Blog 99: The Power of Suffixes

By Barbara P. Hendricks

Guest Writer

(See blog 39)

— Written by popular request —

     Think with me for a few minutes about words and their importance in our lives. 
     Parents eagerly anticipate the time when their children say their first word. From that time onward, talking becomes a goal. Talking and walking often occur simultaneously. 
     As children continue to grow, drawing, printing, writing in cursive and reading become important activities. We can classify all of these accomplishments as learning. 
     By this time you are probably wondering what any of this has to do with words. I assure you the answer is everything! Let’s look again at the words that define each accomplishment: talking, walking, drawing, printing, writing in cursive and reading. 
     When we view these words together, we can acknowledge the presence of another word: learning. Now, look at the ending of each of these words and you immediately recognize that each of them ends in –ing, which is a suffix. Suffixes are word endings which add new dimensions to the meaning of existing words, especially nouns and verbs.
     The words in the above paragraph are verbs, which by definition are action words. The –ings have given the words additional power by making them actions toward a goal. 
     The –ings in our life give credence to the fact that we are always in the process of accomplishing something or becoming the kind of person we would like to be. Hopefully, you have already thought of some additional words that are powerful because of the suffix –ing. 
     Some of these words are interacting, communicating, understanding, loving, playing, worshipping, and most important of all: living. Everything that we do each day is a component of living and must be accepted and respected as a process of becoming better persons.
     I definitely believe that learning must be a life-long activity that keeps living exciting and worth every breath we take! I am often reminded of Dr. Helen Morse Sanders, who was my Freshman Composition teacher at Spelman College. She was straight-laced and tolerated no nonsense in her classes. 
     She told us at the first class meeting that our goal was to learn how to write well. She continued by saying that each of us would be in the process of becoming excellent writers. She further stated that we were members of the freshman class and could only be considered satisfactory at that time. She then informed us that a status of satisfactory in her class was worthy of no more than a grade of C. She said that each of us could expect to receive a C as our first semester grade. Any higher grades could only be earned after we made progress toward becoming better excellent writers. 
     Even though it seemed very unfair at the time, I never forgot that lesson. I learned well that we are always in the process of becoming better at whatever task confronts us. Consider the power of the suffixes, especially the –ings.