many suffixes get the same meaning,such as development,oppression,their suffixes both mean state,so how do I choose the right suffix without dictionary.
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suffixes
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As I commented, I don't have an answer for your question #2. But I can help you with your question #1. The resources you were trying to access and can't seems to redirect to Fowler's Modern English Usage page. Even I don't have access to that page, but I have an image of that page from that book. Here is that page. Please have a look -
Download this image from here
NOTE: This is off the top of my head; there may be aspects of this I've overlooked, so I would welcome any correction anybody wants to supply.
You're missing a simpler way of understanding this, because you're working off letters (which should properly be enclosed in ‹› rather than []) instead of sounds (specifically, phonemes, which should properly be enclosed in // rather than []).
Here are the rules:
Your two suffixes are what linguists call archiphonemes, which are sound-types "realized" as different phonemes in different sound contexts. We may designate them as /S/ and /T/, and categorize them as
/S/ - (dental/alveolar) sibilant, realized as either voiceless /s/ or voiced /z/
/T/ - dental stop, realized as either voiceless /t/ or voiced /d/How the archiphoneme is realized depends on the sound which ends the base word and therefore immediately precedes the suffix:
- If that sound is voiced, the suffix takes its voiced realization, and
- if that sound is voiceless, the suffix takes its voiceless realization, EXCEPT THAT
- if that sound is of the same category as the suffix, an unstressed vowel is inserted between the base and the suffix so you can hear the two sounds as distinct. Since all vowels are by definition voiced, a voiced sound now precedes the suffix, and the suffix takes its voiced realization. The vowel itself may be realized as anything in the approximate range [ɛ] – [ɪ], usually 'reduced' to [ə] – [ᵻ].
As far as I know, these rules are invariant in Standard English; but when both a plural and a possessive /S/ are applied (e.g., the Joneses' house) one may be suppressed in speech, I believe many Scots dialects realize /D/ fairly consistently as /ɪt/, and there may be other variations I've overlooked or I'm not familiar with.
Similar rules govern prefixes; but since nowadays most prefixes are of Latin or Greek origin, the rules are mostly derived from practices in those languages.
Best Answer
By learning each and every word by itself.
I know that's not the answer you want to hear, but the problem with English is that it was invented by a country that was inhabited and invaded over and over again by the French, Romans, Vikings, and Celts.
The -ment suffix is French, the -ion suffix is Latin, the -ing suffix is Germanic, and the -rix suffix is Celtic. There are no rules for learning them without just learning each word as you discover it.