| -ation / -isation suffix | forms abstract nouns from verbs (process or result) | globalise → globalisation / organise → organisation |
| -ment suffix | forms nouns from verbs, showing result or action | achieve → achievement / develop → development |
| -ity / -ty suffix | forms abstract nouns from adjectives showing quality | complex → complexity / stable → stability |
| -ness suffix | forms nouns from adjectives showing a state or condition | aware → awareness / dark → darkness |
| -ous / -ious suffix | forms adjectives meaning having the quality of | ambition → ambitious / nutrition → nutritious |
| -ive / -ative suffix | forms adjectives meaning relating to or tending to | create → creative / imagine → imaginative |
| mis- prefix | means wrongly, badly, or incorrectly | manage → mismanage / understand → misunderstand |
| over- prefix | means too much or excessively | estimate → overestimate / work → overwork |
| under- prefix | means too little or insufficiently | estimate → underestimate / fund → underfund |
| counter- prefix | means against or in opposition to | argue → counterargue / act → counteract |
| Conversion (zero derivation) | using a word as a different part of speech without adding a suffix | email (noun) → to email (verb) / a Google (noun) → to Google (verb) |
| Compound nouns | two or more words joined to create a new noun with a new meaning | break + through = breakthrough / back + log = backlog |