Conversion as one of the principle ways of the word formation in the english language

Abstract

Word formation is one of the main ways of enriching the vocabulary. There are four main ways of word building in modern English: affixation, compounding, abbreviation and nevertheless conversion. Conversion is the creation of a new word without altering the shape of the existing word by affixation. This method of word formation is a characteristic feature of the English word building system. It is also called affixless derivation or zero suffixation. Moreover it constitutes the process of coining a new word in a different part of speech and with a different distribution characteristic but without adding any derivative element.