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Primary English · Year 5Chapter 1 · Suffixes: -cious, -tial, -ant, -able and -ation
Year 5 English · Suffixes: -cious, -tial, -ant, -able and -ation · Lesson 1.1

Year 5 English: Words ending -cious and -tious

Part of the Year 5 English suffixes: -cious, -tial, -ant, -able and -ation chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page

1.1

Words ending -cious and -tious

Year 5
Spell words ending -cious and -tious, where the root word is a clue (SP-Y5a)
Story. Ruby is writing a school newsletter about the summer fair. She wants to describe the cake stall, the cautious ways the children carried their trays and the delicious smell of the bakery. She checks each long word carefully.

Many adjectives end with the sound shus, and they are spelt -cious or -tious. The root word is the best clue.

Key pattern

If the root word ends in ce, drop the e and add -ious: vice becomes vicious, grace becomes gracious.

If the root word ends in -tion, remove -ion and add -ious: caution becomes cautious, ambition becomes ambitious.

Some words are learned as they are, such as delicious, so check a dictionary when you are unsure.

Key ideas

  • A root word ending in ce uses -cious: malice, malicious.
  • A root word ending in -tion uses -tious: nutrition, nutritious.
  • Always look at the root word first, then add the ending.
  • Check a dictionary for words that do not follow the pattern.
Worked example 1.1.1
Write the adjective made from the root word malice.

Method. The root word ends in ce, so drop the e and add -ious.

  1. Find the ending of the root word. Malice ends in ce.
    malice
  2. Drop the e and add -ious. The c stays, and the ending is -ious.
    malic + ious
  3. Write the answer.
    malicious

Check. Malicious has the -cious ending. ✓

Worked example 1.1.2
Write the adjective made from the root word ambition.

Method. The root word ends in -tion, so remove -ion and add -ious.

  1. Find the -tion ending. Ambition ends in -tion.
    ambition
  2. Remove -ion and add -ious. Taking away the -ion leaves ambit, and the ending becomes -ious.
    ambit + ious
  3. Write the answer.
    ambitious

Check. Ambitious uses -tious. ✓

Watch out. Do not write ambitous. The t is kept before -ious.

Worked example 1.1.3
Which word is spelt correctly: vicious or vitious?

Method. The root word is vice, which ends in ce, so the ending is -cious.

  1. Find the root word. Vicious comes from vice.
    vice
  2. Check the spelling. The root ends in ce, so the ending is -cious.
    vic + ious
  3. Write the answer.
    vicious

Check. Vice ends in ce, so vicious is correct. ✓

Exercise 1A  Practice: -cious and -tious

1
FWrite the adjective made from grace.
2
FWrite the adjective made from space.
3
FWrite the adjective made from vice.
4
FWrite the adjective made from nutrition.
5
FWrite the adjective made from infection.
6
FWrite the adjective made from caution.
7
FWrite the adjective made from ambition.
8
FWrite the adjective made from malice.
9
FWrite the adjective made from superstition.
10
FWhich word is spelt correctly: delicious or delicous?
11
PSAli writes nutritous in his story. Is he right? Write the correct spelling.
12
RWrite two adjectives that end in -cious or -tious. Say the root word for each.

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