Suffixes are known to fall into how many categories?

Prepare for the NES English Language Arts Exam. Use flashcards and multiple-choice questions with hints and explanations. Ace your test!

Suffixes are categorized based on their function and the role they play in word formation. There are typically two main categories of suffixes: inflectional and derivational.

Inflectional suffixes modify a word's tense, mood, aspect, or number, but they do not change the word's original meaning or its part of speech. For example, adding "-ed" to a verb creates its past tense (e.g., "walk" becomes "walked"), or adding "-s" to a noun indicates its plural form (e.g., "cat" becomes "cats").

Derivational suffixes, on the other hand, change the meaning of the base word and often the part of speech. For instance, adding "-ness" to an adjective like "happy" transforms it into a noun ("happiness").

Understanding these two categories helps in analyzing how words are built and how their meanings can shift through the addition of these suffixes, making option B the correct one.

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