Transformation of Words- very important to improve IELTS writing and Speaking

Table showing transformation of words

Explanation-1

Exercise – 1

Explanation-2

Exercise-2

Exercise-3

Exercise-4

For getting high scores in writing or speaking, vocabulary is essential, however candidates ignore to learn how a word is used in real. Same word when used as noun or adjective or adverb or verb or gerund has to be transformed before putting it in the sentence. So it is recommended for IELTS takers to go through this chapter thoroughly. Join City Coaching centre for detailed and explanatory classes on various essential grammar chapters which will surely upgrade your writing and speaking skills.

First of all, find below a table in which a word is written in different forms- noun, adjective, adverb and verb

S.No.	Verbs	Nouns	Adjectives	Adverbs
1	accept	acceptance	acceptable
2	achieve	achievement	achievable
3	act	action	active	actively
4	act	activity	active	actively
5	act	activeness	active	actively
6	add	addition	additional
7	adjust	adjustment	adjustable
8	admire	admiration	admirable
9	advise	advice	advisable
10	amass	mass	massive	massively
11	amazed	amazement	amazing
12	amuse	amusement	amusing
13	annoy	annoyance	annoying
14	approach	approach	approachable
15	attend	attention	attentive
16	attract	attraction	attractive
17	avoid	avoidance	avoidable
18	believe	belief	believable
19	blacken	blackness	black
20	bleed	blood	bloody
21	bore	boredom	boring
22	bother	botheration	bothering
23	breathe	breath	breathing
24	bury	burial	buried
25	care	care	careful	carefully
26	challenge	challenge	challenging
27	chase	chase	chasing
28	cheer	cheerfulness	cheerful	cheerfully
29	choose	choice	chosen
30	clear	clarity	clear	clearly
31	collect	collection	collective	collectively
32	comfort	comfort	comfortable	comfortably
33	complex	complexity	complex
34	confuse	confusion	confused
35	consider	consideration	considerable	considerably
36	console	consolation	consoled
37	continue	continuity	continuous	continuously
38	craze	craze	crazy	crazily
39	create	creation	creative	creatively
40	credit	credit	creditable	creditably
41	cure	cure	curable
42	curse	curse	cursed
43	damage	damage	damaged
44	deafen	deafness	deaf
45	decide	decision	decisive
46	decorate	decoration	decorative
47	delight	delight	delightful	delightfully
48	demand	demand	demanding
49	derive	derivation	derivative
50	deserve	deserve	deserving
51	destroy	destruction	destructive	destructively
52	develop	development	developing
53	die	death	dead
54	differ	difference	different	differently
55	disturb	disturbance	disturbing
56	dust	dust	dusty
57	educate	education	educative
58	embarrass	embarrassment	embarrassing
59	empower	power	powerful	powerfully
60	empty	emptiness	empty
61	encircle	circle	circular	circularly
62	encourage	courage	courageous	courageously
63	endanger	danger	dangerous	dangerously
64	enthuse	enthusiasm	enthusiastic
65	enumerate	number	numerable
66	envy	envy	envious	enviously
67	evaporate	evaporation	evaporating
68	expect	expectation	expected	expectedly
69	explain	explanation	explainable
70	explore	exploration	exploring
71	fascinate	fascination	fascinating
72	feed	food
73	firm	firmness	firm	firmly
74	fly	flight	flying
75	force	force	forceful	forcefully
76	glorify	glory	glorious	gloriously
77	grow	growth	growing	growingly
78	harm	harm	harmful	harmfully
79	hate	hatred	hateful	hatefully
80	heal	health	healthy	healthily
81	hope	hope	hopeful	hopefully
82	identify	identification	indentified
83	identify	identity	indentifying
84	imitate	imitation	imitative	imitatively
85	impress	impression	impressive	impressively
86	include	inclusion	inclusive	inclusively
87	indicate	indication	indicative	indicatively
88	inform	information	informative
89	inhabit	habitat	inhabitant
90	injure	injury	injurious	injuriously
91	inquire	inquiry	inquiring
92	instruct	instruction	instructive
93	insult	insult	insulting	insultingly
94	intent	intention	intentional	intentionally
95	interfere	interference	interfering
96	introduce	introduction	introductory
97	invent	invention	inventive
98	irritate	irritation	irritating	irritatingly
99	lead	leadership	leading	leadingly
100	live	life	lively	livingly
101	live	life	alive	livingly
102	live	liveliness	lively	livingly
103	lose	loss	lost
104	madden	madness	mad	madly
105	migrate	migration	migrating
106	modernise	modernity	modern
107	moisten	moisture	moistures
108	monotonies	monotony	monotonous	monotonously
109	move	movement	movable	movingly
110	narrow	narrowness	narrow
111	nationalise	nationality	national	nationwide
112	observe	observation	observatory
113	own	ownership	own
114	perform	performance	performing
115	permit	permission	permissible
116	persuade	persuasion	persuasive
117	please	pleasure	pleasant
118	popularise	popularity	popular
119	quicken	quickness	quick	quickly
120	redden	redness	red
121	sadden	sadness	sad	sadly
122	secure	security	secured	securely
123	see	scene	scenic
124	see	sight	seen
125	speed	speed	speedy	speedily
126	whiten	whiteness	white
127		badness	bad	badly

Lets understand the concept in detail now:

Explanation: 1

‘She is intelligent’ or ‘she is intelligence’?

Let’s take a look at the adjective form of nouns. These words will help you to build your vocabulary and will, hopefully, stop you from using the wrong word in the wrong context. It makes your English sound very strange when you use an adjective instead of a noun (or vice-versa). Take a look at this, mostly complete, A-Z and then choose the correct words to complete the ten sentences below.

Noun	Adjective
Anger	Angry
Beauty	Beautiful
Craziness	Crazy
Danger	Dangerous
Ease	Easy
Familiarity	Familiar
Guilt	Guilty
Happiness	Happy
Intelligence	Intelligent
Juice	Juicy
Kindness	Kind
Luck	Lucky
Misery	Miserable
Nature	Natural
Offence	Offensive
Pain	Painful
Question	Questionable
Romance	Romantic
Strength	Strong
Truth	TRUE
Ugliness	Ugly
Violence	Violent
Warmth	Warm
Youth	Young
Zeal	Zealous

Exercise 1 : Which sentences have mistakes?

1) There’s no need to get ___ with me.

• anger
• angry

2) There is a ___ of him losing his job.

•  dangerous
•  danger

3) He completed the exam with ___.

•  ease
•  easy

4) If you didn’t do it, why do you look so ___?

•  guilt
•  guilty

5) I put the ___ of my family above all other things.

•  happiness
•  happy

6) She’s the most ___ person I have ever met.

•  intelligent
•  intelligence

7) To have ___ is important when you gamble.

• luck
• lucky

8) It was nice to see the animals in their ___ environment.

•  natural
•  nature

9) I have a ___ in my shoulder.

•  painful
•  pain

10) Not everything you read in the newspaper is ___.

•  true
•  truth

Get your answer sheet checked from your teacher / IELTS Trainer

Noun as Adjective

As you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a word that describes a noun:

adjective	noun
clever	teacher
small	office
black	horse

Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun “acts as” an adjective.

noun as adjective	noun
history	teacher
ticket	office
race	horse

The “noun as adjective” always comes first

If you remember this, it will help you to understand what is being talked about:

• a race horse is a horse that runs in races
• a horse race is a race for horses
• a boat race is a race for boats
• a love story is a story about love
• a war story is a story about war
• a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis
• tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis
• a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers
• a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles

The “noun as adjective” is singular

Just like a real adjective, the “noun as adjective” is invariable. It is usually in the singular form.

Right	Wrong
boat race	boat races	NOT boats race, boats races
toothbrush	toothbrushes	NOT teethbrush, teethbrushes
shoe-lace	shoe-laces	NOT shoes-lace, shoes-laces
cigarette packet	cigarette packets	NOT cigarettes packet, cigarettes packets

In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only.

A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for example news, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns “as adjectives” they are unchanged:

• a news reporter, three news reporters
• one billiards table, four billiards tables
• an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers

Exceptions: When we use certain nouns “as adjectives” (clothes, sports, customs, accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:

• clothes shop, clothes shops
• sports club, sports clubs
• customs duty, customs duties
• accounts department, accounts departments
• arms production

How do we write the “noun as adjective”?

We write the “noun as adjective” and the real noun in several different ways:

• two separate words (car door)
• two hyphenated words (book-case)
• one word (bathroom)

There are no easy rules for this. We even write some combinations in two or all three different ways: (head master, head-master, headmaster)

How do we say the “noun as adjective”?

For pronunciation, we usually stress the first word:

• shoe shop
• boat-race
• bathroom

Can we have more than one “noun as adjective”?

Yes. Just like adjectives, we often use more than one “noun as adjective” together. Look at these examples:

car production costs: we are talking about the costs of producing cars

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
		costs
	production	costs
car	production	costs

England football team coach: we are talking about the coach who trains the team that plays football for England

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
			coach
		team	coach
	football	team	coach
England	football	team	coach
England	football	team	coaches

Note: in England football team coach can you see a “hidden” “noun as adjective”? Look at the word “football” (foot-ball). These two nouns (foot+ball) have developed into a single noun (football). This is one way that words evolve. Many word combinations that use a “noun as adjective” are regarded as nouns in their own right, with their own dictionary definition. But not all dictionaries agree with each other. For example, some dictionaries list “tennis ball” as a noun and other dictionaries do not.

government road accident research centre: we are talking about a centre that researches into accidents on the road for the government

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
				centre
			research	centre
		accident	research	centre
	road	accident	research	centre
government	road	accident	research	centre

Newspapers often use many nouns together in headlines to save space. Look at this example:

BIRD HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE MURDER MYSTERY

To understand headlines like these, try reading them backwards. The above headline is about a MYSTERY concerning a MURDER in a CENTRE for RESEARCH into the HEALTH of BIRDS.

Note, too, that we can still use a real adjective to qualify a “noun as adjective” structure:

• empty coffee jar
• honest car salesman
• delicious dog food
• rising car production costs
• famous England football team coach

Adjectives: forms

Unlike in many other languages, adjectives in English do not change (agree) with the noun that they modify:

All new foreign students are welcome to join the clubs and societies.

Not: All new foreigns students …

Every room was painted in different colours.

Not: … in differents colours.

Identifying adjectives

There is no general rule for making adjectives. We know they are adjectives usually by what they do (their function) in a sentence. However, some word endings (suffixes) are typical of adjectives.

suffix	examples
-able, -ible	comfortable, readable, incredible, invisible
-al, -ial	comical, normal, musical, industrial, presidential
-ful	beautiful, harmful, peaceful, wonderful
-ic	classic, economic, heroic, romantic
-ical	aeronautical, alphabetical, political
-ish	British, childish, Irish, foolish
-ive, -ative	active, alternative, creative, talkative
-less	endless, motionless, priceless, timeless
-eous, -ious, -ous	spontaneous, hideous, ambitious, anxious, dangerous, famous
-y	angry, busy, wealthy, windy

Warning:

Adjectives ending in -ic and -ical often have different meanings:

• The economic policy of this government has failed.
• A diesel car is usually more economical than a petrol one.

Forming adjectives from other words-Suffixes

Some adjectives are made from nouns and verbs by adding suffixes.

noun	adjective
hero	heroic
wind	windy
child	childish
beauty	beautiful
verb	adjective
read	readable
talk	talkative
use	useful
like	likeable

• I hate windy days.
• San Francisco is a very hilly place.

Some words ending in -ly can be both adjectives and adverbs. These include daily, early, monthly, weekly, nightly, yearly:

Adjective: She gets a weekly payment from her parents. (She gets money every week.)

Adverb: I pay my rent weekly. (I pay my rent every week.)

Some words ending in -ly are only adjectives and not adverbs. These include: costly, cowardly, deadly, friendly, likely, lonely, lovely, oily, orderly, scholarly, silly, smelly, timely, ugly, woolly.

• We enjoyed the trip to America but it was a costly holiday.
• Oily fish is very healthy because it contains omega 3.

Prefixes

Prefixes such as un-, in-, im-, il- and ir- change the meaning of adjectives. Adding these prefixes makes the meaning negative:

un-	in-	ir-
fair – unfair	active – inactive	responsible – irresponsible
happy – unhappy	appropriate – inappropriate	regular – irregular
sure – unsure	complete – incomplete	reducible – irreducible
im-	il-
balance – imbalance	legal – illegal
polite – impolite	legible – illegible
possible – impossible	logical – illogical

Adjectives: comparative and superlative

Many one-syllable adjectives have endings to show the comparative and superlative.

base form	comparative	superlative
fine	finer	finest
young	younger	youngest
small	smaller	smallest

Some two-syllable adjectives which end in an unstressed syllable also have these endings.

base form	comparative	superlative
easy	easier	easiest
funny	funnier	funniest
gentle	gentler	gentlest

However, we do not use these endings with two-syllable adjectives ending in a stressed syllable nor with longer adjectives with more than two syllables. The comparatives and superlatives of these adjectives are formed using more and most.

base form	comparative	superlative
complete	more complete Not: completer	most complete Not: completest
interesting	more interesting	most interesting
Not: interestinger	Not: interestingest

Adjectives: with -ing and -ed (interesting, interested)

We use the -ing and -ed forms of regular and irregular verbs as adjectives:

-ing forms

verb	example
annoy	My brother is five and he’s so annoying.
amaze	The Grand Canyon is an amazing place.
boil	Be careful! That’s boiling water!
excite	This film is not very exciting, is it?

-ed forms

verb	example
bore	Why do teenagers always look bored?
pack	James Bond movies are always action-packed.
smoke	Not everyone likes smoked salmon.
make	My dress is hand-made. I really like it.
teach	My Master’s degree was a taught course.
excite	I feel excited about my new job.

Adjectives with -ing and -ed endings have different meanings.

-ing adjectives	-ed adjectives
-ing adjectives describe the effect	-ed adjectives describe how a person feels
The meeting was very boring.	I felt bored at the meeting.
That was an exciting game.	We were really excited about the game.
It was shocking to see what the storm had done to the house.	We were shocked to see what the storm had done to the house.

Warning:

Commonly confused pairs of adjectives ending in -ing and -ed are: interesting, interested; boring, bored; exciting, excited; embarrassing, embarrassed.Change nouns to verbs

Here are some examples:

1. Our team will do a collection of data.
2. Our team will collect data.
3. We’ve been carrying out examinations of people’s pension plans since 1992.
4. We’ve been examining people’s pension plans since 1992.
5. You can give us a suggestion for an alternative.
6. You can suggest an alternative.
7. Salaries have had an increase.
8. Salaries have increased
9. You can make your application on our website.
10. You can apply on our website.
11. Your feedback will help us gain an understanding of our customers’ needs.
12. Your feedback will help us understand our customers’ needs.

In every example above, the first sentence is more cumbersome and the meaning is less precise than the second. But the noun/verb trick doesn’t work if you’re using a noun in a specific context.

For example:

1. We’re doing a collection in church.
2. We’re collecting in church.

To change a verb to a noun, first locate the verb, or action word, in the sentence. Then, add a determiner like “the” or “a” before the verb to make it into a noun. Next, rewrite or rearrange the sentence so that it makes sense.

Explanation 2 :

Forming adjectives

Typical adjective endings

Some adjectives can be identified by their endings. Typical adjective endings include:

1. -able/-ible understandable, capable, readable, incredible
2. -al mathematical, functional, influential, chemical
3. -ful beautiful, bashful, helpful, harmful
4. -ic artistic, manic, rustic, terrific
5. -ive submissive, intuitive, inventive, attractive
6. -less sleeveless, hopeless, groundless, restless
7. -ous gorgeous, dangerous, adventurous, fabulous

Sometimes when adding these endings changes have to be made. Here are some rules for forming adjectives and their exceptions:

Add	Exceptions	Word	Adjective
-al	If ending with an ‘e‘, drop it	Nature	Natural
		Function	Functional
-y	If ending with an ‘e‘, drop it	Ice	Icy
		Oil	Oily
-ful	If ending with a ‘y‘, replace with an ‘i‘	Beauty	Beautiful
		Peace	Peaceful
-ous/-ious	If ending with a ‘y‘, drop it	Mystery	Mysterious
		Danger	Dangerous
-ic	If ending with a ‘y‘, drop it	History	Historic
		Rust	Rustic

Forming adjectives from nouns and verbs

Adjectives can be formed from different words. They can be formed from nouns:

Noun	Adjective
accident	accidental
danger	dangerous
length	long
star	starry
wind	windy

From verbs:

Verb	Adjective
enjoy	enjoyable
help	helpful
obey	obedient
play	playful
talk	talkative

Or even from other adjectives:

Adjective	Adjective
comic	comical
correct	corrective
elder	elderly
red	reddish
sick	sickly

Examples of forming adjectives

1. Our house color is a kind of yellow. → We live in a yellowish house.
2. He often acts like a child. → He often acts in a childish way.
3. The event was a big success. → We enjoyed a successful event.
4. We enjoyed the sound of the drum’s rhythm. → We enjoyed the drum’s rhythmic sound.
5. She adopted a dog without a home. → She adopted a homeless dog.
6. Look out, that plant is poison. → Look out for that poisonous plant.
7. It looks like it will rain today. → It looks like we’ll have rainy weather today.
8. She always acts with courtesy. → She always behaves in a courteous manner.
9. Her hair is pretty. → She has the prettiest hair.
10. We go for a walk each day. → We go for a daily walk.

Exercise 2: Forming adjectives

1. Choose the adjective from each of the following groups of words:

1. inventive, invent, invented
2. curiosity, curious, curiousive
3. proliferate, prolific, proud

Answers: A – inventive B – curious C – prolific

2. Form adjectives from the following nouns:

1. smell
2. chill
3. width

Answers: A – smelly B – chilly C – wide

3. Form adjectives from the following verbs:

1. interested
2. amazed
3. annoyed

Answers: A – interesting B – amazing C – annoying

4. Form adjectives from the following verbs. Some words may be formed into more than one adjective:

1. escape
2. improve
3. damage

Answers: A – escaped, escaping B – improved, improving C – damaged, damaging

5. Form longer adjectives from the following adjectives. Some words may be formed into more than one adjective:

1. funny
2. incorrect
3. blue

Answers: A – funnier, funniest B – incorrectly C – bluest, bluer, blueish

6. Form adjectives from the following nouns:

1. magic
2. fool
3. lady

Answers: A – magical B – foolish C – ladylike

7. Form two adjectives from each of the following nouns:

1. life
2. power
3. friend

Answers: A – lifelike, lifeless B – powerful, powerless C – friendly, friendless

8. Form adjectives from each of the following nouns:

1. cost
2. war
3. month

Answers: A – costly B – warlike C – monthly

9. Form adjectives from each of the following nouns:

1. poison
2. courtesy
3. mystery

Answers: A – poisonous B – courteous C – mysterious

10. Form adjectives from each of the following nouns:

1. athlete
2. photograph
3. science

Answers: A – athletic B – photographic C – scientific

* Warning: adjectives ending in -ic/-ical

In the first table (1. Adjectives from Nouns), we have seen some adjectives that could have these two endings: “-ic” or “-ical”. However, it must be said that their meanings usually vary. This difference is not the same for all of them, so whenever you come across a pair like economic/economical or historic/historical, make sure you learn the different by looking them up in a dictionary. For the moment, I’m going to leave you with a couple of links so you learn some pairs:

– Classic or Classical?

– Economic or Economical?

– Historic or Historical?

Now let’s see some examples of sentences with both noun and adjective forms:

John loves going on adventures. –> John’s a very adventurous person.

You’re behaving like a child! –> Don’t be so childish!

The creature had a body like a worm. –> The creature had a wormlike body.

The list seemed to have no end. –> The list seemed to be endless.

Now let’s see some examples of sentences with both noun and adjective forms:

She obeys the teacher. –> She is obedient to the teacher.

We enjoyed the weekend very much. –> The weekend was very enjoyable.

Mary talks too much, doesn’t she? –> Mary’s very talkative, isn’t she?

Adjectives from Verbs: -ed/-ing

Another way to form adjectives from verbs is to use the past or present participles of the verbs, that is, their “-ed” or “-ing” forms. For instance:

to amuse –> amused (past participle) / amusing (present participle)

to interest –> interested / interesting

to surprise –> surprised / surprising

Remember that adjectives ending in “-ed” are used when the subject feels, whereas “-ing” adjectives are used when the subject produces the feeling. For more info about these adjectives visit this previous post, where this point is explained in more depth.

Adjectives from Adjectives

There are several possibilities to form adjectives from other adjectives. The most common is when we form comparatives or superlatives from one-syllable adjectives or two-syllable adjectives ending in “-y”. Remember that the endings for these are “-er” and “-est” respectively, and that some spelling rules my apply (double the final consonant, change the “-y” for “-i”, etc.). For example:

• This TV is very big, but mine’s bigger.
• He’s extremely happy. He’s probably the happiest person I know.

Also, adjectives can be modified by adding a prefix to them. For instance: possible –> impossible, regular –> irregular, logical –> illogical, etc. However, we will see these in a future post, so keep an eye out for it.

Exercise 3: Change the Nouns to Adjectives

Nouns can be changed into adjectives easily. Usually it is as simple as adding a suffix.

Example: Noun: color Adjective: colorful

Change each noun below into an adjective.

Noun Adjective

1. youth ____________________________________________

2. cloud ____________________________________________

3. logic ____________________________________________

4. beauty ____________________________________________

5. elder ____________________________________________

6. intelligence ____________________________________________

7. popularity ____________________________________________

8. academy ____________________________________________

9. fantasy ____________________________________________

10. knowledge ____________________________________________

Answers:

1. youthful
2. cloudy
3. logical
4. beautiful
5. elderly
6. intelligent
7. popular
8. academic
9. fantastic
10. knowledgeable

Exercise 4 :

Verbs can be changed into nouns easily. Usually, but not always, it is as simple as adding a suffix.

Change each verb below into a noun.

1. decorate ____________________________________________

2. introduce ____________________________________________

3. amuse ____________________________________________

4. add ____________________________________________

5. accept ____________________________________________

6. admire ____________________________________________

7. believe ____________________________________________

8. migrate ____________________________________________

9. decide ____________________________________________

10. disturb ____________________________________________

Answers:

1. decoration
2. introduction
3. amusement
4. addition
5. acceptance
6. admiration
7. belief
8. migration
9. decision
10. disturbance