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Action nouns are usually recognizable from the way they end
ACTION NOUNS AND THEIR ENDINGS
The term “action noun” in this blog means a noun that has similar spelling to a particular verb and can express the same meaning. Examples are movement, spelt substantially like the verb MOVE and able to mean “moving”, and existence, similar obviously to EXIST and able to mean “existing”. Action nouns are a subgroup of what are often technically called “nominalizations”. Most are grammatically uncountable, though also usable, often in a countable way, to express a non-action meaning (see 14. Action Outcomes). Action nouns have a number of special uses in professional writing (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns).
As the examples above indicate, action nouns are typically made by adding extra letters onto the end of a verb. The endings are varied, but each one is typically found on numerous different nouns. In this post I wish to provide a fairly exhaustive list of these endings, along with points of interest that they raise. In the process, I hope to produce what will prove to be a usefully extensive list of common action nouns.
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LIST OF ENDINGS
The following list of common action noun endings does not include -ing, as I take action words with that ending to usually be verbs in the gerund form rather than nouns (see 70. Gerunds). Although some nouns do have -ing, they tend not to represent actions (see 240. Nouns that End with “-ing”).
The words illustrating each ending are not intended to be exhaustive. The fairly rare ones that are mostly countable (i.e. able to be plural or follow a / an) are underlined.
-AGE: blockage, breakage, carriage, coverage, leakage, linkage, marriage, passage, shrinkage, spillage, spoilage, storage, usage, wastage
-AL: appraisal, approval, arrival, avowal, bestowal, betrayal, deferral, denial, dismissal, dispersal, disposal, perusal, portrayal, proposal, rebuttal, recital, referral, refusal, removal, renewal, reversal, revival, survival, trial, withdrawal
-ANCE: acceptance, admittance, allowance, assistance, assurance, attendance, appearance, conveyance, defiance, deliverance, disturbance, endurance, entrance, insurance, maintenance, observance, performance, perseverance, reliance, resemblance, resistance, semblance, surveillance, utterance
-ATION: argumentation, cessation, condemnation, condensation, consideration, continuation, derivation, determination, examination, exclamation, experimentation, explanation, exploration, formation, inclination, installation, interpretation, limitation, observation, occupation, preparation, presentation, pronunciation, publication, quotation, reclamation, refutation, relaxation, revelation, taxation, temptation, valuation, variation, finalization, harmonization, immunization, materialization, memorization, neutralization, normalization, pressurization, publication, realization, restoration, revelation, specialization, summarization, utilization, valuation, variation, visualization
-(A)TION: abbreviation, accumulation, annihilation, appropriation, articulation, association, calculation, celebration, creation, demonstration, discrimination, domestication, donation, duplication, elevation, enumeration, equation, estimation, evaluation, evaporation, exaggeration, excavation, extermination, facilitation, generation, hesitation, illustration, indication, inflation, irrigation, manipulation, motivation, nomination, operation, regulation, relation, relegation, rotation, separation, speculation, stagnation, termination, toleration, vibration
-ENCE: abstinence, convergence, correspondence, dependence, deterrence, divergence, emergence, existence, incidence, inference, insistence, occurrence, preference, pretence, recurrence, reference, residence, subsidence
-ICATION: application, clarification, classification, edification, electrification, exemplification, falsification, identification, implication, magnification, mollification, multiplication, notification, nullification, purification, qualification, quantification, ratification, signification, specification, unification
-IS: analysis, diagnosis, emphasis, metamorphosis, synthesis
-MENT: accompaniment, acknowledgement, advancement, advertisement, agreement, alignment, announcement, annulment, appointment, arrangement, assessment, attachment, attainment, commencement, commitment, concealment, confinement, containment, curtailment, derailment, development, embellishment, enactment, encouragement, endowment, enforcement, engagement, enhancement, enjoyment, enlargement, entertainment, enticement, establishment, fulfilment, harassment, improvement, investment, involvement, judgment, management, measurement, movement, payment, procurement, pronouncement, punishment, recruitment, replacement, replenishment, requirement, retirement, statement, treatment
-SION: admission, commission, comprehension, concession, conclusion, conversion, decision, digression, discussion, diversion, division, emission, expansion, expression, expulsion, extension, fusion, impression, inclusion, omission, permission, persuasion, possession, progression, provision, recession, reversion, revision, succession, suppression, suspension
-T: ascent, complaint, deceit, descent, pursuit, receipt, restraint
-TION: acquisition, (re)action, addition, assertion, assumption, attention, attribution, collection, competition, composition, conception, connection, construction, contraction, conviction, corruption, deception, definition, demolition, description, destruction, detention, diminution, direction, disinfection, distribution, exemption, exposition, extinction, extraction, imposition, infection, injection, insertion, instruction, intention, interruption, introduction, opposition, perception, prediction, presumption, production, prohibition, reception, recognition, redemption, reduction, relation, repetition, restriction, resumption, retention, satisfaction, solution, suggestion, supposition, transition
-URE: closure, departure, enclosure, disclosure, erasure, exposure, failure, pressure, seizure
-Y: apology, assembly, delivery, discovery, entreaty, entry, expiry, injury, inquiry, mastery, mimicry, mockery, photography, piracy, recovery, scrutiny, summary
PHRASAL VERB DERIVATIVES: check-in, climb-down, comeback, cutback, downturn, holdup, outbreak, pick-up, roll-out, selloff, shutdown, slowdown, takeover, take-up, upswing, upturn
SAME AS THE VERB: advance, appeal, approach, attack, attempt, boost, change, capture, climb, collapse, compromise, contrast, cure, cut, decrease, deed, delay, demand, dip, drop, encounter, escape, fight, exit, fall, fight, flow, fracture, guarantee, guess, hope, increase, journey, look, mention, need, march, move, position, progress, promise, purchase, push, reform, release, request, research, return, review, rise, rush, search, start, stop, support, surge, survey, transit, travel, trust, turn, use, wish
OTHER: birth, choice, coercion, commentary, comparison, conspiracy, criticism, death, defence, flight, growth, hatred, hypnotism, loss, oversight, practice, pretence, proof, response, sale, speech, success, suspicion, tendency
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OBSERVATIONS
An important general point about endings that can make action nouns is that they do not exactly match these nouns: some are on an action-expressing noun that lacks a corresponding verb, and others are on a noun that does not express an action, despite having a corresponding action verb (I exclude here nouns expressing the meaning of state verbs, like dependence, which do have action noun characteristics: see 280. Alternative Meanings of Action Nouns).
Action nouns with no corresponding verb include activity, ellipsis, genesis, incidence and reprisal. Nouns with a relevant ending that do not express an action include advice, ailment, difference, edition, hypothesis, luggage and position. For a discussion of edition, see 197. The Language of Bibliographies, #3.
Some action noun endings are more able than others to elsewhere make words that cannot be action nouns – they are what I term “multi-use” (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes). The -al ending is very often added to a noun to turn it into an adjective (industry – industrial, space – spatial). Quite often, -ence or -ance changes an adjective into a non-action noun, e.g. absent – absence, eminent – eminence, relevant – relevance, reluctant – reluctance (see 255. Nouns Made from Adjectives). The “zero” ending on verbs often makes adjectives rather than nouns (see 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb). Words with -ment that are never action nouns include ailment, contentment and instalment.
The -age and -ure spellings are further action noun endings that can end other kinds of words, but not usually as suffixes. Examples are advantage, village, leisure and nurture (for numerous others, see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary, #3). The -ment spelling sometimes acts similarly (e.g. element, experiment, monument, increment).
Also notable is the occasional existence of alternative action noun spellings, expressing different action meanings:
ADMIT: admission / admittance
ADVANCE: advance / advancement
ATTEND: attendance / attention
DELIVER: deliverance / delivery
ENTER: entrance / entry
EXPOSE: exposition / exposure
MOVE: a move / movement
OBSERVE: observance / observation
PRONOUNCE: pronouncement / pronunciation
RECEIVE: receipt / reception
REFER: reference / referral
SUCCEED: success / succession
SURVEY: survey / surveillance
USE: use / usage
The majority of the endings in the main list are clearly those containing “ion”: -ation, -(a)tion, -ication, -ization, -sion and -tion. The “tion” spelling is always pronounced /∫әn/ (like in fashion), but some “sion” spellings are instead pronounced /ʒәn/ (like in Asian), the relevant words being conclusion, decision, fusion, diversion, division, inclusion, persuasion, provision, reversion and revision. Their corresponding verbs end mainly in /d/ but sometimes in /t/ or /z/.
In -(a)tion nouns, the “a” is also present in the verb (create – creation), and hence is not really part of the ending in the way it is with -ation (tax – taxation). Some might argue that the “t” of -(a)tion should also be bracketed as belonging to the verb rather than the ending, but I feel it really is part of the ending, the verb having dropped its “t” before it in order to avoid a “tt” that would break English spelling rules (see 248. When to Double a Consonant).
I have separated -(a)tion and -tion nouns in order to highlight the frequency of -ate verbs among those that can become an action noun. Where the -tion ending is derived from a verb with a final “t”, such as direct, I again consider the “t” to belong to the ending rather than to the verb, for the reason given above. Most -tion endings are added straight onto the verb, but note the added vowel in addition, competition, composition (and other -pose derivatives), diminution, repetition and solution, as well as the added “p” in assumption, redemption and resumption.
Verbs that add -ation are not easy to predict, apart from those with -ize. It is noticeable that the change in some is more than just the added ending, e.g. argue – argumentation, cease – cessation, pronounce – pronunciation, publish – publication and reclaim – reclamation. Such changes are not only found in the formation of action nouns (see 41. Unexpected Vowels in Derived Words).
Nouns with -ication are overwhelmingly made from verbs ending in -fy (clarify – clarification). Exceptions are still from verbs that end in “y” pronounced /aɪ/: apply, imply and multiply (but not deny – denial). Two -fy verbs that do not use -fication are satisfy (making satisfaction) and defy (defiance).
All of the -sion nouns are made from a verb ending in either “t(e)” (e.g. permit), “d(e)” (e.g. decide) or “s(e)” (e.g. revise). Unfortunately, this does not mean that all verbs with one of these spellings make an action noun with -sion. For example, direct becomes direction and recruit becomes recruitment.
The French language has greatly influenced the formation of English action nouns, but those with -is are, like their related verbs, of Greek origin (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). In addition to the ones in the list above, ellipsis and genesis can express an action but have no related English verb, while hypothesis does derive from a verb (hypothesise), but signifies only the result of an action.
A notable feature of -ment nouns is the number derived from en- verbs. It seems almost a rule that en- verbs make action nouns with -ment.
Phrasal verbs, like verbs in general, do not all have a related noun. Moreover, action nouns are not the only kind that can be made from them. With all nouns, however, formation is the same: joining the two constituent words (verb + adverb) into one (see 139. Phrasal Verbs, #3). Often the verb remains at the start (sell off – a sell-off), but sometimes it is second (break out – an outbreak). A further feature of action nouns made from phrasal verbs is their frequent countability.
Nouns spelt the same as their related verb are very numerous, but many are unable to express an action, or at least raise doubts. This seems true, for example, of comment, end, grasp, lecture, promise, outline and risk. Among the examples that signify an action, the frequency of countable nouns is again notable.
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