FCE (First Certificate)
Word Formation: Irregular Nouns
There are lots of standard noun suffixes (e.g -ment, -tion) or verb suffixes (see my verb word formation pages). But many nouns and verbs have irregular suffixes which you'll need to know for the FCE exam.
Look at the information in the table for 1-2 minutes and try to remember the words. Then click below to hide the information and try to answer the questions at the bottom.
| Noun | Verb | Adjective | Adverb |
|---|---|---|---|
| (dis)belief | (dis)believe | (un)believable | (un)believably |
| a choice | choose | chosen | - |
| a defense | defend | defensive | defensively |
| a death | die | dead/deadly | deadly |
| a gift | give | - | - |
| a loss | lose | lost | - |
| a marriage | marry | (un)married | - |
| practice | practise | practising | - |
| pretense | pretend | - | - |
| proof | (dis)prove | (un)proven | - |
| safety | save | (un)safe | safely |
| a sight | see | unseen | - |
| a speech | speak | (un)spoken | - |
| a success | succeed | (un)successful | (un)successfully |
| a thought | think | thoughtful/less | thoughtfully/lessly |
Click here to show/hide this information
Write the correct form of the word in brackets to complete these sentences.