Suffix - Inflectional Suffixes

Inflectional Suffixes

Inflection changes grammatical properties of a word within its syntactic category. In the example:

I was hoping the cloth wouldn't fade, but it has faded quite a bit.

the suffix -ed inflects the root-word fade to indicate past tense.

Some inflectional suffixes in present day English:

• -tionto make into verb
• -s third person singular present
• -ed past tense
• -t past tense
• -ing progressive/continuous
• -en past participle
• -s plural
• -en plural (irregular)
• -er comparative
• -est superlative
• -n't negative