As you’ve seen, adding ous to a root word ending in y
gives the ending ious:
fury + ous = furious | glory + ous = glorious |
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There are words where the same /ious/ sound is spelt eous:
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When ous follows the letter u, then you can hear the u say its name clearly. We've included examples of all three in the table below.
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eous as in hideous | ious as in hilarious | uous as in strenuous |
aqueous courteous erroneous gaseous instantaneous miscellaneous nauseous simultaneous spontaneous |
amphibious bilious curious copious delirious devious dubious furious harmonious impervious ingenious laborious melodious notorious oblivious obvious precarious previous rebellious serious studious supercilious tedious uproarious various victorious |
ambiguous arduous conspicuous contemptuous continuous deciduous impetuous incongruous innocuous sumptuous superfluous tempestuous tenuous tortuous tumultuous virtuous |
bounteous piteous plenteous |
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courageous gorgeous outrageous |
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Note: Words ending in the /shƏs/ sound are spelled cious or tious. These words are in Unit 30. |
You have not completed Learn the Words activities for each word list on this page.
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a final test on the endings us ous eous ious uous
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