The suffix –ful has most of the times a positive
meaning and –less a negative meaning but not always:
the adjectives awful or dreadful have negative
meanings (= frightening) and priceless has a positive
meaning (= valuable).
Complete these sentences with adjectives
given in brackets endings –ful or –less.
1.
What a lovely present! That was very
________________ of you. (think)
We can make adverbs from these adjectives with
2.
-fully or –lessly: carefully and carelessly.
Here you are some of the most common examples:
Noun
Verb
Adjective
care
care
careful / careless
colour
colour
colourful / colourless
fear
fear
fearful / fearless
harm
harm
harmful / harmless
help
help
(un)helpful / helpless
hope
hope
hopeful / hopeless
meaning
mean
meaningful / meaningless
pain
pain
painful / painless
power
power
powerful / powerless
sleep
sleep
sleepful / sleepless
thought
think
thoughtful / thoughtless
taste
taste
tasteful / tasteless
use
use
useful / useless
He's told me ________________ times about
how good he is at football. (count)
3.
My best friend is a rich, _________________
lawyer. (power)
4.
You must remember to recharge your
phone.
Without
its
batteries,
it's
_____________. (use)
5.
Although everybody knows that cigarettes
are _______________ to our health, many
people still smoke. (harm)
6.
The
new
sales
assistant
was
really
________________ and rude. (help)
7. Look at the newborn baby. He’s completely
______________. (help)
8. Don't worry, John - this injection will be
completely ________________. (pain)
9. Thieves broke into the museum and stole a
______________ painting by Van Gogh. (price)
10. She's really rich, but her clothes are always
very ________________ and elegant. (taste)
11. I bought some shares in the company 5
These adjectives take -ful or -less, but not both.
Noun
Verb
awe
brain
awe
-
Adjective
awful / awesome
brainless (unintelligent)
count
count
countless / countable
dread
dread
dreadful
end
end
endless
home
-
homeless
peace
-
peaceful
play
play
playful
price
price
priceless
success
succeed
(un)successful
time
-
timeless
wire
wire
wireless
worth
worth
worthless (without value)
years ago. Nevertheless now they are
_______________. (worth)
12. How could you be so _______________ as to
lose your wallet? (care)
13. I’m going to give some clothes to the
________________. (home)
14. I spent a ______________ night worrying
about you! Where have you been? (sleep)
15. That little boy is absolutely _______________.
He’s not afraid of anything! (fear)
16. Despite he has lost some points, he’s
_____________ they can win the game. (hope)
The suffix –ful has most of the times a positive
meaning and –less a negative meaning but not always:
the adjectives awful or dreadful have negative
meanings (= frightening) and priceless has a positive
meaning (= valuable).
Complete these sentences with adjectives
given in brackets endings –ful or –less.
1.
What a lovely present! That was very
__thoughtful__ of you. (think)
We can make adverbs from these adjectives with
2.
-fully or –lessly: carefully and carelessly.
Here you are some of the most common examples:
Noun
Verb
Adjective
care
care
careful / careless
colour
colour
colourful / colourless
fear
fear
fearful / fearless
harm
harm
harmful / harmless
help
help
(un)helpful / helpless
hope
hope
hopeful / hopeless
meaning
mean
meaningful / meaningless
pain
pain
painful / painless
power
power
powerful / powerless
sleep
sleep
sleepful / sleepless
thought
think
thoughtful / thoughtless
taste
taste
tasteful / tasteless
use
use
useful / useless
He's told me ___countless__ times about
how good he is at football. (count)
3.
My best friend is a rich, ___powerful____
lawyer. (power)
4.
You must remember to recharge your
phone.
Without
its
batteries,
it's
__useless_____. (use)
5.
Although everybody knows that cigarettes
are ____harmful_____ to our health, many
people still smoke. (harm)
6.
The
new
sales
assistant
was
really
__helpless_ and rude. (help) (= incompetent)
7. Look at the newborn baby. He’s completely
___helpless___. (help) (= defenceless)
8. Don't worry, John - this injection will be
completely __painless___. (pain)
9. Thieves broke into the museum and stole a
___priceless__ painting by Van Gogh. (price)
10. She's really rich, but her clothes are always
very _tasteful_ and elegant. (taste) (=stylish)
11. I bought some shares in the company 5
These adjectives take -ful or -less, but not both.
Noun
Verb
awe
brain
awe
-
Adjective
awful / awesome
brainless (=unintelligent)
count
count
countless / countable
dread
dread
dreadful
end
end
endless
home
-
homeless
peace
-
peaceful
play
play
playful
price
price
priceless
success
succeed
(un)successful
time
-
timeless
wire
wire
wireless
worth
worth
worthless (=without value)
years ago. Nevertheless now they are
__worthless___. (worth) (= have no value)
12. How could you be so ____careless____ as to
lose your wallet? (care) (= inattentive)
13. I’m going to give some clothes to the
___homeless___. (home)
14. I spent a _____sleepless____ night worrying
about you! Where have you been? (sleep)
15. That little boy is absolutely ____fearless__.
He’s not afraid of anything! (fear) (=brave)
16. Despite he has lost some points, he’s
__hopeful__ they can win the game. (hope)