4.   It was with great eagerness that I went to the airport to wait for the arrival of the pop star.

5.   We managed to complete the project on time with our teacher’s assistance.

6.   Dan finds playing the piano more enjoyable than the violin.

7.   At the sight of the stray dog, she ran away.

8.   Almost all households have a microwave oven because of its usefulness.

9.   Much to his disbelief, Joel won the lucky draw.

10.     Out of loyalty to his friend, he did not give away her secret.