Adding Prefixes And Suffixes

Front 1

Words that end in –x:

Back 1

don’t change when a suffix is added to them: fax = faxing, hoax = hoaxed, mix = mixer

Front 2

Words that end in –c don’t change when a suffix is added to them:

Back 2

if the letter before the c is a, o, u, or a consonant: talc = talcum, maniac = maniacal

Front 3

Words that end in –c usually add k when a suffix is added to them:

Back 3

if the letter before the c is e or i and the pronunciation of the c is hard: picnic = picnickers colic = colicky, frolic = frolicking

Front 4

Words that end in –c usually don’t change when a suffix is added to them:

Back 4

if the letter before the c is e or i and the pronunciation of the c is soft: critic = criticism, clinic = clinician, lyric = lyricist

Front 5

Words that end in a single consonant that is immediately preceded by one or more unstressed vowels

Back 5

usually remain unchanged before any suffix: debit = debited, credit = creditor, travel = traveled.

Of course, there are exceptions, such as these: program = programmed, format =formatting, crystal = crystallize

Front 6

When a prefix is addedto form a new word, the root word usually remains ,

Back 6

Unchanged : spell = misspell, cast = recast, approve = disapprove

Front 7

In some cases however, the new word is hyphenated. These exceptions include when the last letter of the prefix and the first letter of the word it is joining are:

Back 7

the same vowel; when the prefix is being added to a proper noun; and when the new word formed by the prefix and the root must be distinguished from another word spelled in the same way but with a different meaning: anti-institutional, mid-March, re-creation (versus recreation)