I am an assistant teacher of English in a higher secondary school in a remote village of Basirhat - ii block. In my school the first summative evaluation is going on where in the English grammar question of class - vi it is asked to form the antonym of the word, 'Hope', by using suffix to it.
The concerned grammar teacher of class vi argues that the answer is 'hopelessness' without considering the fact that the word, 'hopelessness' is the derivative of the word, 'hopeless' and not the direct derivative of the word, 'hope'. My question is : does the question exist at all where it is asked to form the antonym of the word, 'hope', by using suffix?
Even if we consider 'Hopelessness' as the derived form of 'Hope' by using suffixes, in that case also 'Hopelessness' is derived from 'Hope' as verb and how can we consider it as the antonym of 'Hope' as noun? Can we consider the derived noun form of 'Hope'(verb) after using suffixes as the antonym of 'Hope'(noun)?
Perhaps it is a silly question, but I am expecting your valuable opinion on it out of my responsibility to my pupils.