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Learn 200 New English Words with the Suffix ous

Let’s learn 200 new English words which all end with the suffix ous.

For example: acrimonious (bitter), barbarous (brutal), conscientious (reliable), and dolorous (sad).

It is always good to learn new words, because by using higher-level vocabulary in your writing or when speaking you are demonstrating your continuously improving skills as a learner of English. But where to start? Just open a dictionary and begin with A? One useful method is to focus on words that all share the same suffix. A suffix is an ending that many words share, for example the ous words above.

With these 6 free printable worksheets we are focusing on the suffix ous. There are many higher-level English words that end with ous – often with a Latin root – so this is a good suffix to focus on. We create an adjective by adding ous to a noun, e.g. ‘fame’ becomes ‘famous’. The suffix ous – pronounced with a schwa sound – means ‘possessing’ or ‘having the quality of’, so if something is ‘contemptuous’ it has the quality of ‘contempt’.

There are two sets of worksheets to download. The first page lists 100 new words with the suffix ous and what they mean; the second page (Research) removes the easy synonyms, so you have to search for and write the meaning of each ous word yourself; the third page is a traditional gap-fill activity, where you have to use ous words to fill the gaps in 20 sentences.

Extension activities could include:

  • look up where each word came from using an etymology website, and note how many originate from Latin or other languages
  • work with a partner or small group to create and perform / record a role play using a set number of ous words. Repeat the exercise using only the easy synonyms; what is the difference? Present your work to the class and invite feedback
  • test your partner after challenging them to learn 10, 20, 50, or more new words with ous
  • discuss which words you already know and how you learned them; with which context do you associate them? How often and when do you use them?
  • think of or find common collocations for each word, e.g. a contagious disease, an eponymous book, a judicious decision, and so on

We hope you enjoy using these free worksheets to improve your vocabulary, and that you will add many ous words to your everyday working vocabulary! If you do like this material, please feel free to share it widely!

If you have any feedback about this free material, we’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to leave a comment or review below or on Facebook or Twitter.

Set 1:

Learn 100 New Words with the Suffix -ous (Part 1)

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/learn-100-new-words-with-the-suffix-ous-part-1.pdf


Learn 100 New Words with the Suffix -ous (Part 1) – Research

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/learn-100-new-words-with-the-suffix-ous-part-1-research.pdf


Learn 100 New Words with the Suffix -ous (Part 1) – Gap-Fill

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/learn-100-new-words-with-the-suffix-ous-part-1-gap-fill.pdf


Set 2:

Learn 100 New Words with the Suffix -ous (Part 2)

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/learn-100-new-words-with-the-suffix-ous-part-2.pdf


Learn 100 New Words with the Suffix -ous (Part 2) – Research

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/learn-100-new-words-with-the-suffix-ous-part-2-research.pdf


Learn 100 New Words with the Suffix -ous (Part 2) – Gap-Fill

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/learn-100-new-words-with-the-suffix-ous-part-2-gap-fill.pdf


Image: Free-Photos from Pixabay

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