Suffixes That Change the Part of Speech
Derivational morphology: same root, three forms, three jobs in a sentence.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Build a sentence with each form of the same root. The government governs, its governmental policy — three sentences on one root shows what the word class change is for. Analyze and analysis are the most useful pair here, since both appear in every rubric the student will meet. Fifteen minutes covers three or four roots with sentences.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and wait 5 seconds for the student's answer.Log as correct
- Break it upCover the prefix, suffix or root and ask what the part left means.Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two meanings, the right one not always second.Log as cued
- ModelBreak the word into parts out loud and give its meaning; the student says it back.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer words, and start with the prefixes, suffixes or roots the student already knows.
Ask for another word with the same part, used in a sentence.
Matching IEP goal
Given academic words, Student will identify the word parts and give the word's meaning in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eight roots shown in three forms with their word classes: depend, dependent, dependence; analyze, analysis, analytical; govern, government, governmental; compete, competition, competitive; persuade, persuasion, persuasive; conclude, conclusion, conclusive. Same root, three jobs in a sentence — which is what a rubric asking for varied sentence structure is actually requiring.
What to listen for
Listen for the stress shifts, which are substantial in this set. Analyze and analysis put the stress in different places, as do compete and competition, and a student with the morphology and not the phonology sounds wrong while being right. Watch conclude and conclusion, where the base changes its final sound as well as its ending.
Carrying it home
When a new academic word appears in reading, asking what other forms it has takes ten seconds and turns one word into three. Analysis gives analyze and analytical, and a student who gets into the habit builds vocabulary without anyone teaching it.
What's in this activity
- depend (verb) -> dependent (adjective) -> dependence (noun)
- analyze (verb) -> analysis (noun) -> analytical (adjective)
- govern (verb) -> government (noun) -> governmental (adjective)
- compete (verb) -> competition (noun) -> competitive (adjective)
- persuade (verb) -> persuasion (noun) -> persuasive (adjective)
- signify (verb) -> significance (noun) -> significant (adjective)
- qualify (verb) -> qualification (noun) -> qualified (adjective)
- conclude (verb) -> conclusion (noun) -> conclusive (adjective)
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Seventh through twelfth, where academic vocabulary arrives in families rather than as single words.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all eight roots play with no account.
- Why does the part of speech matter?
- Because it decides where the word can go in a sentence. A student who knows only the verb form of a root cannot write the noun-subject sentences that academic writing is built on.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.