Eladio  +  75555 Mon, 21 Feb 05 03:08 PM Is it correct to say?: He’s a good cat. She’s my best pet. Eladio Joined on Wed, Apr 28 2004 Full Member 136

	pieanne  +  75573 Mon, 21 Feb 05 04:50 PM Yes, as long as you know the sex of the animal - and this means the animal is some kind of pet to you, well, if a lion lets you see whether it's a male or a female, you must get along pretty well! -, it's no longer a "it" but a "she" or "he" pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	Eladio  +  75587 Mon, 21 Feb 05 05:53 PM Okay, thank you, pieanne! The problem, I think, it won't be with lions or big animals, the problem is with frogs, spiders, and such kind of little animals. By the way, please, would you be so kind to tell me (I'm a native Spanish speaker) how it is used to naming in English diminutive persons, animals or things (only by using “tiny” or “little”, etc) – and what about enlarged persons, animals or things (only by using “big” or “large”, etc). In Spanish we have the some suffix we add to the word in order people understand that we are taking about little, or very little, or big, or very big persons, animals or things. Example: Animal, animalito (very little animal); animalón (ver big animal). And thank you in advance! Eladio Eladio

	pieanne  +  75798 Tue, 22 Feb 05 03:34 PM Well, in the case of frogs, spiders and all these lovely animals, I guess the safest way is to use "it". If you have to make a difference between the sexes, then you can use: the he/she-spider, or the male/female frog. I can't think of any suffix in English to say whether a person is small or big, but I can see what you mean; in French, for instance, we often use -ette/-et to speak of a litte thing (maison, maisonnette). Maybe the teachers will know? pieanne Difference Between

	CalifJim  +  75804 Tue, 22 Feb 05 03:57 PM The diminutive suffix is "-y", and it is of very limited use, chiefly in the talk of children, and almost exclusively with one-syllable words, as far as I know. Sometimes other changes occur simultaneously with the addition of "-y". frog - froggy dog - doggy horse - horsey mouse - mousey cat - kitty Robert - Bob - Bobby Robert - Rob - Robby Leonard - Len - Lenny Vincent - Vince - Vinny Judith - Judy Susan - Suzy thing - thingy - little thingy "-ie" is an alternate spelling: mousie, Robbie, Susie But be careful. "-y" is also used to turn a noun into an adjective. In such cases nothing diminutive is implied. junk - junky health - healthy dust - dusty dirt - dirty fun - funny sleep - sleepy CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,399 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Nouns, Spelling

	nona the brit  +  75845 Tue, 22 Feb 05 08:11 PM Duckling is not just a small duck, it is a baby duck. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	Eladio  +  76037 Wed, 23 Feb 05 01:29 PM Thank you all of you. Now I know there is no rule (suffixes) in English, as in Spanish is, to talk about diminutives. But you said nothing about "aumentatives": (animal, animalón; where "on" is the Spanish suffix which stands for "very big animal") in English. Have we to use adjectives "big"; "large", "long", etc? Could you answer to this, please? Eladio Eladio Suffixes

	Mister Micawber  +  76056 Wed, 23 Feb 05 02:37 PM No augmentatives in English, beyond the adjectives-- but lots of those: big, large, great, enormous, immense, huge, humungous, colossal, stupendous, gargantuan, tremendous, gigantic, monolithic... (to compensate for the lack of affixes, perhaps) Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,791 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'