As teachers, one of our main goals is to help students understand new words in the English language. In particular, words ending in -ly and -ness can be challenging for our students. However, there are several activities that can help students determine the meaning of words with these suffixes.

1. Word Sort:

Gather a list of words with -ly and -ness suffixes and place them on index cards. Have students work individually or in pairs to sort the cards into two groups based on their meanings. Once they have finished grouping the words, they can share their findings with the class.

2. Collaborative Writing:

Give students a list of words that end in -ly and -ness and ask them to write a paragraph or short story using as many of these words as possible. Encourage creativity and challenge them to use the words in a way that clearly shows their understanding of the prefixes. Have them share their stories with the class once they have finished.

3. Mad Libs:

Create a Mad Libs template with blank spaces for adverbs (ending in -ly) and abstract nouns (ending in -ness). Have students fill in the blanks with words that make sense in the story. Once the Mad Libs are complete, have students read them aloud to the class to see if others can guess the words that were used to fill in the blanks.

4. Sentence Completion:

Provide students with a list of sentences that are incomplete, but just need an adverb or abstract noun to complete the sentence. Have students write down the suffix word that would best complete the sentence, then share their responses with the class. This activity can be done individually or in pairs.

5. Vocabulary Charades:

Write down words with -ly and -ness on index cards and have students pull them out of a hat. They should then try to act out the meaning of the word so that their classmates can guess which word it is. It’s a fun and interactive way for students to learn new words.

In conclusion, there are several fun activities that can help students learn how to determine the meaning of words ending with -ly and -ness. By using these activities in the classroom, students will develop a better understanding of these English language suffixes and improve their overall vocabulary.