Third Grade · Reading · week 2

Suffixes -er, -est, -ly

Add the suffixes -er, -est, and -ly to base words to compare things and describe how an action happens.

A suffix is a word part added to the END of a base word. -er compares TWO things (fast, faster). -est compares THREE OR MORE and means "the most" (fastest). -ly turns a describing word into one that tells HOW something happens (quick becomes quickly).

Watch the spelling: if a short word ends in one vowel and one consonant, you often double the last letter before adding -er or -est -- big becomes bigger, not biger. Keep an eye out for that pattern.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Line up three objects (or people) and compare them out loud: short, shorter, shortest.
  • Ask your child to act out an -ly word -- walk "slowly," clap "loudly" -- the ending describes the action.
  • Notice the doubling rule together on words like hot/hotter and thin/thinner; it is a spelling pattern worth noticing, not just memorizing.
  • If a word already ends in e, like "nice," the e drops before -er/-est: nice becomes nicer. Point that out when it comes up.
Talk about it:
  • When do you use -er instead of -est?
  • What job does -ly do to a word?
  • Can you find a doubled-letter example like bigger or hotter?

Mastery looks like: They correctly choose -er for two things, -est for three or more, and -ly to describe how an action happens, including the doubling spelling pattern.

Common stumbles: Using -est to compare only two things; forgetting to double the final consonant, writing "biger" instead of "bigger."

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Prefixes & SuffixesAdd un-, re-, -ful, -less and watch a word’s meaning change.try →Greek & Latin RootsBuild big words from roots: photo + graph → photograph.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
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