As in Mexican, Canadian, Balinese, Muscovite, when describing someone’s nationality or ethnicity in english? How do you know which suffix to use to specific nationality?
In: 443
English doesn’t really have rules, you sort of just learn every instance of everything and commit it to memory. /s
Well fuck me I guess reddit doesn’t think I’m much help. Do I gotta make it multiple sentences long? Maybe so. Usually in English it’s all about what sounds right. Same with using a or an. Sure there’s a set rule for it but it also just doesn’t sound right saying “a earth” or “an bird”. Hope this is sufficient enough for the bureaucratic BS of this subreddit. Smh.
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when making an adjective from nationality -n, -ean, and -ian are all valid; -e is a good choice for ethnic groups
-ite is used in names for a substance, as well as for a few select nationalities such as “Burmese, Philippine”
-er, -er, -ive are also used in adjective formation, but you should be careful to not confuse an actual ethnic group with a derogatory usage, such as the slur “Chinaman”
Then there are Cypriots, who are from the island nation of Cyprus, who either identify with Greeks or Turks. Geographically, they are close to Syrians, Israelis, Lebanese and Egyptians. Are you confused? I sure am!
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