--- title: Endings that sound like «shun»: -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Endings that sound like «shun»: -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian», a lesson of the english course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: It sounds right, but in English the /shun/ ending is almost never spelled «shun». --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/) / Endings that sound like «shun»: -tion,… # Endings that sound like «shun»: -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian Lesson 8 of the english course of Mova's primary school: 24 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/1/) — It sounds right, but in English the /shun/ ending is almost never spelled «shun». - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/2/) — It has four main spellings, -tion, -sion, -ssion and -cian, and the commonest by far is -tion: station, action, question, information. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/3/) — The secret is the root word, the word you start from. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/5/) — Root ends in ss: -ssion (discuss, discussion; express, expression). - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/6/) — Root ends in d, de, se or nd: usually -sion (comprehend, comprehension; expand, expansion; tense, tension). - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/7/) — Root ends in c and the word is a person's job: -cian (music, musician; magic, magician; electric, electrician). - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/8/) — When the ending sounds softer, /zhun/ instead of /shun/, it is nearly always -sion: television, division, decision, explosion. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/10/) — Adding -tion often turns a doing word (verb) into a thing word (noun): inform becomes information, educate becomes education. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/11/) — Many of these are school and work words, which is why they feel formal; a clear short word is often better than a long -tion one. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/12/) — And adverts sometimes spell words wrong on purpose to look fun («competishun»), so a sign is no proof of a spelling. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/13/) — Some words are traps on their own. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/15/) — When stuck, ask: what is the root, how does it end, and is it a person? - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/16/) — The /shun/ ending is spelled -tion, -sion, -ssion or -cian, almost never «shun». - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/17/) — -tion is the most common spelling: station, action, question. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/18/) — Roots ending in t or te take -tion: act, action; invent, invention; complete, completion. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/19/) — Roots ending in ss take -ssion: discuss, discussion; express, expression. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/20/) — Roots ending in d, de, se or nd usually take -sion: comprehend, comprehension; expand, expansion; tense, tension. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/21/) — -cian is used for people's jobs from words ending in c: musician, magician, electrician. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/22/) — The softer /zhun/ sound is usually spelled -sion: television, division, decision. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/23/) — Adding -tion often turns a verb into a noun: inform, information. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/24/) — «Occasion» has two c's and one s. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/25/) — Signs and adverts sometimes misspell words on purpose for effect; that does not make the spelling correct. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/26/) — Many -tion words sound formal; use them when they are clearer, not just to sound clever. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/8-endings-that-sound-like-shun/27/) — Slang in this lesson: «bruv» means brother or mate and «peak» means bad luck or annoying (London); «grand» means fine and «yer man» means «that fella» (Ireland); «it's giving» means «it seems like» (Gen Alpha and Gen Z). - ← previous: [Adding -ed and -ing: doubling and dropping e](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/7-adding-ed-and-ing-doubling-and-dropping-e/) - next →: [Suffixes -ous, -ly, -ful, -less, -ness, -ment](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/9-suffixes-ous-ly-ful-less-ness-ment/) - ↑ back to [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/)