How Verbs Become Adjectives

How Verbs Become Adjectives How Verbs Become Adjectives How Verbs Become Adjectives By Mark Nichol What determines whether a verb-to-adjective transformation ends with the suffix -able (as in assessable) or with -ible (as in accessible)? Why do some root words accept both options? What happens if the word ends with an e? Answers to these and other questions about -able and -ible follow. The suffixes -able and -ible both express capability, fitness, or worth (or mean â€Å"tending, given, or liable to†), but there’s one key practical difference: The former flourishes, and the latter has fossilized. New words can be formed by attaching -able to an adjective (I’ll get back to that in a moment) or a noun (more about that later, too) but -ible, though widespread in existing words, is discouraged for new coinages. Some words use one form unequivocally. (For example, immovable and invincible are never rendered immovible and invincable). Others are spelled either way, although one form predominates (as in the case of discernible and its less frequent variant discernable). In some cases, the variants reflect a distinction of meaning: For example, collectable means â€Å"able to be collected,† but the more common collectible has the connotation of desirability and is used as a noun to denote something worth collecting. Intransitive verbs can also be transformed into adjectives by appending -able. Strictly speaking, reliable, for example, means â€Å"able to be relied on,† not just â€Å"able to be relied,† but the needs of the language have silenced opposition to such usage. Adjectives are also formed from attaching -able to nouns, such as objectionable from objection, though the nonword objectable is the logical formation based on the verb-plus-able formula. Two other peculiarities exist regarding the suffix: When it is appended to a verb ending in -ate, such as calculate, the original suffix is omitted, resulting, for example, in calculable (which is overshadowed in frequency of usage by its antonym, incalculable). And when a word ends in e, such as in the case of move, the e is omitted when -able is attached, hence movable. (You’ll see moveable and the like in older publications, but this form is rare in contemporary usage.) Exceptions occur when a soft c or a soft g precedes the e, as in serviceable and changeable. When coining new terms, keep these rules in mind though consider, as well, that even some existing words, such as embraceable, are ungainly, and newly minted terms may be disagreeable to some readers. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Greek Words You Should KnowRunning Amok or Running Amuck?Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?

Why Top Marketers Are 397% More Successful With Ben Sailer

Why Top Marketers Are 397% More Successful With Ben Sailer What separates the best managed and most successful marketing teams from the rest? How are they leaving you in the dust? What are the strongest predictors for success? Today, my guest is Ben Sailer, content marketing lead at . We talk about our 2019 State of Marketing Strategy Report. surveyed more than 3,000 marketers to find out what they’re doing to be successful. Inception and process behind State of Marketing Strategy Report Why do original research? Why put in so much time, effort, and energy? Generate your own data, instead of borrowing statistics How do you stack up? Sense of doing ok, but room for improvement to crush it 5 Marketing Insights about Top Marketers: Being Organized: They’re confident about their organizational skills; 397%   more likely to report being successful Setting Goals: They know which goals drive success; 376% more likely to report being successful Documenting Strategy: It needs to be nimble and actionable, not detailed and lengthy; 313% more likely to report being successful Planning Projects: Be clear about what needs to be done, by who, and why; 356% more likely to report being successful Using Agile Methodology: Marketers implement it to manage projects and processes; 252% more likely to report being successful Links: 2019 State of Marketing Strategy Report AMP 127: The Case For Agile Marketing: What 400+ Marketers Reveal As Top Benefits And Barriers With Andrea Fryrear From AgileSherpas If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes: â€Å"If you actually have your own original insight, that’s a lot more powerful.† â€Å"The insights we were able to extract from our datawere really corroborated. Some assumptions we hadwere a little bit more surprising.† â€Å"If you are a marketer who is cognizant of goals, you’re thoughtful about setting them, and if you work in that sort of mode, it makes sense that you’re also organized.† â€Å"If a goal is your destination, your documented strategy in whatever shape or form that takes is your roadmap to get there.†