Year 4 Noun and adjective suffixes worksheet

“Making naming words” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 English unit “Noun and adjective suffixes”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 7 to 9 of the year, 12 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Making naming words

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can turn describing and doing words into naming words with -ness, -ity and -tion.

A Look back3 min

1.
Which word is care with -ful added?
carefulcarefullycareless
2.
Which word is quick with -ly added?
quicklyquickerquickness
3.
Which word is hope with -less added?
hopelesshopefullyhopely

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ola is writing a card to ask her friends to a picnic. She needs a naming word from the doing word invite.

A picnic blanket on green grass with a basket and a jug, sunny day

Watch me

Invite is a doing word.

Drop the e and add -ation. Invite becomes invitation.

Invitation is a naming word, so it is a noun.

Now you

1.
Ola drops the e from secure and adds -ity. Which naming word does she make?
securitysecuretysecureness

C Your turn6 min

Each row builds a naming word. Look at the chain, then choose the right word.

1.
Add -ness to calm. Which naming word?
calmnesscalmitycalmful
2.
Change the le in able to il, then add -ity. Which naming word?
abilityablityableness
3.
Drop the e from create, then add -ion. Which naming word?
creationcreativitycreatien
4.
Add -ness to polite. Which naming word?
politenesspolititypolitetion

Say it out loud: Did you drop a letter in each row? What did the ending do to the word?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “Kindness is not a noun, because you cannot touch it.”

1.
Is Kit right? Explain why in your own words.

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Pick a describing word, such as brave or kind. Add -ness or -ity to make a naming word. Write one sentence using it.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Making naming words · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. careful Carefully has -ly on the end, not -ful. Ask your child to find the -ful card and read the word that goes with it.

2. quickly Quickness is a naming word, and quicker compares. Ask which suffix is on the card and what it does to the word.

3. hopeless Hopefully adds -ful and -ly. Ask your child to point to the suffix that means without, then say the word with -less.

B

1. security Securety is not a word. Ask your child to drop the e first, then add -ity to the end.

C

1. calmness Calmity has the wrong ending. Ask your child which suffix is written on the card and say the new word aloud.

2. ability Ablity is missing the i. Able changes its le to il before -ity, so the word is ability.

3. creation Creativity is a real naming word, but it comes from creative. Ask your child which doing word the chain starts with.

4. politeness Politity uses -ity, which does not fit this root. Ask your child to keep the e in polite and add -ness.

D

1. Look for: Says Kit is wrong: kindness names a quality, so it is a noun, and nouns do not have to be things you can touch. If your child agrees with Kit, they think a noun must be something you can touch. Ask: can you name a quality or a feeling? Then ask whether kindness names one.

E

1. Look for: A correctly spelt naming word made from a describing word with -ness or -ity, used in a sentence about an idea or quality.

Words to use

Say“Does this word name something you can touch, or an idea or quality? Which suffix is on the end?”

Instead of“Nouns are just things, so kindness can't be a noun.”

After the sheet

Write the names of five kitchen things and five feelings or qualities, like fun or patience, on scraps of paper. Sort them into two piles, then ask which ones you could hold.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

11 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Adding the suffix -ity(with a plan)
Adding -ness(with a plan)
Spelling -tion words(with a plan)
Spelling the -sion ending(with a plan)
Spelling the -ssion ending(with a plan)
Job words ending in -cian(with a plan)
All four /shun/ endings(with a plan)
Cial or tial?(with a plan)
Choosing -cial or -tial(with a plan)
Adding the suffix -al(with a plan)
Adding -al to words(with a plan)

Every Year 4 English worksheet

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