Learning English

Catherine    
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I’m Catherine…

Finn
And I’m Finn. Today we’re talking about suffixes.

Catherine
A suffix is a group of letters at the end of a word, which can tell you what kind of word it is. In today’s programme we’re looking at -ment, spelt m-e-n-t, -ance spelt a-n-c-e, and -ence, spelt e-n-c-e.

Finn
The last two sound quite similar, don't they?

Catherine
They do.

Finn
-ance and -ence. But first, let’s hear from Tania. She loves to dance. She’s talking about her recent visit to the ballet.

Catherine
That's right. While you listen, think about this question: Did Tania enjoy the ballet in the end?

INSERT
There was huge excitement in the audience. This was the Bolshoi’s only performance of Swan Lake in London. But at half past seven a man appeared and made an announcement. He thanked us for our patience and then said that the lead dancer was ill and couldn’t perform. In the silence that followed, you could feel everyone’s disappointment. But the replacement dancer was wonderful. She wasn’t too confident to start with, but her confidence grew and, in the end, the lead dancer’s absence didn’t lessen my enjoyment at all.

Catherine
So we asked you: Did Tania enjoy the ballet in the end?

Finn
And the answer was: Yes, she did. The lead dancer’s absence didn’t lessen her enjoyment.

Catherine
And absence and enjoyment are two key words in this programme. The noun absence with the suffix -ence, spelt e-n-c-e, means someone or something not being there. It comes from the adjective absent.

Finn
…and the noun enjoyment with the suffix -ment comes from the verb enjoy.

Catherine
Let’s listen to a clip with more words with -ment and -ence, spelt e-n-c-e.

INSERT CLIP 1
In the silence that followed, you could feel everyone’s disappointment. But the replacement dancer was wonderful. She wasn’t too confident to start with, but her confidence grew.

Finn
So we had two nouns with the suffix -ence,spelt e-n-c-e: silence and confidence. The noun silence comes from the adjective silent,meaning complete quiet.

Catherine
…and the noun confidence, which comes from the adjective confident, means having belief in your own abilities.

Finn
Notice that both adjectives end in the letter t, which changes to a letter c in the suffix -ence.

Catherine
So silent becomes sil-ence…

Finn
…and confident becomes confid-ence.

Catherine
Other common adjectives ending in the letter t that add e-n-c-e are: independent and different…

Finn
…which become independence and difference.

Catherine
In the clip, we also heard two more words with the suffix -ment.

Finn
Yes, we heard disappointment, which comes from the verb disappoint, meaning a feeling of being unhappy because you have been let down.

Catherine
…and replacement, which comes from the verb replace and means a thing or person which takes the place of something or someone else.

Finn
Now, let’s hear another clip. Listen out for two words with the suffixes -ance with an a and -ence with an e.

INSERT CLIP 2
There was huge excitement in the audience. This was the Bolshoi’s only performance of Swan Lake in London. But at half past seven a man appeared and made an announcement. He thanked us for our patience and then said that the lead dancer was ill and couldn’t perform.

Finn
So we had the noun performance, spelt a-n-c-e at the end, which comes from the verb perform.

Catherine
And we had patience, spelt e-n-c-e at the end, from the adjective patient.

Finn
Did you spot the two words with the suffix –ment? Excitement from the verb excite…

Catherine
…and announcement from the verb announce.

IDENT          
BBC Learning English dot com.

Catherine
Now, time for a quiz. And ready for number one? Is the word silence spelt a) s-i-l-e-n-c-e or b) s-i-l-a-n-c-e?

Finn
It’s a) s-i-l-e-n-c-e.

Catherine
Very good. Number two: What’s the noun that comes from the verb replace?

Finn
It's replacement.

Catherine
And, number three: Complete this sentence: Maria lacks a) confident or b) confidence?

Finn
It's b) confidence. And that’s the end of the quiz. Well done if you got them all right.

Catherine
And now, here’s today’s top tip for learning vocabulary: choose a word and then think of all the different forms of that word, so think of a noun, adjective and verb all with the same root.

Finn
There’s more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Both              
Bye!