English has a few suffixes that can make abstract nouns out of adjectives: There’s the relatively rare –cy, which turns fluent into fluency and idiot into idiocy. There’s the more common –ty or –ity ...

Think about concrete for a second -- even if you weren’t already thinking about it. Can you picture it? Can you feel its hardness? Do you see a driveway, sidewalk, or building in your mind? Concrete ...

Tubby or not tubby, that is the hefty question. At what point exactly does a person qualify as being overweight? Is it when the double chin begins to emerge, like a wobbly twin beside the other? Or is ...

Michael Loukanov from Bulgaria, writing to the BBC ELT message board, comments: Sometimes there are some difficult situations in which you cannot be sure whether the things you are referring to are ...

English has a few suffixes that can make abstract nouns out of adjectives. There's the relatively rare –cy, which turns fluent into fluency and idiot into idiocy, and there's the more common –ty or ...