Thanks for this information. I think that when people say "always" or "never" I doubt them. That's probably just as well. -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "STAHLKE, HERBERT F" <[log in to unmask]> > > Jan, > > The statement isn't far from true. Etymologically, -tion is a compound > suffix, combining the Latin participial suffix -t and the Latin > nominalizing suffix -ion-. In English, which suffix a word has is > pretty much of function of that word's etymology, and there is no > difference in meaning between them. > > As to whether there are verbs in -ion or -tion, there are. Three that > come to mind immediately are "fashion", "ration," and "station." Given > the ease with which English grammar shifts nouns to verbs, giving rise > even to the somewhat overstated maxim "Every noun can be verbed," I > wouldn't be surprised to find a lot more instances. "Fashion," by the > way, was borrowed from French in the 15th c. French had inherited it > from Latin "factio," genitive "factionis," and had lost the <i> from > it's spelling before English borrowed the word. This suggests that by > the time English borrowed the word, French grammar no longer treated it > as containing a suffix. The <i> in the English form may represent an > analogy to the spelling of other words ending in the same phonetic > syllable. That letter appears first in the 16th c. and the <-shi-> > spelling doesn't appear till the 17th. > > Etymology, by the way, is a tricky and precise historical discipline, > and etymology works on specific words rather than on classes of words. > The fact that -t-ion- was a productive derivation in Latin doesn't mean > that it necessarily remains so in the languages that borrow it. > Languages tend to borrow words as whole units without the morphology > they may have in the source language. So -tion and -ion forms shouldn't > be expected to behave consistently in English. > > Herb > > I teach middle school. One of the teachers in my district (not my > building) said that all words that end in -tion are nouns. I never > heard that before, but I thought of all the words I could that end in > -tion. I think he might be right. > > Then I thought maybe all words that end in just -ion are nouns. Am I > right? Maybe this information will help my students, but I don't want > to tell them something wrong. > > If all words that end is -ion are nouns, can someone tell me why? Is > there some history about those words? > Thanks! > Jan > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/