Unit1 BBC 6 minute Vocabulary

Finn: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I’m Finn…
Alice: And I’m Alice. Today we’re looking at a very important part of word building – suffixes.
Finn: Suffixes. We’ll look at what they are, what they mean and how to use them.
Alice: There’ll be a quiz…
Finn: And we’ll leave you with a top tip for learning vocabulary.
Alice: So: to start off, we’re going to listen to Andrea and Steve who work in a bank. They have
just interviewed two people who want to work there.
Finn: And here’s a question to think about while you listen: who did Andrea and Steve like best -the first person or the second person?
Alice: Who did they like best? Let’s find out.
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Andrea: What do you think then Steve?
Steve: Well, the first one was very excitable: he kept laughing and speaking fast.
Andrea: Perhaps it was just nervousness, but there’s no room for that in this business.
Steve: No. Now I thought the second interviewee seemed a bit more responsible.
Andrea: Yes, she did – very important when dealing with money. And she was polite.
Steve: Politeness is essential in this job.
Andrea: Absolutely. Well, I think we both know which one is more employable.
STING: Finn: So, that’s Steve and Andrea. And we asked you: who did they like best?
Alice: And the answer is: they definitely liked the second person best. The second one was polite
and responsible. The first one was a bit too excitable.
Finn: That’s right, and excitable is a key word in the show today because it ends in a suffix.
Alice: Now in the world of vocabulary, a suffix is a group of letters that you can add to the end of
a word to change its form, or meaning, or both.
Finn: For example, the word excitable has the suffix -able, spelt a-b-l-e. -able makes verbs into
adjectives, and we use –able words to say that a subject can do something – is able to do
something - or they behave in a particular way.
Alice: So if we take the verb excite, add the suffix -able, we can say that the first interviewee was
excitable, meaning: he can get very excited.
Finn: And the second one was responsible, that’s responsible with –ible, spelt ‘i-b-l-e’. She can be
trusted to do the right thing. And that’s why she was more employable, now that's -able with
an a again. Now for another suffix. Andrea and Steve talked about two interviewees. The
suffix –ee, spelt e-e, makes a noun which means ‘the person who receives an action’.
Alice: For example, if you add –ee to interview, you get the person who receives an interview, an
interviewee.
IDENT
You’re listening to BBC Learning English dot com.
Finn: And we’re talking about suffixes. Our final suffix for today is –ness, spelt n-e-s-s. Adding –
ness to an adjective makes a noun.
Alice: That’s right, and interviewee number one suffered from nervousness – the noun form of
nervous.
Finn: But number two understood the importance of politeness – the noun form of

polite. Is
politeness important to you Alice?
Alice: Oh yes Finn, politeness is very important to me.
Finn: I think you’re very polite. Now let’s listen to today’s suffixes and words again.
Alice: The first one was: -able with an a. a-b-l-e.
Finn: excitable, employable
Alice: -ible with an i. i-b-l-e.
Finn: responsible
Alice: -ee: e-e
Finn: interviewee
Alice: -ness: n-e-s-s
Finn: nervousness, politeness
Alice: And it’s time for a quiz. Choose the correct suffix to complete the final words in these 2
sentences. Ready? Number 1. The most important thing to me is my family’s… a) happy-ee
b) happy-able, c) happiness.
Finn: This one is the noun form of happy, so it’s c) happiness.
Alice: Number 2. I’m learning how to do this job. I’m a a) trainee b) trainable, c) train-ness.
Finn: You are receiving training, so you’re a trainee.
Alice: Well done if you got those right.
Finn: And that brings us almost to the end of today’s programme.
Alice: But before we go, here’s today’s top tip for learning vocabulary: if you use an online
dictionary, type a hyphen or a dash into the search box, and then type in any of today’s
suffixes. The dictionary will give you a list of words that end with your suffix.
Finn: You know, that’s a really good tip: I think I might try that. There’s more about this at BBC
learning English dot com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Both:Good bye!