1.3.3

Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'

Test yourself on Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'

Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

Suffixes - 'ous'

You have already learnt that adding '-ous' to a noun turns the noun into an adjective. But sometimes you can't just add 'ous' and you need to drop or change a letter. Let's look at what you do if a word ends in 'e'...

Words ending in 'e'

Words ending in 'e'

  • If you want to add 'ous' to a noun ending in 'e', you need to drop the 'e' at the end of the word.
  • Let's walk through 2 examples...

Suffixes - 'ous'

You have already learnt that adding '-ous' to a noun turns it into an adjective. But sometimes, you can't just add 'ous' and you need to drop or change a letter. Let's look at what you do when the word ends in 'y'...

Words ending in 'y'

Words ending in 'y'

  • If you want to add 'ous' to a noun ending in 'y', you need to change the 'y' at the end of the word to an 'i'.
  • Let's walk through 2 examples...

Suffixes - 'ous'

You have already learnt that adding '-ous' to a noun turns the noun into an adjective. But sometimes you can't just add 'ous' and you need to drop or change a letter. Let's look at what you do when the word ends in 'our'...

Words ending in 'our'

Words ending in 'our'

  • If you want to add 'ous' to a noun ending in 'our', you need to drop the 'our' at the end of the word and add 'or' before adding 'ous'.
  • This sounds confusing. So let's walk through some examples...
Jump to other topics
1

Reading

1.1

Root Words

1.1.1Understanding New Words1.1.2Exception Words
1.2

Prefixes

1.2.1'Anti-' & 'Auto-'1.2.2Not & 'Inter-'1.2.3'Mis-', 'Dis-' & 'Re-'1.2.4'Sub-' & 'Super-'1.2.5End of Topic Test - Root Words & Prefixes
1.3

Suffixes

1.3.1Vowel Suffixes1.3.2Suffixes: '-ous'1.3.3Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'1.3.4Testing - Rules for Suffixes1.3.5Suffixes: '-ly'1.3.6Suffixes: '-ation'1.3.7Rules for Suffixes: '-ation'1.3.8Spelling: '-tion' Endings1.3.9Spelling: '-sion' Endings1.3.10Spelling: '-ssion' Endings1.3.11Spelling: '-cian' Endings1.3.12End of Topic Test - Suffixes
2

Writing

2.1

Composition

2.1.1Effective Writing2.1.2Planning2.1.3Drafting2.1.4Editing2.1.5End of Topic Test - Writing Composition
2.2

Conjunctions

2.2.1Simple Sentences & Compound Sentences2.2.2Complex Sentences2.2.3Coordinating Conjunctions2.2.4Subordinating Conjunctions2.2.5End of Topic Test - Conjunctions
2.3

Present Perfect Tense

2.3.1Present Perfect Tense2.3.2Uses of the Present Perfect Tense
2.4

Nouns

2.4.1Using Nouns & Pronouns Properly2.4.2End of Topic Test - Present Perfect & Nouns
2.5

Fronted Adverbials

2.5.1Saying Where, When & How Often2.5.2Saying How & Why2.5.3Using Commas
2.6

Direct Speech

2.6.1Direct Speech2.6.2End of Topic Test - Fronted Adverbials & Speech
2.7

Homophones

2.7.1Accept & Except2.7.2Affect & Effect2.7.3Ball & Bawl2.7.4Berry & Bury2.7.5Brake & Break2.7.6Fair & Fare2.7.7Grate & Great2.7.8Groan & Grown2.7.9Hear & Here2.7.10Heal, Heel & He'll2.7.11Knot & Not2.7.12Mail & Male2.7.13Main & Mane2.7.14Meat & Meet2.7.15Medal & Meddle2.7.16Missed & Mist2.7.17Peace & Piece2.7.18Plain & Plane2.7.19Rain & Reign & Rein2.7.20Scene & Seen2.7.21Weather & Whether2.7.22Whose & Who's2.7.23End of Topic Test - Homophones
2.8

Spelling Rules

2.8.1Hard 'U' & 'I' Sounds2.8.2Words Ending in '-Sure', '-Mure' & '-Sion'2.8.3'Ei', 'Eigh' & 'Ey' Spellings2.8.4Words Ending in 'G' & 'K' Sounds2.8.5Spelling Words with 'Ch' & 'Sc'2.8.6Silent Letters2.8.7End of Topic Test - Spelling Rules
2.9

Using Apostrophes

2.9.1Using Apostrophes with Regular Plurals2.9.2Using Apostrophes with Irregular Plurals
2.10

Using a Dictionary

2.10.1Using a Dictionary2.10.2End of Topic Test - Apostrophes & Dictionaries

Practice questions on Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    What is the adjectival form of __nerve__?Multiple choice
  2. 2
    What are the adjectival forms of these nouns?Fill in the list
  3. 3
    If a noun ends in 'e', what do we need to do to make the noun an __adjective__?Multiple choice
  4. 4
    What noun does the adjective __famous__ come from?Multiple choice
  5. 5
    What noun does the adjective __adventurous__ come from?Multiple choice
Answer all questions on Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'

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Suffixes: '-ous'

Testing - Rules for Suffixes