Final answer:
Compounds with names ending in -ite or -ate have polyatomic anions which contain oxygen. These suffixes indicate the number of oxygen atoms in the ion, and the proper nomenclature involves the cation name followed by the anion. Oxoanions with different numbers of oxygen use prefixes and suffixes to differentiate them.
Step-by-step explanation:
Compounds with polyatomic ions whose names end in -ite or -ate contain polyatomic anions that include oxygen. These compounds are named with the cation first, followed by the polyatomic anion. For example, NaNO3 is called sodium nitrate.
There exist several related polyatomic anions known as oxoanions. For instance, the oxoanions of chlorine include perchlorate (ClO4⁻), chlorate (ClO3⁻), chlorite (ClO2⁻), and hypochlorite (ClO⁻), where the prefixes 'per-' and 'hypo-' and the suffixes '-ate' and '-ite' indicate different numbers of oxygen atoms in the ions.
Moreover, compounds containing polyatomic ions are similarly named to those with monatomic ions, and some polyatomic ions such as nitrate (NO3⁻) and sulfate (SO4²⁻) have to be memorized due to inconsistencies in the number of oxygen atoms they represent.