Abstract Nouns from Adjectives - DailyWritingTips |
Posted: 14 Jan 2014 08:16 PM PST
Abstract nouns may be formed from adjectives by adding the suffix -ness: happy/ happiness, sad/sadness, kind/kindness, cheerful/cheerfulness.
However, a large group of adjectives have distinct nouns that do not require a formation with -ness or any other suffix. A common stylistic fault is to add the -ness ending to adjectives that already have corresponding noun forms. For example, the adjective humble has the corresponding noun humility, but many English speakers don’t seem to be aware of it and write “humbleness” instead.
Here are a few examples from the web that illustrate the unnecessary use of –ness to form abstract nouns:
Here are several additional adjective/abstract noun pairs that seem to have escaped the notice of many journalists and bloggers:
angry/anger
anxious/anxiety beautiful/beauty brave/bravery chaotic/chaos compassionate/compassion courageous/ courage curious/curiosity deceitful/deceit evil/evil generous/generosity humorous/humor imaginative/imagination intelligent/intelligence jealous/jealousy joyful/joy loyal/loyalty lucky/luck luxurious/luxury mature/maturity opinionated/opinion painful/pain peculiar/peculiarity responsible/responsibility romantic/romance sane/sanity sensitive/sensitivity sorrowful/sorrow strong/strength stupid/stupidity successful/success sympathetic/sympathy tolerant/tolerance warm/warmth wise/wisdom witty/wit |
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