Lesson #15

The Spelling Concept

danger dangerous No change to the base (root) word
nerve nervous Drop the final e
glory glorious Change the final y to an i

 

The concept behind this lesson is the suffix 'ous'.  When we add the suffix 'ous' we change the meaning of the word to address something as being full of whatever the root word is.  This changes the noun form of a word  for example 'mystery', into an adjective 'mysterious'.  Sometimes this addition of the 'ous' suffix requires us to add or drop letters.

 

courage           courageous               danger          dangerous 

fame               famous                     fury              furious       

glory               glorious                    humour          humorous   

mystery          mysterious               nerve             nervous

outrage           outrageous               number          numerous