Question

Updated on 8 Feb 2023

4 February

Japanese

English (US)

Question about English (US)

"Respectable" and "reasonable" these words come from the original verb or the noun to contain the meaning of "be able to".
But to get -->gettable, to hold--> holdable these may be unacceptable.

In this way, is there any rule to make the original meaning of a word into containing" be able to "?

Answers

HebrewDane

4 February

English (US)

Actually you aren't quite correct. "Able" here is a suffix. It does mean to be able to but it's just an add-on to another word so the other word is the one that matters, more or less. It has nothing to do with word origins. So respectable basically means "able to be respected." Reasonable means "able to be reasoned." Predicatable means "able to be predicted" and so on....

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Shafica

4 February

English (US)

Respectable and reasonable come from the nouns: respect and reason. That's why -able works with them.
That being said, not all nouns and verbs can become adjectives.

Here is a chart that may help:

https://www.scribd.com/document/327327682/TABLE...

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Shafica

4 February

English (US)

Thank you, Yamatake. I'm glad it helped :-)

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Yamatake

5 February

Japanese

Yamatake

5 February

Japanese

Yamatake

7 February

Japanese

Yamatake

7 February

Japanese

@HebrewDane

Could you tell me why?

Mainly -able is put at the end of verb to change into adjective,

Are there any rule putting suffix on word?

ex) movable, regrettable,readable, changable These are ok
How about others?

Shafica

8 February

English (US)

I forgot to mention...
Getable and holdable and both valid words.
They mean "able to be gotten" and "able to be held" respectively. :-)

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"Respectable" and "reasonable" these words come from the original verb or the noun to contain the meaning of "be able to".
But to get -->gettable, to hold--> holdable these may be unacceptable.

In this way, is there any rule to make the original meaning of a word into containing" be able to "?

Respectable and reasonable come from the nouns: respect and reason. That's why -able works with them.That being said, not all nouns and verbs can become adjectives.Here is a chart that may help:https://www.scribd.com/document/327327682/TABLE...

Thank you, Yamatake. I'm glad it helped :-)

I forgot to mention...Getable and holdable and both valid words.They mean "able to be gotten" and "able to be held" respectively. :-)

Respectable and reasonable come from the nouns: respect and reason. That's why -able works with them.
That being said, not all nouns and verbs can become adjectives.

Here is a chart that may help:

https://www.scribd.com/document/327327682/TABLE...

I forgot to mention...
Getable and holdable and both valid words.
They mean "able to be gotten" and "able to be held" respectively. :-)