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Question

Difficulty: HardNoun and Adjective Suffixes

The expedition leader was recognized for her tenacity in navigating the treacherous mountain terrain.

Which of the following words correctly uses an adjective suffix to describe an individual characterized by this quality?

  1. A
    tenaciousness
  2. tenaciousAnswer
  3. C
    tenuous
  4. D
    yielding

Answer

The word 'tenacious' is the correct choice because the suffix '-ous' forms an adjective meaning 'characterized by' or 'full of' the persistent quality of tenacity.
The word 'tenacity' uses the noun suffix '-ity' to name the quality of holding firm. To convert this meaning into an adjective describing a person, the suffix '-ous' (in the form '-acious') is added to create 'tenacious', which means persistently holding fast.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the base word 'tenacity' to determine its root and current syntactic function.
The word consists of the Latin root 'ten-' (to hold firmly) combined with the noun suffix '-ity', which denotes an abstract state or quality.
Identifying the root meaning and original part of speech is necessary to find the corresponding adjective derivative.
2
Identify the required part of speech and appropriate derivational suffix.
The prompt requires an adjective describing an individual possessing this trait, which is formed by adding the adjective suffix '-ous' (as '-acious').
The suffix '-ous' functions morphologically to convert base concepts into qualifying adjectives meaning 'having the quality of'.
3
Evaluate the answer choices against part-of-speech constraints and semantic alignment.
'Tenacious' correctly fills the grammatical and semantic requirements, while other options are abstract nouns, false look-alikes, or antonyms.
Systematic elimination of morphological distractors ensures precision under standardized exam conditions.

Key Concept

Deriving adjectives from noun roots using suffixes like -ous and identifying part-of-speech markers
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Noun and Adjective Suffixes

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