255. Nouns Made from Adjectives

.

Some English nouns are made by changing an adjective spelling

WORD MAKING WITH ENDINGS IN ENGLISH

Words are created for many reasons and in many different ways. One way is by giving an existing word a new grammatical function. In English, for example, the verb GO is used as a noun in the expression have a go (see 176. Ways of Using GO, #8); and advanced, the participle of the verb ADVANCE, has become an adjective (with a slightly evolved meaning) in expressions like advanced grammar (see 261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3, #2).

In these examples, the new grammatical usage is not accompanied by any change in the form of the word. Often, however, a new usage is signalled by a form change, typically in the spelling at the end of the word. For example, the verb TREAT becomes a noun through the addition of -ment (see 249. Action Noun Endings).

Most word-changing endings in English are associated with one or more particular word classes. Thus, -ment indicates a noun, while -al indicates either a noun or an adjective (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes, #3). This is useful information, since it can assist both reading (as a pointer to meanings of newly-encountered words – see 177. How to Guess Meanings in a Text) and writing (offering a possible way to express a particular meaning). Hence, improving familiarity with common endings in English and the word class(es) they typically indicate can be a worthwhile language development activity.

In this blog, the above-mentioned posts on action noun endings (which make nouns from verbs) and multi-word suffixes are partly aimed at assisting this familiarity (along with 106. Word-Like Suffixes and 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb). Here, nouns made from adjectives are the main topic, but adjectives made from nouns are also briefly considered.

One area where this information can prove useful is indirect questions involving the idea of how + adjective, e.g. how useful / relevant is…. These are often (but not always) replaceable by the adjective’s related noun + of (the usefulness / relevance of…) – fewer words and more elegant-sounding (see 185. Noun Synonyms of Question Words). Another area is the construction of paraphrases in order to avoid “plagiarism” or poor style (see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds).

Also useful to know is the fact that an adjective and its related noun often work with other words in the same way. For example, happy and happiness both allow a following with; willing and willingness both allow a following to verb. There are, however, some problematic exceptions, notably possible / possibility (see 78. Infinitive versus Preposition after Nouns).

.

SPELLINGS OF ADJECTIVE-DERIVED NOUNS

A noun can be considered to have been made from an adjective if it contains a recognizable adjective spelling to which either no ending or a noun ending has been added, with or without a spelling modification. For example, the noun happiness is obviously the adjective happy combined with the noun ending -ness.

English has quite a variety of endings that can be added to an adjective to make a noun. However, there are plenty of adjectives that none of them can be added to. For example, healthy and massive become nouns not by adding a noun ending, but rather by removing an adjective one (health, mass). They are, in fact, adjectives made from nouns – a category briefly considered at the end of this post. Adjectives starting with un- often need to drop or change un-. For example, undoubted becomes no doubt, and unable becomes inability.

Here is a list of endings that can be considered to be making a noun from an adjective:

1. -ANCE

abundance, brilliance, defiance, distance, dominance, elegance, extravagance, ignorance, importance, observance, radiance, relevance, reliance, reluctance, repugnance, resistance

Adjectives that create nouns of this kind tend themselves to end with -ant – an ending from which some -cy nouns are also made.

Note that –ance does not always combine with an adjective: it is also a common way of making a verb into a noun (e.g. admit – admittance). Most -ance nouns are derived from only an adjective or only a verb, but a few (underlined above) can be linked with either.
.

2. -ATION and -TION

abbreviation, corruption, dejection, desperation, determination, frustration, inclination, intention, relaxation, satisfaction, separation, variation

Like -ance, this ending can create nouns from verbs as well as from adjectives. Indeed, it does so much more commonly. The above nouns all express a state. Most of the adjectives end in -ed, exceptions being desperation (from desperate), corruption (corrupt) and intention (intent). Separation links with both separate and separated (= semi-divorced).
.

3. -CY

accuracy, adequacy, buoyancy, constancy, currency, decency, delicacy, efficacy, frequency, hesitancy, immediacy, intricacy, (il)legitimacy, (il)literacy, militancy, numeracy, profligacy, solvency, sufficiency, transparency, vacancy

Adjectives that become nouns with this ending tend to be spelt with “-ate” or “-t(e)”.
.

4. -ENCE

absence, ambivalence, convenience, dependence, diligence, effervescence, emergence, eminence, equivalence, evidence, expedience, indulgence, insolence, obedience, permanence, persistence, prescience, presence, prominence, prudence, residence, reticence, violence

As with -ance, underlining here shows the possibility of derivation from either a verb or an adjective. In the latter case, the adjective usually ends in -ent. However, not all -ent adjectives make -ence nouns: some, like frequent, make -cy nouns, and content needs -ment. For more on content, see 254. Tricky Word Contrasts 10, #1. For more on emergence, see 157. Tricky Word Contrasts 5, #3.
.

5. -ILITY

acceptability, adaptability, capability, excitability, intelligibility, likeability, nobility, possibility, probability, reliability, remarkability, stability, suitability, susceptibility, viability, visibility

Most of these nouns are derived from adjectives ending in -able or -ible (= “able”). The underlined ones have a related verb with passive meaning: likeability, for example, means “ability to be liked” (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs).
.

6. -ISM

atheism, capitalism, defeatism, environmentalism, fatalism, pacifism, radicalism, realism, socialism, vegetarianism

In most cases, this ideology-naming -ism ending corresponds to the adjective ending -ist – only vegetarianism and radicalism above do not. All of the corresponding adjective spellings are additionally usable as people nouns.
.

7. -ITY

activity, actuality, ambiguity, clarity, curiosity, density, duality, enormity, (in)equality, eventuality, extremity, factuality, familiarity, formality, generosity, (in)humanity, immunity, individuality, inferiority, laxity, legality, majority, masculinity, mutuality, necessity, (ab)normality, obscurity, oddity, personality, plurality, potentiality, (im)practicality, rapidity, (ir)rationality, (un)reality, (ir)regularity, rigidity, (in)security, severity, (dis)similarity, stupidity, superiority, universality

Some of these, it will be seen, modify the spelling of the adjective (e.g. clear, dense, curious, enormous, generous, immune, necessary, secure, severe, unequal). A common adjective type that becomes a noun with -ity ends in -al. For more on security, see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #1.
.

8. -MENT

amazement, amusement, bafflement, contentment, disappointment, embarrassment, employment, enlightenment, entitlement, excitement, involvement, puzzlement

All of these examples are derived from -ed adjectives, and hence ultimately from verbs (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending). Like the adjectives, they convey the passive meaning of the verb and refer to a resultant state rather than an action. For example, amazement means “the state of being amazed”.

In most cases, the same noun can also express an action (e.g. “the act of amazing”), but must then be considered a verb-derived “action” noun rather than a noun derived from an adjective. The -ment ending is also found on many nouns that are solely derived from a verb (see 249. Action Noun Endings), so that it is easily thought of as more typically combining with verbs than with adjectives.
.

9. -NESS

calmness, childishness, closeness, considerateness, decisiveness, enormousness, extensiveness, fullness, goodness, happiness, holiness, hopelessness, kindness, nastiness, nervousness, peevishness, pointedness, purposefulness, quickness, redness, responsiveness, restiveness, separateness, slowness, tastiness, tightness, tiredness, thankfulness, tirelessness, wholeness, willingness

This is perhaps the largest of all the categories. Many adjectives that become nouns with it have no adjective ending of their own. There are, however, some adjective endings that seem especially combinable with -ness, notably -y (happiness), -ish (peevishness), -ive (restiveness), -ful (thankfulness) and -less (hopelessness). For extensive lists of -ful and -less adjectives, see 106. Word-Like Suffixes.
.

10. -SION

confusion, diffusion, division, precision

Diffusion and precision come from the -se adjectives diffuse (see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #4) and precise. The others come from -ed adjectives.

.

11. -TH

breadth, depth, length, strength, truth, width.
.

12. -TY

anxiety, certainty, difficulty, ferocity, loyalty, naivety, royalty, safety
.

13. NO ENDING

alternative, double, elite, equivalent, future, human, hurt, level, north, opposite, past, potential, present, principal, specific, square, subordinate, suspect, upset, welcome

Nouns can be spelt the same as an adjective just as many are spelt the same as a verb. For example alternative, used as an adjective in alternative possibilities, is a noun in the obvious alternative (see 266. Indicating Alternatives).
.

14. ODDITIES

falsehood, freedom, height, likelihood, marriage, pleasure, wisdom

Among these, falsehood, likelihood, freedom and wisdom are notable because the -hood and -dom endings are more typically added to nouns (e.g. childhood, parenthood, knighthood, kingdom). Marriage and pleasure correspond to the stative -ed adjectives married and pleased.

The above lists show that some adjectives have two related nouns with different meanings. For example, observant is related to observance (= duty fulfilment) or observation (= perception), and worthy is related to worth (= value) or worthiness (= suitability). Other pairs are:

complete – completeness / completion
enormous – enormousness / enormity (see 276. Tricky Word Contrasts 11, #6)
equivalent – equivalent / equivalence
human(e) – human / humanity
intricate – intricacy / intricateness
potential – potential / potentiality
selective – selection / selectiveness (see also attentive, suggestive)
separate – separateness / separation
special – specialness / speciality
tolerant – tolerance /toleration

.

SPELLINGS OF NOUN-DERIVED ADJECTIVES

The following list and examples are offered for reference only. In concentrating on endings that can be added to a noun, they do not necessarily include every possible adjective ending. Moreover, most in the list are also found on adjectives not derived from a noun (e.g. -ic on frantic, -ly on early).

ABLE / -IBLE

Typically added to verbs, but some nouns too, e.g. contemptible, impressionable, knowledgeable

.

-(I)AL

artificial, autumnal, behavio(u)ral, central, critical, doctrinal, essential, exceptional, facial, factual, fictional, industrial, informational, judgmental, logical, marginal, minimal, monumental, mystical, original, political, positional, presidential, professional, recreational, regional, residential, spacial, tactical

.

-ARY

documentary, dietary, fragmentary, legendary, momentary, monetary, visionary

.

-ATE (pronounced /ət/)

affectionate, extortionate, passionate

.

-FUL

See 106. Word-Like Suffixes.

.

-IC

cosmic, economic, emphatic, fantastic, formulaic, gigantic, graphic, historic, ironic, magnetic, manic, microscopic, panoramic, periodic, photographic, poetic, politic, scenic, strategic, synthetic, talismanic (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary)

.

-ICAL

biological (and other adjectives made from an -ology noun), conical, cylindrical, economical, farcical, historical, hypothetical, mathematical, mythical, numerical, practical, spherical, theatrical, typical

.

-ISH

childish, fiendish, hellish, impish, mannish

.

-IVE

Typically added to verbs (see 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb, #2), but some nouns too, e.g. destructive, effective, festive, instinctive, massive, purposive, qualitative, quantitative, repetitive, responsive, successive

.

-LESS

See 106. Word-Like Suffixes

.

-LIKE

Usable with most nouns to indicate a similarity, e.g. child-like, spring-like (see 149. Saying how Things are Similar)

.

-LY

daily, earthly, friendly, heavenly, homely, hourly, leisurely, manly, timely, womanly, worldly

.

-OUS

dangerous, disastrous, frivolous, furious, glorious, harmonious, humorous, joyous, judicious, momentous, mountainous, numerous, poisonous, pompous, porous, rebellious, repetitious, righteous, scandalous, suspicious, victorious, wondrous

.

-SOME

awesome, fearsome, handsome, irksome, lonesome, thanksome, troublesome

.

-Y

angry, dirty, easy, fiddly, fiery, grainy, gritty, hasty, hilly, hungry, lengthy, meaty, messy, needy, noisy, predatory, rainy, risky, showy, smiley, speedy, squeaky, touchy, tricky, watery, wealthy, wintry, woody, worthy

254. Tricky Word Contrasts 10

.

Some word pairs are easily confused because of close similarities in spelling and/or meaning

THE PROBLEM OF TRICKY WORD CONTRASTS

Most users of English have encountered vocabulary items that are easily confused because they resemble each other in spelling and/or meaning. A well-known example – often explained in English language coursebooks – is compliment someone (= praise someone for something about them that you like) versus complement… (= combine well with…). The problem is that such pairs are numerous in English, and many are rarely highlighted so that they are likely to remain unrecognised, or at least not fully differentiated.

It is these rarely-considered confusion sources, especially ones likely to occur in professional writing, that are the focus of the present post, just as they are of various others with a similar title (for a complete list, click the POSTS ON SPECIFIC WORDS tab at the top of this page). Other Guinlist posts about vocabulary confusions include 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words,  44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs,  94. Essay Instruction Words,  198. Indicating Importance and 240. Nouns that End with “-ing”.

For some grammar contrasts, see 100. What is a Grammar Error?,  133 Confusions of Similar Structures 1 and 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1. For some pronunciation ones, see 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly.

.

LIST OF CONTRASTS

1. “Content” – “Contented”

These are both adjectives derived from the verb CONTENT ONESELF WITH…, which means “choose (something less than perfect) to have or do” (see 268. Types of “-self” Object, #5). In both, the most strongly-pronounced syllable is -tent-. Content is not to be confused with the noun content, whose strongest syllable is con- and whose related verb is CONTAIN (see 196. Saying what is inside Things).

It is not unusual for a verb to have an identically-spelled related adjective. Other verbs that do include CLEAR, OPEN, SUSPECT and WELCOME (see 66. Types of Passive Verb Meaning). However, for such a verb to also have a related adjective spelled the same as its own “past” participle, like contented, is unusual. Most verbs have just one related adjective, of one kind or the other (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending, #4).

Content is the kind of adjective that must always follow its noun with a link verb like BE in between (see 184. Adjectives with Limited Mobility). Its meaning is similar to that of CONTENT ONESELF WITH, but differs in indicating a state resulting from a choice rather than the action of making one. Like the verb, it often needs to be followed by mention of the chosen thing. It can similarly do this with with + noun (or -ing), but an alternative is a to verb:

(a) Caesar was content to wait for his enemies.

Contented, by contrast, can go before its noun as well as after with BE in between, and means “lacking cause to complain” or “happy”. It can describe people (customers, employees) or their activities (life, holiday, sleep). In the first case, the cause of a person’s contentment can be added in a with phrase (contented with life).

.

2. MAKE Noun Noun – MAKE Noun INTO Noun

Without into, two nouns after MAKE can refer to two different things or one thing twice. In the first case, the first noun is an indirect object – recipient of what is made (see 141. Ways of Using MAKE, Other Structure #2). The second case is the relevant one here. Consider this:

(b) Jones’ past achievements made him a favourite for the position.

Clearly, him and a favourite both refer to Jones. We understand from made that Jones changed in some way, but remained Jones. Grammatically, him is the object of made and a favourite for the position is an “object complement” (see 220. Features of Complements, ‘#1).

MAKE with into after its object is a “prepositional” verb (see 123. Prepositional Verbs Containing a Noun). As with many prepositional verbs, there can be difficulty seeing how its meaning differs from that of the non-prepositional use (see 44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs). The following is perhaps illuminating:

(c) Yeast makes fruit juice into wine.

Here, makes again indicates a change, but a more profound one. Although the two nouns still refer to the same substance, we would not say they refer to the same thing: wine is a not a new state or role of fruit juice, but a derivative of it. This difference is reflected in the fact that a noun after a preposition is not normally considered to be a complement.

One further point is that the difference between the two structures is not always as clear-cut as the above examples might suggest. Often, deciding whether or not a change has created something completely new is a subjective one, so that some people might want to add into and some not. It would certainly be possible to add into in (b). However, dropping it in (c) would sound strange.

.

3. SLOW UP – SLOW DOWN

These phrasal verbs obviously both mean “decelerate”. They differ from it in having, like most phrasal verbs, a more informal tone (see 108. Formal & Informal Words), but they also differ slightly from it in meaning. They can affect either fast or slow movement, but they would be the preferred choice in relation to slow movement, such as human walking.

The difference between SLOW UP and SLOW DOWN is that up suggests slowing with no benefits, for example because of a traffic jam or old age, while down suggests slowing in order to gain a benefit, such as safety on a wet road or compliance with a speed limit. Thus, a passenger in a car being driven dangerously fast would more likely shout Slow down! than Slow up!.

.

4. “Near” – “Nearby”

Closeness can be static or changing. Static closeness may be of practically permanent objects and features like plants, buildings and towns, or of objects or people that have halted a journey, whether temporarily or not. Changing closeness, on the other hand, is that of people or objects on the move.

Nearby usually indicates static closeness. It can be either an adjective (a nearby house; …is nearby) or an adverb linked to a static position verb (…is situated nearby). Near, on the other hand, has a variety of meanings, depending on its grammatical role.

Used as a preposition (e.g. The fire was near the house), near can indicate either static or changing closeness. Used as an adverb, near typically needs to accompany a movement verb, so that changing closeness is usually expressed (e.g. The fire came near). If the verb is not a movement one, nearby is normally necessary instead. Used as an adjective after BE or similar (e.g. The fire was near), near again tends to imply changing closeness. Used as an adjective before its noun, near means “almost”, as in the common phrases a near disaster and a near success. For more on adjectives changing their meaning according to their position, see the end of 184. Adjectives with Limited Mobility.

Appreciating the main meaning difference between near and nearby can prevent misunderstandings in reading. For example, a text saying an army was near would imply it was going somewhere, whereas was nearby would imply it was stationary, perhaps encamped.

.

5. “Knowledgeable” – “Knowing”

The difference between these adjectives is partly in the kind of knowledge involved and partly in what they suggest about the person they describe – their “connotation” (see 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words, #2).

Knowledgeable is a positive description meaning “full of knowledge”. It implies that the described person knows more than the average about something, or things in general.

Knowing is a good example of how adjectives made by adding -ing to a verb differ from participles (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending). The participle knowing means “having knowledge of…”. As a participle, it needs a following noun (object) just as its verb KNOW does. The adjective knowing, by contrast, has no object, and means “aware of something that nobody wishes to mention”. Quite often, there is a negative connotation: that the unmentioned matter is embarrassing (or worse) and the person described as knowing somehow approves of it.

As well as a person, knowing may describe an indicator of the knowledge in question, such as a glance, look, smile or wink.

.

6. WISH – HOPE

Both of these verbs introduce something wanted by their subject. Their confusion potential is illustrated by an incorrect public statement that I came across during the recent pandemic:

(d) *We wish (that) we will see you again when the pandemic is over.

This should have hope, not wish. HOPE indicates that meeting a desire is possible but outside the speaker’s control; WISH indicates various other things, depending on the grammatical forms after it.

With a following to verb, WISH expresses a request made to someone in a subordinate position. In a modification of (d), the request would be for the addressees to visit after the pandemic. To make such a request in a public statement like (d) would sound rather impolite because the addressees are not subordinates.

With a following that (explicit or understood) the tense of the subsequent verb is important. An ordinary future, illustrated by using will see in (d), is quite rare because it usually suggests that the very utterance of the wish brings its fulfilment. This is a usage in stories about magic and miracles, leading WISH to be mentioned among the verbs considered in detail in this blog in 238. Using a Verb to Perform its Action.

Much more common after wish that… is a past tense verb expressing an “unreal” wish – one that the maker of the wish believes to be impossible. Wishes about past events that did not happen generally need a past perfect tense (with had):

(e) Many people wish (that) dinosaurs had survived.

Wishes about present unreal situations need the past simple tense, for example …dinosaurs still lived above.

Other places where “unreal” events or situations may be found are after if (see 118. Problems with Conditional “if”, #6), after as if (see 191. Exotic Grammar Structures 3, #3), and in questions starting What if…? (see 274. Questions with a Hidden Meaning, #2).