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Morphemes
The word morpheme is used by
linguists to name the smallest unit of meaning in a language. Morphemes
are a sound or combination of sounds with meaning. Inflectional morphemes
are used to show grammatical relationships ({-s} in baker’s).
Derivational morphemes are used to create new words ({-er} in baker)
Prototypical
English Inflectional Morphemes
Morpheme
Function |
Form |
Combined
Form |
Resulting
Word |
| Nouns |
| Plural |
-s |
book
+ -s |
books |
| Possessive |
-s |
Barbara
+ -s |
Barbara’s |
| Verbs |
Present
tense
(3rd-person singular) |
-s |
walk
+ -s |
walks |
| Past
tense |
-ed |
walk
+ -ed
eat + vowel change |
walked
ate |
| Past
participle |
-en |
walk
+ -ed
eat + -en |
walked
eaten |
| Present
participle |
-ing |
walk
+ ing |
walking |
| Adjectives |
| Comparative |
-er |
big
+ -er |
bigger |
| Superlative |
-est |
big
+ -est |
biggest |
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