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Guest Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
Nouns becoming adjectives???
What is the ruling, explanation or usage for when a noun becomes an adjective and the noun ends in a? This happens a lot in medicine i.e. patella - patellar surface, ulna - ulnar surface.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Top answer
There are all sorts of suffixes in English to denote "like" or "in the nature of" or "related to". g. cell cellular three tertiary metal metallic red reddish mood moody The "rule" as to which suffix goes with which word would probably depend on the origin of the word (Greek, Latin, French, Saxon), but English speakers just learn all the combinations by rote.
- There are all sorts of suffixes in English to denote "like" or "in the nature of" or "related to".
- g.
- cell cellular three tertiary metal metallic red reddish mood moody The "rule" as to which suffix goes with which word would probably depend on the origin of the word (Greek, Latin, French, Saxon), but English speakers just learn all the combinations by rote.
- Cheers John
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1 Answers
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There are all sorts of suffixes in English to denote "like" or "in the nature of" or "related to".
e.g.
cell cellular
three tertiary
metal metallic
red reddish
mood moody
The "rule" as to which suffix goes with which word would probably depend on the origin of the word (Greek, Latin, French, Saxon), but English speakers just learn all the combinations
e.g.
cell cellular
three tertiary
metal metallic
red reddish
mood moody
The "rule" as to which suffix goes with which word would probably depend on the origin of the word (Greek, Latin, French, Saxon), but English speakers just learn all the combinations
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